Discussion devoted mainly to the Anglo-Dutch Wars (at sea), including ships, battles, and persons. Our website, kentishknock.com, is the primary outlet for artwork, research results, and more formal analysis and commentary. Copyright (c) 2003-2007 James C. Bender
Friday, January 26, 2007
Joost Bulter's ship at the Battle of the Gabbard in June 1653
One ongoing mystery is Joost Bulter's ship that was sunk at the Battle of the Gabbard. Haagsma's article, Friesland's Zeewezen, in the 1895 edition of De Vrije Fries (available through Google Book Search), says that Joost Bulter's ship was the 42 gun ship Kameel. We know from a variety of sources that Joost Bulter's ship from the summer of 1652 up to the Three Days' Battle (the Battle of Portland) from 28 February to 2 March 1653 was the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden (also called the Stad en Landen). The First Dutch War, Vol.V calls the ship the "Town and Country" (presumably, Stad en Lande). Aitzema just calls the ship "of the Stad en Lande". The biography of Richard Deane calls the ship the Kameel (42 guns). No document from 1653, however, surfaced with the name Kameel, a ship with 42 guns. There are even conflicting reports about whether the ship was a Groningen Directors' ship or a ship of the Admiralty of Friesland. Hopefully, something will eventually appear.