Saturday, June 30, 2007

I would be interested to see the list of Dutch ships in 1648

I do not have the information, but the list of Dutch warships in service in 1648 apparently exists. At least one person who I know has the list and I suspect that Dr. Elias had access to the list, as well. I hand asked Rick van Velden, at the Nationaal Archief, to look for the list, but he did not know where to look and couldn't find it. I had seen a reference in Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen that referred to such a list. That was in July 2004. I would be interested to see the last from 1648, as I know for a fact that the ships included in the group funded from 1648 changed over time. That was caused by warlosses and the moving of ships between groups to have their service financed.

Friday, June 29, 2007

The Zeelands ships funded in 1651, as of December 1652

My theory is that as ships were lost in battle or storm and were discarded, that the ships included in the various funding categories changed over time. I have this list from December 1652 that has a list of Zeeland ships included in the funding of 1651. Perhaps the only difference is the captains have changed. That seems to confirm that this is a good list:
Adm   Ship            Guns Commander
Z     Hollandia       36   kapitein Adriaen Banckert
                           vice-admiraal Johan Evertsen
Z     Zeelandia       32   kapitein Andries Pietersz den Boer
Z     Zeelandia       32   kapitein Johan Naelhout
Z     Zeeridder       28   kapitein Gillis Janszoon
Z     Neptunis        25   kapitein Jan Pauwelsz
Z     Vlissingen      32   kapitein Cornelis Mangelaer
Z     Salamander      26   kapitein Jan Christoffelsz Duijm

Thursday, June 28, 2007

The 7 Zeeland ships of 1651

Seven of the 36 ships funded in 1651 were from Zeeland:
Adm    Ship              Guns Crew Captain
Z      Wapen van Zeeland 34   140  Joris Willemsz Block
Z      Zeelandia         32   138  Andries Pietersz den Boer
Z      Zeelandia         32        Jan Naelhout
Z      Vlissingen        32   115  Cornelis Mangelaer
Z      Salamander        26   110  Jan Christoffelsz Duijm
Z      Zeeridder         28   120  Gillis Janszoon
Z      Neptunis          25   115  Johan Pauwelszoon

This is based on two documents that I received back in early February 2007.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

More about the Graef Hendrick

Yesterday, I looked at another list dating from late September 1653. That list indicated that Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer's ship, the Graef Hendrick, was a ship of the Admiralty of Friesland, not a Groningen or Friesland Directors' ship. As I have written, in the face of conflicting information, I am still leaning towards listing the Graef Hendrick (Graaf Hendrik) as a Groningen Directors' ship, but if I can find more conclusive information, I am ready to change my mind. The many pages of Friesland ship data to do not supply the definitive answer. They say that the Graef Hendrick was a ship hired by Groningen, and that is really all they say.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

The First Dutch War book in six volumes

The First Dutch War book, consisting of six volumes, was my first contact with information that was close to primary sources about the First Anglo-Dutch War. To its credit, The First Dutch War publishes material to which most people would not have had access. That was true for me, up to sometime in the latter 1990's, when I started to encounter better information sources about the war. Many of the problems with The First Dutch War stem from the death of the original author, Samuel Rawson Gardiner. C. T. Atkinson made a valiant effort, but came up short, simply due to his lack of familiarity with the subject. Still, my primary criticism is the lack of good references, in footnotes and bibliography. For the Dutch material, the references sources are so non-specific as to be useless. Compare that situation with Dr. Ballhausen's book, which is well-footnoted, even thought in some cases, the sources do not support the conclusion. In the last six months, I have seen many of the original Dutch documents that were likely used as the source for the Dutch information, especially in Vol.IV of The First Dutch War. Vol.IV has the best and most useful list of Dutch ships, with ship names, captains, guns, and crew figures.

