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
Sunday, November 11, 2007
What I know about Joost Bulter's ship in 1653
Two things that I know for certain about Joost Bulter's ship that was sunk by gunfire at the Battle of the Gabbard are that the ship was named Stad Groningen en Ommelanden and the ship was employed by the Admiralty of Friesland, not the Harlingen or Groningen Directors. The documentary evidence is overwhelming. Only in the published literature is the ship called the Kameel. My theory is that a Van de Velde drawing has a note that the ship was called the Kameel. I base that on the article by P. Haverkorn van Rijsewijk "De Eerste Oorlog met Engeland en W. van de Velde de Oude", in Oud-Holland 17th Annual Edition 1899. Actually, an English book from 1870 precedes that publication. It is the The Life of Richard Deane by John Bathurst Deane, published in London in 1870. The book lacks an index so the reference is only found by checking Dr. Ballhausen's book. Page 654 is a good reference for the name and number of guns being Camel and 42 guns. Both of these seem to be wrong. The Deane biography attributes that information to page 120 of the Life of Martin Herbert Tromp (Anglicized version of the admiral's name).