More ships from the list of 22 June 1653

These are more ships from the status list of ships, dated 22 June 1653:

No.83 Goes            kapitein Cornelis Cuiper              97 men  26 guns
No.84 Sint Joris      kapitein Jacob Wolfersen             100 men  23 guns
No.85 West Cappel     kapitein Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge   95 men  28 guns
No.86 Zee Ridder      kapitein Gillis Janssen              114 men  28 guns
No.87 Neptunus        kapitein Adriaen de Oven  taken by the English
No.88 Zeeuwsche Leeuw commandeur Cornelis Evertsen de Oude 127 men  28 guns

The ship Westfriesland on 22 June 1653

Hendrick Huyskens commanded the Amsterdam ship Westfriesland at the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. From the status list dated about 22 June 1653, we have some details about the ship (useful for wargamers and researchers):

No.10 (in the list) Westfriesland  kapitein Huijskens       110 men 28 guns

Length: 122ft      103 men actually on board
Beam:    28ft
Hold:    12ft
Above:    6-1/2ft

28 guns: 4-bronze 12pdr, 14-iron 8pdr, 4-bronze 6pdr, 
         2-iron 6pdr, 2-bronze 4pdr klokwijs (chambered),
         2-iron 3pdr guns

The Campen on 22 June 1653

The ship Campen fought in the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. We have some details about the ship from the status list compiled on 22 June:

No.21  Campen   Willem van Sanen (van der Zaan)  158 men   40 guns

Length: 133ft
Beam:    32ft
Above:    7ft

40 guns:  4 bronze 18pdr, 2-bronze 12pdr
          14 iron 12pdr  16 iron 6pdr, 
          4 bronze 6pdr klokwijs guns (chambered)

The Leiden on 22 June 1653

Hendrick Kroeger commanded the Amsterdam ship Leiden in the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. I have a page from the status list dating from 22 June that gives some details about the Leiden:

The ship Leiden, kapitein Hendrick Kroeger

Length: 118ft   Beam: 28-1/2ft  Height above hold: 6-1/2ft

The Leiden nominally had a crew of 107 men, but on 22 June
had 96 sailors and 14 soldiers

30 Guns:  
 6-12pdr 100 12pdr shot
18-8pdr  130  8pdr shot
 6-6pdr   no  6pdr shot

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Samson on 22 June 1653

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Samson, commanded by Cornelis de Groot, fought in the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. The status report on 22 June gave some details of the ship. The dimensions listed were 119ft x 28ft x 13ft x 6ft. The desired crew consisted of 110 men, but only 97 were on board on 22 June. the Samson carried 28 guns: 10-12pdr, 10-8pdr, 6-6pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. The ship had 2700 lbs of gunpowder on board.

Comparing the Prinses Louise and Leeuwarden

If you were really picky, you might want to haggle over some of the specifics of this analysis, but I think that overall, this comparison between the Prinses Louise, Witte de With's flagship from 1651 to 1652 and the Leewarden, his flagship in mid-1653, is reasonable. I compare dimensions, estimated displacement, estimated armament weight, and broadside weight:

                Prinses Louise      Leeuwarden
                Adm of Rotterdam    Adm of Amsterdam
                1646                1645

Crew            121 sailors         120 sailors
                41 soldiers         20 soldiers

Length          120ft               120ft
Beam            28ft-4in            29-3/4ft
Hold            12ft-6in            11-3/4ft
Ht betw decks   7ft-1in             6-3/4ft

Mean draft      12ft-4in            11ft-7in
(English feet)  

English Burden  365-17/29 tons      398 tons

Lasts           200 lasts           200 lasts

Displacement    523 tons            511 tons

Jan Glete's
Displacement    496.36 tons         487.61 tons

Broadside wt    214 lbs             182 lbs

Armament wt     44.34 tons (8.48%)  35.94 tons (7.03%)

The Prinses Louise was more heavily armed than the Leewarden, although I may overstate the armament weight, as at least some of Prinses Louise's guns were drakes or chambered.