Monday, June 25, 2007

The ship Gerechtigheid in September 1653

The Gerechtigheid was a ship belonging to the Amsterdam chamber of the VOC. The Gerechtigheid was one of six VOC ships from various chambers to serve with the Dutch fleet in 1653. The Gerechtigheid had carried 34 guns and had a crew of 105 men in May 1653. By September 1653, I have a page that says that the Gerechtigheid carried 42 guns and had a crew of 138 men. The Gerechtigheid was a pretty large ship, as it was 136 ft long. It was also well-armed with more than the usual small number of 18pdr guns and with a good lower tier of 12pdr guns. The Gerechtigheid was one of the ships lost in the storm off the Texel in early November 1653, when the fleet returned from Norway.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

The Friesland ship Graef Hendrick

There is at least some evidence that Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer's ship, the Graef Hendrick, was hired by the Groningen Directors. I had not been satisfied with any of the other candidate ships. There were certainly other ships hired by Groningen for service in 1652 to 1653, but they probably served under the Admiralty of Friesland. The two Harlingen Directors' ships, the Vergulde Pelicaen (28 guns) and the Sint Vincent (28 guns) were also considered under the category of Friesland and Groningen Directors' ships. The Vergulde Pelicaen was eventually discarded, but the Sint Vincent served up until being lost in the storm off the Texel in early November 1653.

The ship that I had long assumed was the Groningen Directors' ship, the ship of Joost Bulter, seems to have been bought for service under the Admiralty of Friesland. That ship was named Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden. That was one of two 38 gun ships listed in De Jonge's list for March 1653. The other was the Zevenwolden. The Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden came into service much later than the Graef Hendrick and the two Harlingen Directors' ships. The other candidate, the Groeninger Sint Nicolaes, also hired by Groningen, seems to have served under the Admiralty of Friesland and was commanded by Laurens Hermansz Degelcamp. I might be persuaded otherwise, but for now, I am listing the Graef Hendrick as the Groningen Directors' ship hired in 1652.

Jacob Pauwelsz Cort must have been Michiel De Ruijter's flag captain in late 1653

These documents that I received yesterday show Jacob Pauwelsz Cort as the captain of the Huijs te Cruijningen (late 1653 spelling), the newly acquired ship that Michiel De Ruijter used as his flagship during the voyage to Norway from September to November 1653. De Ruijter and Witte de With had been fitting out the new ships taken over from Genoa in August, if not before. They were not ready for the Battle of Scheveningen but were ready by September. That must mean that Jacob Pauwelsz Cort was De Ruijter's flag captain. I had seen that Albert Claesz Graeff had taken over Jacob Pauwelsz Cort's ship, the Star or Morgen Sterre by June 1653 and I had wondered what had become of Jacob Pauwelsz Cort.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Some ships at Amsterdam on 12 September 1653

I received some photographs today with some interesting information about the ships in Witte de With's fleet on 12 September 1653. These are some of the ships lying at Amsterdam:
Adm    Ship               Guns Crew Commander
A-Dir  Hollantsche Tuijn  32   116  Harman Walleman
A-Dir  Blaeuwen Arent     28   116  captain in detention, in poor condition
A-Dir  Gidion             34   130  Dirck Somer
A-Dir  Engel Michael      28    73  Frederick Bogaert, short of 37 men
A-Dir  Swarte Leeuw       30    74  Hendrick de Raedt, short of 36 men
A-Dir  Sint Pieter        28    81  Gerrit Schuijt, in poor condition, short of 29 men
A-Dir  Walvisch           29    62  captain absent, short of 48 men
A-Dir  Vergulde Valck     26    83  Cornelis Jansz Brouwer, short of 27 men

