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
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Drawing of the VOC ship Mercurius
On the Maritieme Digitaal website, you can view the entry for the VOC ship Mercurius commanded by Pieter de Bitter in 1653. I found it by using the search term 1652 and then paging through the results (not a very great way to get there). This was record 241 of 359 entries. They have links to the Willem van de Velde de Oude drawing from 1649. I believe that this is one of these odd drawings that simultaneously show a ship from two different angles. Sadly, the image seems to be pretty low resolution. The entry gives the ship's dimensions as 123ft x 30ft x 12ft. They give the armament as 40 guns, but Witte de With's journal from May 1653 gives the armament as 36 guns and the crew as 110 men.