The Friesland ship Graaf Hendrik

The ship Graaf Hendrik was hired by Groningen and served with the Admiralty of Friesland in the First Angl0-Dutch War. There are some pages from late 1652 that say that the Graaf Hendrik was a Groningen Directors' ship, but in 1653, the ship is always said to have served the Admiralty of Friesland. From the beginning of the war up until sometime in the spring of 1653, the Graaf Hendrik carried 30 guns. The ship was up-gunned to 36 guns and carried that number until her loss in the storm off the Texel in early November 1653. The Graaf Hendrik had a crew of 110 men, even after being up-gunned. The dimensions were:

Length: 129ft

Beam: 27-1/2ft

Hold: 13ft

The 36 gun armament was:

2-bronze 24pdr klokwijs guns

2-bronze 12pdr guns

2-bronze 12pdr klokwijs guns

4-bronze 3pdr klokwijs guns

2-iron 12pdr guns

2-iron 10pdr guns

8-iron 8pdr guns

10-iron 5pdr guns

4-iron 3pdr guns

Note that Jan Reyndersz Wagenaar commanded the Graaf Hendrik from the time that the ship was hired in 1652 until the Graaf Hendrik foundered in the storm off the Texel in November 1653.

Some interesting tidbits from Carl Stapel from early 2007

I have been the beneficiary in the past of receiving documents from Carl Stapel with the fruits of his research. What has interested me lately has been a list of Noorderkwartier ships from 1642 with sizes in lasts and dates when the ships were built. These were ships that served in 1652-1653, some with the same captain. In some cases, the nominal lasts do not match the dimensions (such as the Eendracht and Prinses Roijaal).

Adm Ship                  Built Lasts Guns Sailors Captain                 
N   Alkmaar               1639  150   22   95      Jan Warnaertsz Capelman 
N   Samson                1627  250   23   95      Floris Cornelisz Schellingkhout
N   Monnikendam           1640  150   24   95      Arent Dirckszoon
N   Kasteel van Medemblik 1640        24   95      Pieter Jacobz Schellinger
N   Stad Medemblik        1625  175   27   95      Gabriel Teuniszoon
N   Prinses Roijaal       1641  250   34  100      Cornelis Albertsz 't Hoen
N   Wapen van Holland     1639  200   28   90      Cornelis Lievensz de Zeeuw
N   Witte Eenhoorn        1626  200   34   90      Jan Tijssen
N   Hollandse Tuin        1632  250   32   97      Jan Heindrijchsz Backer
N   Eendracht             1639  300   36  101      Pauwels Vincentsz Coolen

Estimate dimensions:
150 lasts: 116ft x 25-1/2ft x 10-1/2ft
175 lasts: 120ft x 27ft x 11ft
200 lasts: 125ft x 29ft x 11-1/2ft
250 lasts: 129ft x 31ft x 12ft (estimated)
300 lasts: 130ft x 32ft x 12ft

The Battle of Dunkirk in early 1639

Our faithful reader and fellow researcher found this page that seems to give the names of the five Dutch warships in the foreground in the Van de Velde drawing of the Battle of Dunkirk on 18 February 1639: the Rotterdam, the Nassau, the Prins Hendrik, the ‘Deventer’ and the Aemilia.

22 July 1652

Today, July 22, 2010, is the anniversary of the English attack on the Dutch fishing fleet and fishery protection squadron on 22 July 1652, off the coast of Scotland. Amazingly, we do not have an accurate list of ships with all the details for the fishery protection squadron. The First Dutch War, Vol.I, reprinted, in translated form, the list of ships from the Hollandsche Mercurius from 1652. I now suspect that the piece of paper with the information that was used by the Hollandsche Mercurius was misinterpreted. There are some obvious mistakes, but the list seems likely to be accurate, and we just don't know enough to recognize that fact.