Friday, June 22, 2007

A list of Amsterdam ships from September 1653

The list of ships from September 1653 must be from Witte de With's fleet. This is the Amsterdam ships that has one ship not from Amsterdam:
Adm     Ship                  Guns Crew Commander
A       Huis te Swieten       56   270  Vice-Admiraal Witte de With
A       Amsterdam             50   210  kapitein Gideon Verburgh
A       Huis te Cruijningen   48   210  kapitein Jacob Pouwelsz Cort
A       Bommel                34   130  kapitein Pieter van Braeckel
A       Morgen Sterre         30   110  kapitein Albert de Graeff
A-Dir   Hercules              27   104  kapitein Veeneman
A-Dir   Koninck Davidt        28   124  kapitein Volgelsanck
A-Dir   Sampson               26   100  kapitein Cornelis de Groot
A-Dir   Ceurvorst van Ceulen  32   124  kapitein Sijmon Dootjes
A-Dir   Faem                  28   128  kapitein Jacob Cornelisz Swart
Me-Dir  Coninck Radbout       28    90  kapitein Jan Rootjes (not an Amsterdam ship)
A-Dir   Moor                  36   140  kapitein Arij Cornelisz van Ackersloot

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Sorry for the commercial message: rare books for sale

Sorry for the commercial interruption, but I am still hoping to find buyers for two rare books from the 17th Century:
564     AITZEMA, Lieuwe van. Saken van staet en oorlogh, in, ende
omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden, beginnende met het jaer 1621, ende
eyndigende met het jaar 1669.
's Grav., Johan Veely, Johan Tongerloo, ende Jasper Doll, 1669-1672.
6 volumes in 7. With titles printed in red and black, engraved frontispiece,
engraved portrait. - Added: SYLVIUS, L. (= Lambertus
van den Bos). Historien onses tyds, behelzende saken van staat en oorlogh ..
Amst., Jan ten Hoorn, 1685-1699. 4 volumes. With engraved
portraits and plans. Together 11 volumes. Folio. Contemporary blind-stamped
vellum, with later red morocco title-labels (1 mounted with
tape), raised bands. Containing numerous documents concerning New
Netherland and other parts of America, the foundation
of the West India Company, Usselincx and the
Swedish Company of the West-Indies, the Dutch in
Brazil, etc. Cat. NHSM p.346; Knuttel, Verboden Boeken 11; Van
Eeghen & Van der Kellen 106.

I paid a whopping 8,500 euros in 2001, when the euro was not worth as much as now. I apparently paid too much, but I had the resources at the time and thought it worth getting the volumes. I would be negotiable on price. I had bought them from Gert Jan Bestebreurtje.

I also have one volume of the Hollandsche Mercurius that covers 1666-1670 that I would sell. I have a copy of the volume covering 1650-1658, but would not part with it.

Hollandtze Mercurius, Vervatende Het Gepasseerde in Europa,
Voornamentlijk in Den Engelze Ende Nederlantschen Oorlog in 't Jaer
1666. Het Seventhiende Deel, Together with the Same, Vols 18 , 19, 20
and 21 Pieter Castelyn 1667 - 1671. 5 vols bound in one volume in
contemporary vellum, hinges cracking but firm. Bears signature of Carl
Ewald Ziervogel, an 18th century Cape of Good Hope colonist.

I purchased the book from a bookseller in Johannesburg (he still has his advertisment posted after all this time).

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The mystery ship St. Johannes from Jan Glete's notes

Jan Glete had kindly supplied me with a copy of his notes from studying documents at the Nationaal Archief at The Hague, when he was doing research for Navies and Nations. Those notes listed a ship St. Johannes, which we never found anywhere else. Yesterday, I received a photograph of a page that seems to supply the answer. The document is dated 18 February 1653. It says "gehuert van S~ Johannes Louten ende Son Hahoort (?)". The dimensions are those given by Jan Glete. There are two gun lists. The one on the left includes 2-18pdr guns and matches that for the St. Johannes. The list further right has 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-3pdr guns, which is typical for an Amsterdam Directors' ship with 28 guns. The name is the "Walvis" (or Walvisch). I am guessing that Jan Glete had mistaken the owner's name for the ship name.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Oosterwijk commanders

I was recently asked about the Amsterdam ship Oosterwijk, which was built in 1653. The dimensions were 140ft x 35ft x 13-1/2ft. I happen to have information about the ship's commanders:

From September to November 1653, commandeur Gideon de Wildt commanded the Oosterwijk on the voyage to Norway with Witte de With's fleet. In July 1654, Gideon de Wildt still commanded the Huis te Oosterwijk, as it was called in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654. Even in 1659, he commanded the Oosterwijk in 1659,when he was with De Ruyter's fleet in the Sound.