Rif Winfield's book, The 50-Gun Ship is one of my favorite books

I wish that Rif Winfield was able to write more about ships dating from the 1640's and 1650's, as his book, The 50-Gun Ship, is excellent. The book is now about ten years old. He told me that no one writes about English ships prior to 1660, because no one knows where to look for the good information. Still, he has compiled some for ships from this period for his book. For example, he has the construction history and dimensions for the "early frigates" from 1635 to 1647. I am interested in the English ship history (not just the Dutch) from about 1487 up to about 1730. I have done a great deal of research in the past on this period, mostly from published sources, some modestly obscure. For example, I have my own copy of Charles Derrick's book Memoire of the Rise and Progress of the Royal Navy (London, 1806).

The Amsterdam ship Leeuwarden

Only after I received Witte de With's journals did I realize that he had used the Leeuwarden as his flagship in April and May 1653, including for the raid on Scarborough. The Leeuwarden was a 120ft ship, probably built in 1645. The Leeuwarden must have been a pretty good ship, as she was in service from 1645 until 1667. From 1666 to 1667, the Leeuwarden was charted to Denmark. By then, a ship of the Leeuwarden's size was less important in the Dutch service, as they were hurriedly building much larger ships. Govert Reael commanded the Leeuwarden through the First Anglo-Dutch War for the Admiralty of Amstedam. By June 1653, the crew nominally 158 men. The Leeuwarden was armed with equal numbers of 12pdr and 6pdr guns, with several 8pdr and 4-18pdr guns.

A page dated 28 July 1653 with notes at the bottom

A letter signed by "M.Harperts Tromp", dated 28 July 1653, has some interesting notes at the bottom. The notes titled "Of Zeeland" caught my eye:

Vice-Adm. Jan Evertsz.
the English prize captured (perhaps the Bonaventura)
van der Veer (perhaps the Wapen van der Veere)
the ship Nieuw Vlissingen
the Salamander

These were all ships that fought in the Battle of Scheveningen (or Ter Heide) on 10 August 1653.

Adriaan van den Bosch's ship in 1653

Adriaan van den Bosch (or Bos) commanded the Amsterdam hired ship Engel Gabriel in July and August 1653. Given that the armament was the same as that for the ship hired on 19 June 1652, I would say that this was the same ship (6-12pdr, 12-6pdr, 8-4pdr, and 2-3pdr). The Engel Gabriel was a 120ft ship.

The Engel Gabriel hired ship in July 1653

We think that the hired ship Engel Gabriel was in service in 1652, perhaps known as just the "Engel". I have seen the inventory made when the Engel Gabriel was hired in Amsterdam. Captain van den Bos (or Bosch) was commander of the Engel Gabriel in July 1653 and commanded the Engel Gabriel at the Battle of Scheveningen, as well. The Engel Gabriel had a nominal crew of 110 men, and these seem to have been actually on board. The armament consisted of 28 guns: 6-12pdr, 12-6pdr, 8-4pdr, and 2-3pdr guns.

A PhD thesis topic

When I had proposed this project, three or four years ago, Jan Glete and Frank Fox both encouraged me to pursue it. The idea sounds more like a PhD thesis topic than something suitable for a popular work. The idea is to do quantitative comparisons of the Dutch and English ships (and in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the French, as well) at each battle in the First, Second, and Third Anglo-Dutch War to see if there is a correlation between the winners of battle and having the aggregate greatest displacement of ships and the heaviest broadsides. I am also interested in the weight of guns carried versus the displacement of the ships, as a percentage. You actually need to estimate displacement, as "gross tonnage", as measured by the Dutch last or the English burden calculation is not a useful figure. You actually need to have some real indication of the size of a ship, in tons of 2,240 lbs. Since we have more information available about gun weights and guns carried for the Dutch, we are better able to do some of the these calculations. The English information for the First Anglo-Dutch War will have to be mostly estimated, but we can do better for the other two wars.

