Dutch guns

I have been doing some calculation about Dutch guns of bronze. In one case, a Dutch 24pdr gun was captured by the English. The gun was 9-1/2ft long and weighed some 4352 pounds. I estimate that a bronze 24pdr gun that weighed 4111 pounds was 9ft long. Going even further in estimating, I would estimate that a bronze 16pdr gun that weighed 3136 pounds was 9ft long. A bronze 16pdr gun that weighed 2961 pounds would be 8-1/2ft long. A bronze 15pdr that weighed 2761 pounds would be 8-1/4ft long. The only problem that I can see with these estimates is that they are probably wrong!

The list on pages 156 and157 of The First Dutch War, Vol.VI

Yesterday, I was comparing a list from the archives, from the journals of Michiel De Ruyter, and could see, again, that this was the list that C. T. Atkinson had seen and put into The First Dutch War, Vol.VI on pages 156 and 157. Atkinson was not very familiar with the material, so he did not recognize that the list was of the ships in De Ruyter's fleet in mid August of 1652. This is the list that says that Laurens Degelcamp (or Degelencamp) commanded a ship named Gelderland at the time. There are two X's next to the ship Sint Nicolaes and to the Gelderland. The Sint Nicolaes was lost by collision, presumably with Aert van Nes's ship, also named Gelderland.

Ship armaments

One thing to bear in mind about how Dutch ships were armed in the First Anglo-Dutch War is that by the 1670's, English fifth rates had a main armament of 9pdr demi-culverins with 30 0r 32 guns total. A representative fifth rate had 18-9pdr, 10-5pdr, and 4-4pdr guns. Since many of the Dutch ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War were armed with 12pdr, 8pdr, and 6pdr guns, they are not that far out of line. They were ill-suited for fighting 40-some gun 4th rates or larger ships, but they were what the Dutch mostly had. The Dutch were not able to fix their problem until too late for the first war. It was only the second war building program that provided them with ships that could fight on a more equal basis. Those ships were not as well-armed until the third war, as there was still a shortage of larger guns in the 1664 to 1667 period.

Comments on some Zeeland ships

There is a great deal of confusion about certain Zeeland ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War. Part of that confusion is caused by the coverage in Vreugdenhil's list. He only mentions ship names and provides scant details. I think that I can reduce some of that confusion, or I will at least try:

Vreudenhil's number Name            Guns Date Length Captain
 67                 Zeelandia         32 1642 122ft  Andries Pietersz den Boer
217                 Zeelandia         32 1648 118ft  Jan Naelhout
315                 Zeeuwsche Leeuw   27      116ft  Cornelis Evertsen de Oude
                 (in the original documents, the ship is not called the
                  Wapen van Zeeland)
not listed          Wapen van Zeeland 34      116ft  Joost Willemsz Block

Vreugdenhil seems to have confused two different ships, mixing the information for the Zeeuwsche Leeuw with the name of Joost Willemsz Block's ship. Cornelis Evertsen de Oude's ship served with Tromp's fleet while the other three served in the Mediterranean Sea during 1652 and 1653.

A. Vreugdenhil, Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702, 1938.

Abraham van der Hulst's ship on 29 July 1652

I have a document that shows that Abraham van der Hulst's ship, which we know was the Overijssel, on 29 July 1652 carried 28 guns and had a crew of 90 men. Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet shows the ship with 26 guns and a crew of 100 men. I would guess that the 28 guns and a crew of 90 men were correct.