June 1665, at the Battle of Lowestoft, Dirck Schey commanded the Oosterwijk. He still commanded the ship in August, under De Ruyter's command.

August 1666, at the Twee Daagse Zeeslag, the ship was commanded by Lt.Col. Fransçois Palm, who was a marine.

In May to July 1667, during the raid on Chatham and Harwich, the ship was commanded by Jan Roeteringh.

In 1671, Engel De Ruyter commanded the Oosterwijk.

From May to July 1672, Volkert Hendriksz Swart commanded the Oosterwijk.

In April 1674, Pieter van Middeland commanded the Oosterwijk.

In July 1675, Jacob Teding van Berkhout commanded the Oosterwijk. He still commanded the ship in April 1676.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Rotterdam ships with the fleet on 24 July 1652

One page that I received about a week ago has the list of captains with Tromp's fleet on 24 July 1652. This is the list of Rotterdam captains, suitably annotated:
Adm   Ship               Guns Commander
R     Brederode          54   Lt-Admiraal Tromp
R     Utrecht            22   Cornelis Engelen Silvergieter
R     Gorcum             30   Jan van Nes, the Boer Jaep
R     Overijssel         22   Leendert Ariensz Haecxwant
R     Schiedam           30   Dirck Juijnbol
R     Holland            30   Hendrick de Munnick
R     Roscam, hired      24   Costiaen Eldertsz
R     Maria, hired       24   Quirijnen van den Kerckhoff
R-Dir Hollandia          26   Ruth Jacobsz Buijs
R-Dir Jonas              36   Jan de Liefde
R-Dir Meerman            32   Jacob Cleijdijck
R-Dir Prins te Paard     38   Corstiaen Corstiaensz (de Munnick)

Sunday, June 17, 2007

The gun list for the Vogelstruis (oops, I don't have it!)

My main regret about my trip to the Netherlands and my trip to the Nationaal Archief in The Hague, slightly more than a month ago was that I failed to write down the gun list for the ship Vogelstruis, when I saw it. Instead, I thought that I had arranged to have the page copied, so I didn't need to take the time to write it down. The Vogelstruis was a ship of the Amsterdam chamber of the VOC. It was apparently built in 1641. The dimensions of the Vogelstruis were 160ft x 36-38ft x 13ft with three decks, based on some calculations made using the dimensions taken by her English captors and from email from Herbert Tomesen of Artitec. There is a page about Herbert (in Dutch) and video of him with a ship model. The Vogelstruis (old spelling is Vogel Struijs) carried between 40 and 44 guns, as far as I can tell. One page gives the crew as 200 men, but I am not certain if that is correct, or not. As I remember, the Volgelstruis carried 4-24pdr guns and perhaps a lower tier of 12pdr guns.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Ships in 23 June 1653 with the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC

I am not sure of these ships all actually belonged under the category of the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC (the East India Company), but in the classic list of ships that had been at the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort), these all fall under that category:
Nr.   Adm     Ship                  Guns Crew Commander
60    R-VOC   Nassou                32   124  Jan Adriaensz van der Werf
61    R       Haij, advijs boot      6    14  Teunis Willemsen van der Heiden
62    R       Coninck David,fireship ?    14  Jacob Arentsen
63    R       Orangie boom, fireship ?    13  Dirc Janssen Stroo

The Haij, number 62, is noteworthy, as the summary list looked like it said "advijs berck". Actually, it should have said "advijs boot".