Noorderkwartier ships

I assume that Willem Ham's ship Sampson, a Noorderkwartier landsschip, was a 116ft ship. I could be wrong, but it seems likely. The Sampson was captured by the English on 22 July 1652, and was a sufficiently good ship that the English placed the Sampson in service in their navy under the same name and also carrying 26 guns. The Sampson served under the English flag until being sunk by gunfire at the Three Days Battle. The Sampson was the only English ship lost in the fight, being sunk on the first day.

I am less sure about Jan Warnaertsz Capelman's ship, the Alkmaar. The Alkmaar also was armed with 26 guns and was captured by the English in the Channel in Jun 1652. The Alkmaar was one of the 36 ships activated for service in late summer of 1651. This group of ships was intended for service in the Mediterranean against the North African pirates as well as increasing the Dutch readiness for a possible war with the English. The Alkmaar may have well been a 120ft ship, but could have also been a 116ft. All Noorderkwartier landschepen seem to have been either 116ft or 120ft long. The only exception was the 130ft Eendracht, armed with 40 or 41 guns which served in the Mediterranean Sea until after the Battle of Livorno in 1653.

Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier from late July 1652

This is the list of Noorderkwartier commanders and their ships from a list of ships with Tromp's fleet in late July 1652:

Admiralty ships of the Noorderkwartier

Captain                         Ship                  Guns
Schout-bij-Nacht Pieter Florisz Monnikendam           32
Pieter Allertsz                 Hoorn                 24
Cornelis Pietersz Taenman       Prins Maurits         28
Arent Dircksz                   Wapen van Monnikendam 24
Pieter Schellinger              Stad Medemblick       26
Gerrit Femmsz                   Wapen van Enkhuijsen  30
Gerrit Nobel                    Wapen van Alckmaer    28
Thijs Tijmensz Peerboom         Peereboom             24
Gerrit Munth                    Huijs van Nassau      28

The Amsterdam Directors' ships with Tromp's fleet in July 1652

The list of Amsterdam Directors' captains with Tromp's fleet in late July 1652 that I just received is mainly interesting for the spelling of captains' names, which I have reproduced exactly:

Captain                    Ship             Guns
Jan Meijkes                Alexander        28
Dirck Pater                Blauwe Arent     28
Mattheus Cornelisz         Sint Salvador    34
Jacob Swart                Faem             28
Abraham van Campen         Arke Troijane    28
Cornelis Jansz Poort       Croon Imperiael  34
Cornelis Jansz Brouwer     Valck            28
Marten de Graef            Prinses Roijael  28
Gerrit van Limmen          Neptunis         34
Cornelis Naeuoogh          Sint Matheeus    34
Nicolaes de With           Mauritius        34
Gerrit Schuijt             Rooseboom        28
Bastiaen Bardoel           Engel Gabriel    28
Cornelis van Houten        Witte Lam        28
Hector Bardesius           Gideon           34
Stoffel Juriaensz          Sint Francisco   28
Claes Bastieansz Jaersvelt Davidt en Goliat 34
Jacob Sijbertsz Spanheijm  Elias            34
Lambert Pietersz           Nassouw          34
Hendrick de Raedt          Swarte Leeuw     28
Sipke Fockes               Sint Maria       28 lying mastless in the Texel
Bruijn van Seelst          Groote Liefde    38
Fredrick de Coninck        Groote Vergulde Fortuijn  35
Fredrick Bogaert           Engel Michiel    28

Somewhat off topic: the harbor at Amsterdam in early May 2007

I was looking at my photographs from my trip to the Netherlands in early May 2007. This is a representative picture of the harbor, with a vessel under way.

