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
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The Vrijheid at the Battle of the Gabbard
One piece of trivia of the sort that interests me is that the new Amsterdam ship Vrijheid was armed with 50 guns and had a crew of 190 men at the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. The Dutch call the battle the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort. The dimensions in our list from 23 June 1653 has rather heroic dimensions: 136ft x 35ft x 14ft x 7ft. The ship is more likely to have been built to the dimensions usually quoted, which are somewhat smaller. The Vrijheid had a lower tier armed with 12pdr guns, supplemented by 4-24pdr and an upper tier of 8pdr guns. There were also several 6pdr and 3pdr guns in the upper works.