Friday, June 15, 2007

The "Prins te Paard"

Michael Robinson, in catalog of Van de Velde paintings, calls the ship first commanded by Corstiaen Corstiaenszoon the Prins te Paard. The actual documents that I have from the Nationaal Archief all call the ship the Prins, except for a page that I received two days ago. That page gives the captain's full name, which was Corstiaen Corstiaensz de Munnick (perhaps a relative of Hendrick de Munnick, the Rotterdam captain). That page also calls his ship, which carried 38 guns, the Prins te Paerde. I have heard that perhaps that full name for this ship was the Jonge Prins Willem te Paard. The names of Dutch ships in the 1640's and 1650's seems to have been rather fluid and allowed for many alternative names that were frequently used. For example, the document that includes this page has Barent Cramer's ship listed as the Swarte Bul, which was the frequently used nickname for ships name Edam. The black bull was the symbol for the city of Edam.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Friesland Directors' ships in December 1652

One question has been: what ship was hired by the Groningen Directors in 1652? The answer seems to be the Graaf Hendrick, commanded by Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer. I have a photograph of a document dating from early December 1652 that says that this is the case. There were other ships hired by Groningen, but this seems to be the Directors' ship.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

My current arrangement for research

With me being in the United States and the information that I desire being in the Netherlands, I have relied on people there to obtain copies for photographs for me. I am really pleased with my present arrangement with the Dutch Archives Research Bureau and the work that Eric Ruijssenaars is doing for me. I also have been greatly helped by Carl Stapel and others there in the Netherlands, such as Ab Hoving, Ron van Maanen, Nico Brinck, and Herbert Tomesen of Artitec, and others who have helped me over the last five years in the Netherlands. I owe a great deal to the help provided by Prof. Jan Glete in Stockholm. I would not know nearly as much as I do without his assistance over the last four years. Of course, I have also greatly benefitted from the help and advice from Frank Fox, the author of Great Ships and A Distant Storm, since late 1999. Frank is here in the United States, although he lives quite a distance from where I am. There is an amazing community of enthusiasts, researchers, authors, artists, and model makers interested in 17th Century warships and naval history.

Jan Glete's book was a revelation to me

I had originally started to get information from the Nationaal Archief in The Hague through Drs. Rick van Velden, through "The Missing Link" service. I had contacted him in August 2002, after I found "The Missing Link" by searching on the Internet. I believe that it was after that that I had Jan Glete's book Navies and Nations. Navies and Nations was a revelation to me, as Jan Glete's references and footnotes indicated that there were more information to be found than I had guessed. He mentioned that Ron van Maanen had told him about the information about Directors' ships. After seeing that, I looked for and found Jan Glete's email address. He kindly provided me with a copy of his notes. I had to switch to dealing with the Nationaal Archief at the beginning of 2003. I was able to get copies of some of the Extraordinarie Equipage documents that listed dimensions and had gun lists for the Amsterdam Directors' ships. I just kept with the process of finding more information and I continued to use Navies and Nations in my search. I was able to get copies of the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the years 1628, 1629, 1631, and 1633, as I have previously written. I have just continued the process of getting information to this day.

The ship Sint Vincent

Barring any evidence that this is wrong, I suspect that the Sint Vincent mentioned in David de Wildt's list is the ship hired by the Harlingen Directors for service in the First Anglo-Dutch War. In 1652 and into 1653, the Sint Vincent was commanded by Andries Douwesz Pascaert. The Sint Vincent seems to have been a 113ft long ship that carried 28 guns. From May 1653, Jacob Kleijntje commanded the Sint Vincent and did so up through the voyage to Norway, under Witte de With's command, from September to November 1653. You would think that the Sint Vincent must have been a good ship.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Not every Amsterdam hired ship was small

The hired ship Amsterdam is an example of larger ship that was hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam must have been a good ship, as she served through the war. The Amsterdam was large, with a 130ft length. The armament included 18 8pdr and 12pdr guns. That was out of a 30 gun armament. The rest were mostly 6pdr guns, along with 2-3pdr guns. the crew was substantial: 120 sailors and 30 soldiers. Paulus Egbertsz Sonck was appointed to replace Sijmon van der Aeck, probably by about April 1653.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Gideon de Wildt's ship Vrede in June 1653