I had not realized that Teemu Koivumäki's site is gone

I was surprised to find that Teemu Koivumäki's website about sailing warships is gone. That is too bad, as it was a good, online resource. UPDATE: just the URL has changed: Sailing Warships

The Middelburg, a Middelburg Directors' ship

Jan Le Sage commanded the Middelburg Directors' ship Gulden Haan, a 36-gun ship, at the Battle of Portland, but he apparently commanded a different ship in 1652. Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet gives his ship as a 30-gun ship with a crew of 105 men with Tromp's fleet in July and August 1652. From the letter written by Johan Evertsen in mid-August, after returning from the Shetlands, we see that Jan Le Sage's ship was named Middelburg. Our chances of finding out any more information about Jan Le Sage's ship are slim, but perhaps there is something in the Zeeuws Archief or in private hands that would tell us more.

Is there a key to the ships in the Zeeslag bij Dunkirk drawing?

I now have the drawing of the Zeeslag bij Dunkirk (18 February 1639) as my desktop picture. Is there a key to the ships in the drawing? Willem van de Velde de Oude clearly had specific ships in mind when he created the drawing. Each ship seems to be a portrait.

The sea battle at Dunkirk on 18 February 1639

Wikipedia has a good, high-resolution image of the drawing by Willem van de Velde, the Elder, of the sea battle at Dunkirk on 18 February 1639. Could someone with knowledge about the upper stern pictures could tell what ships are depicted?

My ancestor, Matilda Lehman

My ancestor, Matilda Lehman, was born 18 Oct 1812. Her son, Solomon Lehman Beardsley, told the census workers twice that his mother was born in Holland. I take that to mean the Netherlands. I don't know a birth location. Earlier censuses give her birth place as Ohio (twice). Her son was the one who said that she was born in Holland. Solomon Beardsley was the father of my great-grandmother, Jesse Beardsley. One of her family was a co-founder of Miles Laboratories, and two others were presidents of the company (Andrew Hubble Beardsley and Charles Sumner Beardsley, whom I met as a young child).

Continued Vreugdenhil commentary: 24-27

    Name                  Guns  Adty.       Date   Length   Beam    Depth
11. Edam                  28-34  A          1644   124      28      11
                  The length of this ship was said to be 120ft in the
                    Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654, but
                    lists in 1652, 1653, and 1665 give the length as 124ft.

24. Goes or Ter Goes      40-48  A          1641   125      31      12
      The Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 gave the length as 124ft

25. Gorcum or Gorinchem   30-36  M          1639   115-7/11 27-3/11 10-10/11

26. Gouda                 28     A          1636*  116    29     11-1/4
      The Gouda may be one of the ships sold in 1648 and then reacquired in 1652

27. Graaf Willem          12     F          1644   74    18-1/2     8
      In 1648, the Graaf Willem was armed with 2-bronze 6pdr, 
         4-bronze 3 and 4pdr, and 6-iron 4pdr guns

More Vreugdenhil commentary

This is a continuation of what I started on the other blog:

    Name                  Guns  Adty.       Date   Length Beam   Depth
11. Edam                  28-34  A          1644   124    28     11
                  The length of this ship was said to be 120ft in the
                    Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654, but
                    lists in 1652, 1653, and 1665 give the length as 124ft.

12. Eendracht             41-48  N          1639   130    32     12

13. Eendracht (galjoot)   24     M (bought) 1647

14. Eenhoorn              22*    Z          1639*  100*   25*    10*

15. Hoorn                 29-32  N          1636   120    27     11

16. Engel Gabriel (jacht) 16*    A          1636   78*    20*    8.5*
        This jacht was sold in 1637 and replaced by the Drente

17. Enkhuizen             28-30  N          1645   116    26-1/2 10
        This was the ship commanded by Dirk Gerritsz Pomp in 1654

18. Wapen van Enkhuizen   30-34  N          1645   120    29     11-1/4
        This was the ship commanded by Gerrit Femsen in 1652-1653

19. Fazant                28-32  A          1646   120    29     12
        This was the ship commanded by Jan de Lapper in 1652-1653

So are there any hidden sources for the Driedaagse Zeeslag?