More about the Hollandsche Tuin, thanks to Carl Stapel

Carl Stapel kindly supplied more information about the Noorderkwartier ship Hollandsche Tuin. He says that the Hollandsche Tuin was built in 1631 and was sold on 28 May 1654 at Enkhuizen. That differs from what Vreugdenhil said. Ron van Maanen apparently used Vreugdenhil's dates, given that he had not seen anything else.

The Hollandsche Tuin

Ron van Maanen says that the Noorderkwartier ship Hollandsche Tuin was actually built in 1632, but was mentioned for the first time in lists that we have in 1636. He says that the Hollandsche Tuin carried between 32 and 36 guns and had a crew of between 97 and 110 men. We know that Jan Adriaensz Backer commanded the Hollandsche Tuin from 2 March 1650 up to 9 June 1652, when the ship was unfit for service.

List of ammunition for the Admiralty of Rotterdam in early 1654

Another photograph that arrived today showed the ammunition available for the Admiralty of Rotterdam in early 1654:

70,000 lbs of gunpowder

  600 36 lb shot
 3000 24 lb shot
 4000 18 lb shot
  400 15 lb shot
12000 12 lb shot
 4000  8 lb shot
 6000  6 lb shot
 2000  5 lb shot
 2000  4 lb shot
 6000  1 lb shot

I believe that they fired a number of one pound shot from larger caliber guns, either for anti-personnel or anti-masts and rigging shooting.

New Friesland ships: the Westergo

On the 8th, I received a document that dates from early 1654 with dimensions of the new Friesland ships. Another of the entries is for the new ship Westergo, which was not as large as the biggest, the Oostergo:

the ship Westergo

Length:  134ft
Beam:     34ft
Hold:     14ft
Height 
between decks: 7-1/2ft

Crew: 170 sailors: 28 officers and 142 men
       30 land soldiers

I frequently get confused with what Ron van Maanen has

Ron van Maanen usually does not mention captains. Generally, all he has are listing for ships by name and admiralty (possibly Directors). I often see instances where, given that I cannot tell what the captain is meant to be, that he seems to have combined two or more ships into one entry. I would have said, from one notation in his Eenhoorn entry in the largest list, that he had seen the list that I just received of Noorderkwartier ships. He has the dimensions for the ship of 1625 (125ft length) that are in this list, and which I have seen no where else. He mentions a date, 20 February 1654, which seems plausible for this list. However, reducing my confidence in what he has, he includes the dimensions and completion date for the ship called Hoorn in this list I have (a 120ft ship).

The Rotterdam ship Dolphijn on 28 July 1652

The Dolphijn is another Rotterdam ship that is mentioned with differing dimensions at different times. I have this document dated 28 July 1652 that gives the dimensions in Maas feet as: 110ft x 25-1/2ft x 12-1/2ft and the armament as 28 guns. These differ from the dimensions published in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 and in Vreugdenhil's list. Since we are usually just interested in seeing dimensions in Amsterdam feet, let us convert (yet again) the dimensions: 120ft x 27ft-9in x 13ft-7in. The Dolphijn is unusual in having a larger hold depth than is normal for a Dutch warship of this size.

Some captains from a list in 1652

I find that lists are interesting for the little bits of information that can be gleaned, such as middle names or variations on men's names. For example, from a list dated 4 November 1652:

Captain                          Adm   Ship
Hendrick Jansz de Munnick        R     Holland      30 guns
Leendert Haexwandt               R     Utrecht      22 guns
Dirck Juijnbol                   R     Schiedam     30 guns
Dirck Vijgh                      R     Overijssel   22 guns
Ernestus de Barterij             R     Hollandia    24 guns
Corstiaen Eldertszoon            R     Roscam       26 guns
Marinus de Clercq                R     Sphera Mundi 26 guns
Corstiaen Corstiaensz de Munnick R-Dir Prins        38 guns

The Bataviawerf page on Michiel de Ruyter and the Zeven Provincien

The Bataviawerf site has a page about Michiel de Ruyter and the Zeven Provincien, his flagship during the critical battles during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars. There is an English version of the site that is less complete. They have a picture of Herbert Tomesen's model of the Zeven Provincien.