The 23 June 1653 list gives the length of the Vrede, commanded by commandeur Gideon de Wildt, as 135 ft. Gideon de Wildt was a very young man and owed his appointment to being the younger brother of David de Wildt, the secretary of the Admiralty of Amsterdam. Carl Stapel says that Gideon de Wildt was hated by his men. The Vrede carried 44 guns. The main battery was a large number of 12pdr guns, supplemented by a few 24pdrs. The upper tier was incompletely armed with 8pdr guns. I would guess that the few 6pdr guns were carried on the quarterdeck. The crew was quite large by this date. The establishment was for 192 men. There were 176 actually on board: 145 sailors and 31 soldiers.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Is the Morgen Sterre the same ship as the Star?

I have an set of dimensions, with a gun list, dating from September 1652, for the Amsterdam ship Star. I had wondered if this was the same ship as the Morgen Sterre listed on 14 July 1653. Jacob Paulussen Cort had commanded the Star up to about April 1653. The ship was not listed in the 23 June 1653 list of ships with the fleet. On 14 July, the captain was Albert Claesz de Graeff and he commanded the ship at the Battle of Scheveningen. Previous lists give the number of guns as 28, but the 14 July entry gives just 26 guns. They both give only 6-12pdr guns and 12-8pdr guns, but the smaller guns vary considerably. Still, I tentatively accept that they were the same ship.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

d'Oude Prins Willem (23 June 1653)

This fascinating list from 23 June 1653 has information about the ship Prins Willem, here called d'Oude Prins Willem. The ship's length is given as 128ft, which if corret is quite long for a 30 gun ship. The Prins Willem had a main battery of 8pdr guns with a few 12pdr and a mixture of smaller guns between 6pdr and 3pdr. The crew is given as 106 men. There is no information listed about the mixture of sailors and soldiers.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Ship names

So, I assume that all the ships named with some variation of "Jonge Prins", "Prins Willem", "Prins te Paard", or even "Jonge Prins Willem te Paard" were named after Willem II, rather than his infant son, Willem III. The Rotterdam Directors' ship usually called simply the Prins was actually named in this pattern. The name may even have been the longest version, Jonge Prins Willem te Paard (young Prince William on horseback).

A good email just got deleted and can't be recovered

A good email got caught in the Gmail spam bucket and it was being deleted before I realized that I didn't want to lose it. Gmail does not allow recovering deleted mail, so it is gone. If you sent me an email about the Dutch in the Arctic, please send it again. Having a spam bucket is problematic, as good emails occasionally end up being classified as spam and I do not recognize them until it is too late.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

I have this document with a title

The title on a document that I received today is sort of interesting (to me): "Ceedes van Behoefte van 't Jacht vijrat (?) Hollandia daer Capt op is Rut Jacobsen Buis". The captain's name is often given as "Ruth Jacobszoon Buijs". This is apparently his handwriting, however, so perhaps the spelling is more authoritative. This probably dates from late October 1653. He was with Witte de With's fleet.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

The storm off the Texel in November 1653

The last few days, I have been receiving inventories from ships, dating from right before the storm off the Texel in early November 1653. Two of the recent inventories were from ships that foundered in the storm, the Gecroonde Liefde (Marcus Hartman's ship) and the Luipaert (Cornelis Tiebij's ship). The inventories have entries, like "one Prince's flag" and "one wimpel". At the top of the Gecroonde Liefde inventory is "one cable of 15 inches". By the way, there is this page called "Vlag en Wimpel". A wimpel is apparently a pennant or streamer. The storm was quite disasterous in its effect. Brave men and stout ships were lost in the storm. The lucky were wrecked on the coast. The worst foundered and were lost with all hands (they say "man and mouse"). Ships like the 37-gun Luipaert, the 34 gun ship Keurvorst van Keulen, 30 gun Coninck Radbout, the 36 gun Gecroonde Liefde foundered. Witte de With saved his fine ship, the Huis te Zwieten, by cutting the mainmast and letting it go over the side. The storm had the effect that was worse than losing the Battle of Scheveningen, where about nine or ten ships were lost.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