From a search of the obvious sources at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague, it seems that there are no sources that give details about the Dutch ships or fleet in the Battle of Portland (early 1653), or as the Dutch call it, the Driedaagse Zeeslag. My question is if there are some sources either in private hands or in places that we have not though to look? We have Dr. Ballhausen's book, but what he has seems to be speculative, at best. I even think that his map might be incorrect. We have really good information from April to October 1653. There are good fleet lists and ship data for that period. The data for the Battle of Dungeness is adequate, but I don't have all the details that I would like. There is also said to be good data for the Battle of the Kentish Knock, such as the reports given to Witte de With after the battle, but I don't have those.

My Ancestor Matilda Lehman

I am starting to have more confidence that my ancestor, Matilda Lehman (sometimes phonetically spelled as Matilda Lemon), was born in "Holland". Both in the 1870 and 1900 United States Census, Matilda Lehman's son, Solomon Beardsley, told the census that his mother was born in "Holland". She was apparently born in 1812, although I don't know at what location. So perhaps I really do have a Dutch connection.

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Walvisch

The Walvisch (the archaic spelling) was number 38 on the list of ships in the Dutch fleet on 23 June 1653. Dr. Elias mentioned the Walvisch in his book, Schetsen uit de geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen. The ship specifications in the 23 June 1653 list are often not correct, but they still are of interest:

Length:        125ft
Beam:            29ft
Hold:              11-1/2ft
Deck height:   6ft

30 guns and a crew of 110 men

Guns:  10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 10-6pdr, 2-3pdr

Dr. Ballhausen's book is now in snippet view in Google Books

Dr. Ballhausen's book about the First Anglo-Dutch War and the war between the Netherlands and Sweden is now in snippet view in Google Books. That is a slight improvement over not being visible at all. I have a copy of the original book, although it is not very accessible, being in German, which I know less well than Dutch. At least it is now searchable in Google Books, which can be a help.

The Friesland ship Gideon in 1631

I received a photograph of a page from 1631 with information about the Friesland ship Gideon, a pinnace used as a convoyer:

the pinnace Gideon
commanded by Tiebbe Auckes
of 96 lasts
manned by 70 men

Armed with:
2-bronze 15pdr
2-bronze 9pdr
10-iron 9pdr
4-steenstukken

I estimate a 96 last ship to have dimensions:
89ft x 23.5ft x 9.5ft x 5.5ft

This seems like some good information that our friends in Friesland might like to see.

The Amsterdam ship Haerlem in 1631

Yesterday, I received the first few pictures from an Amsterdam ship list dating from 1631. One of the ships was the Haerlem, said to be a vessel of 225 lasts. I did a calculation and the ship could be one of those with dimensions 125ft x 31ft x 12ft x 7ft, which eventually carried 40 guns. In 1631, the Haerlem carried 2-bronze 24pdr, 4-short bronze chambered 18pdr, 2-bronze 12pdr, 14-iron 12pdr, 6-iron 5pdr, and 8-steenstukken. The Haerlem had a crew of 106 men and was commended by Commandeur Hendrick Cleuter. The page is annotated with 4 July 1631.

A ship of interest from David de Wildt's list from 22 February 1652

David de Wildt, the secretary of the Admiralty of Amsterdam, compiled a list of ships at Amsterdam that were suitable for hiring for service with the navy. Several ships are of particular interest. The names and dimensions in the list do not always agree in every detail with that in other sources. One name I had originally read as Graeff Monais, I later realized was the Graeff Morais (Maurits). This was a ship owned (I think)by Albert Claesz Graeff. Albert Claesz Graeff commanded several ships during the course of the First Anglo-Dutch War (the 30-gun ship Hollandia and the Star or Morgen Star or Ster). David de Wildt's list gives the dimensions of the Graeff Morais as 132ft x 30ft x 13ft x 7ft. I believe that this was the ship hired by the Amsterdam Directors for service under the name Prins Maurits or Mauritius. The sihp was wrecked in November 1652.

