The Kleine Harder of 1658

The Kleine Harder took part in the Four Days Battle. She belonged to the Admiralty of Amsterdam, and had been built about 1658, at Amsterdam. Her dimensions were: 114ft x 28ft x 11ft. Her planned crew was 120 sailors and marines and 2o land soldiers. She actually carried 114 sailors and marines and 20 land soldiers at the Four Days Battle. Her armament consisted of 34 guns: 6-12pdr and 12-8pdr on the lower deck, 12-6pdr on the upper deck, and 4-2pdr on the quarterdeck. At the Four Days Battle, she lost one man killed. At the Four Days Battle, her captain was Jan Davidszoon Bondt, presumably, son of David Janszoon Bondt. This information is from Van Foreest and Weber's book, De Vierdaagse Zeeslag 11-14 Juni 1666.

This is my working list of Royalist ships at Kinsale at the beginning of September 1649. My information is based on The Letters of Robert Blake, Michael Baumber's book, General-at-Sea, Colledge's book Ships of the Royal Navy, Vol.I, R.C. Anderson's entry in Lists of Men-of-War 1650-1700 Part I English Ships 1649-1702, and R.C. Anderson's List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660. The last two are "Occasional Publications" of the Society for Nautical Research.

• Constant Reformation (52 guns)
• Swallow (36 guns)
• Convertine (42 guns)
• Washford frigate (14 guns)
• Ark (20 guns)
• Scots frigate (24 guns)
• James (29 guns) 300 tons
• George
• Culpepper (18 guns)
• Roebuck (12 guns) 90 tons
• Blackmoor Lady (18 guns) 180 tons
• Ambrose
• Charles

The English left at Kinsale in early September 1649 were:

• Lion (52 guns), flagship of Robert Blake
• Garland (44 guns)
• Elizabeth (36 guns)
• Nonsuch (36 guns)
• Guinea frigate (32 guns)

I have also consulted my notes from Powell's The Navy in the English Civil War, although that was not very helpful.

I have written a new document about Jacobean and Carolian Middlingships

I have passed on to my webmaster a new document about Jacobean and Carolian "Middling Ships", to be posted on Kentishknock.com. Hopefully it will appear, and relatively quickly as well. These ships built during the reigns of James I and Charles I, and were developments of a moderate-sized galleon type used in the Elizabethan navy. Some of the ships were rebuilds of their Elizabethan ancestors. The survivors of this class of ships served as large 4th Rates in the First Anglo-Dutch War, were the Bonaventure (44 guns) blew up, the Garland (44 guns) was captured, as was the Leopard (48 guns).

Frescheville Holles and other items

I extend my thanks to Andrew in Russia for some details that we might not otherwise have known. For example, he writes that Sir Frescheville Holles commanded the Cambridge (70 guns) from 20 January 1671 to 28 May 1672. Of course, he had been at the Smyrna Convoy fight, earlier in 1672. Another detail was that Thomas Butler, the Earl of Ossory, commanded the Resolution at the Smyrna Convoy battle, and was Robert Holmes' second in command. Thanks to Steven Webber, we know that the Resolution (70 guns) led the English line at the battle, in the initial approach.

English captains: Andrew Ball

1648 Commanded the Adventure (34 guns)

1649-1652 Commanded the Adventure (36 guns) as part of William Penn's squadron in the Mediterranean Sea

1652 Commanded the Antelope (56 guns) on a voyage to the Sound. On the return voyage, the Antelope was wrecked on the Jylland coast in a storm.

1652 Commanded the Lion (44 guns)

1653 Was flag captain of the Triumph (62 guns), Blake's flagship. He was killed in this battle.

In August to September 1652, Captain Ball was having difficulties in manning his ships. The Antelope was partly manned by paying off the Adventure and transferring her crew to the Antelope. Before leaving, he was asked to fall down to where the Sovereign (90 guns) was fitting out and help protect her against attack.

In early September, Captain Ball was asked to convoy some merchant ships to the Firth of Forth, on his way to the Sound.

In the afternoon of 30 September (Old Style), about 4pm, the Antelope was driven ashore in a storm on the Jylland coast. It was not until 2 October that the seas were calm enough for the surviving ships to return and take off most of the crew. They set sail for England and arrived on 14 October. They brought in 13 or 14 prizes from their voyage.