The Zeeland ship, the Haes

The Zeeland ship, the Haes, was listed as one of the Hundred Ships of the Extraordinary Equipage, in 1652. The Haes was apparently a fluit. From early in the First Anglo-Dutch War up to the Three Days Battle (the Battle of Portland), Johannes Michielszoon commanded the Haes. He was killed in the battle. By June 1653, Jan van Housen commanded the Haes. The Haes only carried 20 guns, and these were primarily 6pdr guns. There were a few 8pdr guns and the rest were 4pdrs. After the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort), the Haes had 2500 lbs of gunpowder on board. Her crew included 75 sailors and 22 land soldiers.

Monday, June 04, 2007

The Friesland ship Sint Nicolaes

The Friesland ship Sint Nicolaes was sunk in a collision, during the summer of 1652. This was a 116ft ship with a main battery of 8pdr guns, with some additional 6pdr, 4pdr, and 3pdr guns, as well. The crew consisted of 90 men. Captain Bouckhorst did not survive the collision, along with the ship.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Gijsbert Malcontent's ship, the Maeght van Enkhuijsen

I was just looking at the list of guns carried by Gijsbert Malcontent's Hoorn Directors' ship, the Maeght van Enkhuisen (Maagd van Enkhuizen). This was a 120ft ship that carried 28 guns. The main battery, at the time of the Three Days Battle, consisted of 12pdr guns. The rest were 8pdr and slightly fewer 4pdr guns. The crew was 110 men. The Maeght van Enkhuijsen was lost on the first day of the Three Days Battle (called the Battle of Portland by the English).

Saturday, June 02, 2007

My current list of the Amsterdam ships with Tromp's fleet in the Shetlands

In Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet, with the list of the Dutch ships with the fleet on the voyage to the Shetlands, the ships in Witte de With's squadron are listed separately. Of those listed with the main fleet, I recently have made some revisions, based my analysis of the latest information:
Admiralty’s ships of Amsterdam

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                
commandeur         Gideon de Wildt                  A        42   160  Vrede               
kapitein           Abraham van der Hulst            A        26   100  Overijssel          
kapitein           Gerbrandt Schatter               A        26    95  Dolphijn            
kapitein           Jacob Paulusz Cort               A        28    95  Star                
kapitein           Govert Reael                     A        36   140  Leeuwarden          

Joris de Colerij’s ship is to be deducted from the hundred.
kapitein           Joris de Colerij                 A        28   100  Hoop                

kapitein           Joris van der Zaan               A        38   130  Groningenn          
commandeur         Nicolaes Marrevelt               A        36   120  Zeelandia           
kapitein           Barent Pieterszoon Dorrevelt     A        34   125  Amsterdam           
kapitein           Cornelis Hola                    A        28   105  Leiden              

Jan ter Stege’s ship is to be deducted from the hundred
kapitein           Jan ter Stege                    A        26   100  Keijser             

Friday, June 01, 2007

Forty gun ships

As I have written before, the strongest Dutch 40 gun ships in 1652 to 1653 were 128ft long. The striking thing, for me, was to see just how many 40 gun ships, built by Amsterdam, were only 125ft long. One page that I received yesterday shows the the Zon and the Maan were of this length. The Zon (or Son) carried more 12pdr guns than the Maan and fewer 8pdrs. They both carried a few 18pdr guns to give them more punch, in the 16th Century style. I have wondered if the larger guns were carried on the broadside, or if they were "in chase". Frank Fox had indicated to me that the Dutch style was to have the larger guns at the ends of the lower tier, so that they could be turned to fire through extra, more forward, lower ports, or through the stern ports. The Elizabethans actually mounted the larger guns to fire forward, as they would fight "end on". They were constantly firing and turning. Only later did ships fight so that they sailed in line and fired broadsides.

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