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