Dutch fleet lists in the First Anglo-Dutch War

I don't really count the Dutch fleet lists for the Mediterranean battles in the First Anglo-Dutch War, as they are very well-known. I don't have everything that is known, as I don't have the good list for the Battle of the Kentish Knock that I have been told exists. I do have two good lists for the opening battle of the war at Dover. I don't have a definitive list of the Fishery Protection Squadron that was attacked on 22 July 1652 (new style). We do have fairly good information about De Ruyter's fleet at the Battle of Plymouth. I have some information, but the published list is at best ambiguous and would seem to be wrong in some particulars. I also have a list that could be refined for the fleet at the Shetland Islands at the time of the storm in early August 1652. We do have a good list of captains for Tromp's fleet at the Battle of Dungeness. You have to have more information, which we have, to actually give the ship names and guns carried. We lack a good list for the fleet in the Three Days Battle (the Battle of Portland). Seemingly, the documents were destroyed in the fire in 1844. Again, we have good lists that need to be refined for the Battle of the Gabbard and the Battle of Scheveningen (Ter Heide). We also have good information for the ships in Witte de With's fleet that went to Norway in September 1653 and returned in early November, only to be devastated by a severe storm off the Texel. Hopefully, some of this will be published in the next few years. Rif Winfield published a small amount, without the details in his new book.

The Princess Maria (Dutch prize)

I just received my copy of Rif Winfield's new book. I noticed what he wrote about the Dutch prize, Princess Maria, that served in the First Anglo-Dutch War for the English. The Princess Maria had been built as the Rotterdam ship Princess Roijael Maria in 1643. I did some calculations about the ship:

Dimensions in Maas feet: 114ft x 27ft x 12ft   200 Rotterdam lasts
Dimensions in Amsterdam feet: 124.36ft x 29.45ft x 13.09ft  230 lasts
Dimensions using English measurements:
Keel Length in English feet: 97ft
Beam outside the planking:   28ft-6in
Depth:                       12ft-2.5in

When captured in 1652, the Princess Maria carried: 2-24pdr, 4-18pdr, 4-12pdr, 22-8pdr, 2-6pdr guns

Is there a key to the ships in the Battle of Livorno drawing?

I use the Battle of Livorno drawing as my desktop image on one computer. This is the classic drawing by Willem van de Velde de Oude that shows the stern of the Maan, presumably capturing the English Leopard in the battle. The stern of the Witte Oliphant, a 34-gun hired ship, is visible to the left, somewhat closer. I have wondered if there is a key to the ships in the drawing that identifies them.

The Jaarsveld and Vrede

Two large ships were built in 1650, right before the Vrijheid was built. Lists from 1652 give the Jaarsveld and Vrede very similar dimensions. The Vrede may have been slightly larger. We really don't know how accurate the dimensions listed for the Jaarsveld were: 130ft x 32ft x 13ft x 7ft. The Vrede is listed in later lists as 131-1/2ft x 32-1/2ft x 13-1/2ft x 7ft. The Jaarsveld is listed as carrying: 4-24pdr, 22-12pdr, 16-8pdr, and 2-6pdr guns. In 1652, the Vrede was listed as carrying: 4-24pdr, 22-12pdr, 14-8pdr, and 4-6pdr guns. The crew size listed for the Jaarsveld, 150 men, seems like a nominal number, rather than an exact figure. We actually have what seem to be real figures for the Vrede, at least in 1653. Even on 16 November 1652, the crew was listed as 162 men, which seems like a real crew size, not a nominal number. The Jaarsveld came to a premature end on an uncharted rock near Livorno (Leghorn), but the Vrede was in service up to about 1667.

The "Three Days Battle"

The Three Days Battle (more prominently known as the Battle of Portland to the English-speaking peoples) was a hard-fought action between the main English fleet and the main Dutch fleet, which was protecting a large convoy. The battle was fought from 28 February to 2 March 1653 (new style dates). None of the accounts that are known have a fleet list for the Dutch. Presumably, the records were destroyed in the fire at the Ministry of Marine in 1844. Dr. Ballhausen made an attempt to reconstruct the fleet list and organization in his book, but I have little faith in it. I have thought that we could take the Dutch fleet list and organization from Johan Evertsen's journal from late 1652 and derive the fleet list for the Three Days Battle. We have information about what ships were absent and have information about the Zeeland ships that survived the battle. There is also the account in the book Onstelde-Zee that gives some accurate information, including ship names. Our only hope is that some important documents are in private hands and just unknown, but are preserved.