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.