The Vrede and Vogelstruijs could have had the same dimensions

I was looking at the dimensions of the VOC ship Vrede that fought in the Battle of the Kentish Knock, commanded by Pieter Salomonszoon, and decided that I should check them against the dimensions of the Estrich (the name given to the Vogelstruijs by the English). I used my system for converting between Dutch and English dimensions:

Dutch     English

          Measured                    Calculated
Length    Length on keel              Length on keel

155ft     116ft                       116.54ft  (Dutch/1.33)

Beam      Beam outside the planking

38ft      36ft-3in                     33.63ft  (Dutch/1.13)

Hold      Depth in hold

19ft      17ft                         16.814ft (Dutch/1.13)

I believe that the answer is "yes". The beam issue just means that The planking on the Vogelstruijs was thinner than my system assumes. Herbert Tomesen, of Artitec expressed the opinion that the Vogelstruijs had the dimesions 160ft x 38ft x 18ft, as there was a charter like that for Amsterdam ships that had to get over the bar to enter Amsterdam.

The original plan for the 30 ships

The original plan for building 30 ships in 1652-1653 would have been much better than what was actually built. Inter-province politics eventually resulted in a much weaker building program. The original plan would have included:

Charters:  
150ft x 38ft x 15ft x 8ft 
140ft x 36ft x 14-1/2ft x 7-1/2ft
134ft x 34ft x 14ft x 7ft

   Charters:   150ft    140ft    134ft
Admiralty:

Rotterdam       1 ship   2 ships  2 ships

Amsterdam       2 ships  4 ships  4 ships

Zeeland         1 ship   2 ships  2 ships

Noorderkwartier 1 ship   2 ships  2 ships

Friesland       1 ship   2 ships  2 ships

Totals:         6 ships  12 ships 12 ships

This would have given the Dutch the equivalent of 6 English 2nd Rates, 12 English 3rd Rates, and 12 English 4th Rates. Eventually, they only built on 150ft ship among the first 30 ships.

I keep rethinking these issues, so I keep writing about them

My focus is on building a complete narrative of the ships, officers, and fleet in various operations in the First Anglo-Dutch War. My attention is constantly drawn to unresolved issues, so I keep rehashing them, hoping to gain fresh insights in the process. We are also looking for new information that may answer the questions. I don't care to kick back and wait for Carl Stapel or whomever to publish what they have. I want to know now, not later, and not from reading some book.

The Amsterdam ship Star or Morgenstar

We had seen a ship named Morgenstar mentioned as being in the Mediterranean Sea prior to the First Anglo-Dutch War. This seems to be the same ship called Star in 1652 and early 1653 and which was commanded by Jacob Pauwelsz Cort. This same ship, also called Morgenstar was commanded from May 1653 by Albert Claesz Graeff. He commanded the Morgenstar in the Battle of Scheveningen. One possibility is that they were different ships, but we think that they were the same ship. For one thing, you don't see the two ships in service with the fleet concurrently. Jacob Pauwelsz Cort eventually became Michiel De Ruyter's flag captain in the new ship Huis te Cruiningen, which had been purchased from Genoa while under construction.

Dutch arming plans from late 1653

One of the documents that I received yesterday, dating from late 1653, consists of arming plans for new ships:

Ship of dimensions 150ft x 39ft x 15ft with 58 guns:

Lower Deck:
 6-bronze 24pdr
20-iron 18pdr

Upper Deck:
10-bronze 12pdr
12-iron 12pdr
10-bronze 6pdr drakes

Ship of dimensions 140ft x 36ft x 14ft with 52 guns:

Lower Deck:
 4-bronze 24pdr
10-iron 18pdr
 8-bronze 12pdr

Upper Deck:
 6-bronze 12pdr
14-iron 12pdr
10-bronze 6pdr drakes