The Dutch ship Vrijheid on 21 June 1653

I have the inventory for the Dutch warship Vrijheid, dated 21 June 1653. The thing that caught my eye was that I had thought that the Vrijheid carried 52 guns on that date, but I was wrong, the Vrijheid had 50 guns:

Lower Deck
4-24pdr
18-12pdr

Upper Deck
4-12pdr
20-8pdr
2-6pdr
2-3pdr

Dingeman Cats in 1652 to 1653

Dingeman Cats served as a captain for the Admiralty of Zeeland in 1652 and 1653. At the beginning of the First Anglo-Dutch War, he commanded a hired ship, the Dolphijn. The Dolphijn was quite small with dimensions of 105ft x 24ft x ? x 5-1/2ft. The Dolphijn was armed with 14-8pdr, 8-4pdr, and 2-3pdr. A report on 6 December 1652 gave the crew as 73 sailors and 25 sailors. That was actually after the Dolphijn had been discarded. Dingeman Cats was appointed to command a larger ship, the Liefde (sometimes called the Gecroonde Liefde). The definitive information that we have about the Liefde is from the same report from 6 December 1652. That document gives the dimensions as being 110ft x 23-1/2ft x ? x 5ft. The armament given there was 12-8pdr, 6-4pdr, and 5-3pdr. The list compiled on 23 June 1653 gives the armament on that date as 12-8pdr, 7-4pdr, and 4-3pdr. The crew was nominally 94 men in September and October 1653.

What we know about the Gecroonde Liefde, Marcus Hartman's ship, in 1653

Captain Marcus Hartman commanded the Middelburg Directors' ship Gecroonde Liefde in 1653. Early in the year, Michiel De Ruyter used the ship as his temporary flagship. After that, the Gecroonde Liefde continued to serve in his squadron. The Gecroonde Liefde was one of the ships that was lost in the storm off the Texel on about 9 November 1653. We know the dimensions of the Gecroonde Liefde: 136ft x 29ft x ? x 6-1/2ft. The we don't know the exact armament, but we are close: 4-18pdr, 2-12pdr, 20-8pdr and 9pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-4pdr. In April 1653, the crew was 145 men. That must have been a nominal number, because the number is too exact. The Gecroonde Liefde was very long and narrow and is similar to Straatsvaarders that were designed for speed for service in the Mediterranean Sea. This is another ship with a large number of 8 pounder guns, although there was actually a mix of 8 pounder and 9 pounder guns. We always suspect that 9 pounder guns were of English manufacture. This information is partly from documents from the Nationaal Archief and information supplied to me by Carl Stapel.

The Zeven Provincien on 3 March 1672

We have a handwritten list that includes the details for the Zeven Provincien (the Dutch fleet flagship) as of 3 March 1672:

Name:  Zeven Provincien
Admiralty: Admiralty of the Maze or Rotterdam
Built: 1665
Length in Amsterdam feet: 163 feet
Beam in Amsterdam feet:    43 feet
Hold in Amsterdam feet:    16-1/2 feet
Deck height in Amsterdam feet: 7-1/2 feet
Guns
12-36pdr
16-24pdr
12-18pdr
18-12pdr
20-6pdr
4-clockwise 6pdr

Book: Dutch Ships in Various Operations in the First Anglo-Dutch War

I have had this book project, Dutch Ships in Various Operations in the First Anglo-Dutch War, in work for more than a decade. I would like to push to complete this as a Kindle book. I am in the process of doing the necessary reformatting. I have the information needed, although some analysis remains to be done.