I noticed, again, Ron van Maanen's amazing dimensions for the VOC ship Oranje, a retourschip, commanded by Bastiaan Centsen at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665. Ron's dimensions are 180ft x 52ft x 17ft, with a height between decks of 7ft. These are Dutch measurements in Amsterdam feet. To put these into perspective, let us convert these to English feet:
Dutch measurement:
Length from stem to sternpost: 180ft
Beam inside the planking: 52ft
Hold: 17ft
English measurement:
Length on the keel: 135ft
Beam outside the planking: 46ft
Depth of hold: 15ft
I would estimate the length on the gundeck to be about 175ft in English feet.
Herbert Tomesen, at Artitec, is using a much smaller set of dimensions:
Length from stem to sternpost: 170ft
Beam inside the planking: 38ft
Hold: 18ft
This would translate into English measurement:
Length on the keel: 127ft-10in
Beam outside the planking: 33ft-8in
Depth of hold: 15ft-11in
estimate length on the gun deck: 166ft
This actually seems more reasonable than Ron's dimensions.
Ron is pretty consistent, though, with his large retourschip dimensions.
I have yet to find the source, however.
- James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Ships and the Relationship Between English and Dutch Measure", 2003
- Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "ZEELAND", undated