Monday, February 05, 2007

The Fasant van Medemblick?

This document, which seem to date from June 1653, probably following the Battle of the Gabbard, appears to mention a ship of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier named Fasant van Medemblick. I was puzzled by the captain's name, but now I think the name is "Capt. Roetjes". I would interpret that as the name of Jan Rootjes. Witte de With's journal for 8 July 1653 lists kapitein Rootjes as commanding a ship of 32 guns with a crew of 110 men. The reference is following other captains that were definitely of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier, such as Gerrit Munt and Jan Heck. One question is if this is actually supposed to say "Radbout van Medemblick". If the word is meant to be that, the word is missing a "d". The writer was fairly careful in writing, but the letters are formed according to a particular system. I had originally thought that that captain's last name was "Boetjes", as the first letter is not open at the bottom. Both the first letter of the name is not open at the bottom. The ship name first letter is also ambiguous. Both letters have a cross bar! That is what was confusing. The ship name seems to have 6 letters: "F" or "R", followed by "s" or "b", "a" or "o", then "n" or "u", followed by a "t". I suspect that the name is, in fact, "Radbout", not "Fasant". The handwritten word seems to be missing the "d" from Radbout.

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