R.C. Anderson says that there 18 ships in Captain Ball's squadron (in the book Naval Wars in the Baltic) The squadron was sent to Copenhagen to convoy home 18 merchant ships that had gathered there during the war. They had previously been at Helsingør as part of a group of 22 merchant vessels. The king of Denmark had invited them to Copenhagen, and 18 made the voyage. Ships and Captains known to be on the voyage to the Sound:

Antelope (56 guns) Andrew Ball

Star (22 guns) Peter Mootham Tiger (36 guns) James Peacock Convert (20 guns) Stephen Rose Prosperous (42 guns) John Barker Recovery (26 guns) Francis Allen Greyhound (20 guns) Henry Southwood Elizabeth (a hired merchantman)

In the Battle of Portland, the Triumph was hotly engaged. Robert Blake was wounded, Andrew Ball, the Flag Captain, was killed, along with Blake's secretary, Mr. Sparrow, the ship's master, Mr. Broadridge, and his mate. Richard Deane was almost hit, as well, as the bar shot that hit Blake's leg tore Richard Deane's clothes. The Triumph lost between 80 and 100 killed and wounded out of a crew of about 350. This all happened on the first day, before John Lawson and his squadron were able to come up to support Blake. Lawson recaptured all the English ships that were taken by the Dutch. The Sampson (26 guns) had already sunk. Lawson's ships restored the English position, after the Dutch had put great pressure on Blake and the leading English ships at the beginning of the battle.

Abraham van der Hulst

I have two separate translations I did of narratives about Abraham van der Hulst:

Abraham van der Hulst ( 1619-1666 )

Abraham van der Hulst was born on 11 April 1619 in Amsterdam. He began his career in the naval service at the bottom of the ladder. However, though there was already a difference about him, due to his bravery and conduct. In 1650 he was, at the age of 31, appointed as an "extraordinary captain" and in the year 1653 to "ordinary captain". He distinguished himself in battle at Terheide during the First English War (1652-1654).

For two long years he accompanied De Ruyter off the coast of Portugal as captain of a 50-gun ship and a crew of 170 men. In 1656 he captured two Portuguese West-Indian traders in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1658, he commanded the "Hilversum" under De Ruyter off the Portuguese coast. Due to his performance in various actions he was promoted to Rear-Admiral. In 1665 he distinguished himself during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in the fierce struggle near Lowestoft, so that he was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral of Holland, in succession to Cornelis Tromp.

In June 1666 we find the famous Four Day's Battle situation. Abraham van der Hulst commanded the ship the "Spiegel" in the squadron of Lieutenant-Admiral Tromp. In this very heavy battle against the English, his ship was irretrievably lost. After two days of battle there were 35 dead and 66 wounded on board. The mainmast of the sailing ship was lost overboard due to English shot. While Abraham continued heroically, he was shot in the chest by a bullet. He died on June 12 1666. His body was carried to Amsterdam and honorably buried in the Old Church.

On the fine marble tomb is a poem by Joost van den Vondel:

Here rested Hulst, the terror of the British sea banner; Well-tried in battle after battle, in blood and fire. The great maritime council crowned the fatherland's protector. The fame of the brave heroes is defiant in bronze and marble.

This is my translation of what is in Mollema's Honor Roll:

Abraham van der Hulst 11 April 1619 - 12 June 1666

He served the Admiralty of Amsterdam. Extraordinary Captain in 1650, Ordinary Captain in 1653, Vice-admiral in 1665.

In 1653 he distinguished himself at Terheide. In 1654 he was a convoy commander under the command of Cornelis Tromp in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1656, he served under de Ruyter in the Mediterranean Sea and captured two Portuguese West-Indian traders. In 1658 he commanded the "Hilversum" (50) under de Ruyter on the Portuguese coast. In 1661, he served under de Ruyter in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1665, he fought at Lowestoft. In 1666, he was killed in the "Spiegel" (74) in the Four Days Sea Battle.

Dutch captain: Eland du Bois

We don't know when Eland du Bois was born, but he died on 26 December 1676. He served the Admiralty of the Maze. He was appointed as a captain in 1665.

In 1665, he fought as a lieutenant at Lowestoft. In 1666, he commanded the Utrecht (36 guns) in the Four Days Battle and the Two Days Battle (St. James Day Battle). In 1667, he fought at Chatham. In 1672, he distinguished himself in the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy against the English (he commanded the Dordrecht (44 guns). He was severely wounded by a shot in the left hand.

In 1673, he distinguished himself in the Schooneveld battles and the Battle of the Texel.

In 1674, he commanded the Ridderschap (64 guns) under Cornelis Tromp on the French coast and in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1675, he was a convoy commander in the Sound. In 1676, he died after returning to The Hague.

I was struck by how many burst 8pdrs there were after Scheveningen

The most accessible source for information about Dutch ship damage after the Battle of Scheveningen is The First Dutch War, Vol.V, pages 358 to 364. My general impression was that there were many 8pdrs that had burst. As I look over the list of damage, I find that the numbers were not that great. Still, there were no reports of any other caliber of gun that had burst; only 8pdrs.

Prins Willem (28 guns): 1-8pdr "sprung", 1-8pdr burst

Campen (42 guns): 2-8pdrs "blown to pieces"

Westfriesland (28 guns): 1-8pdr burst

That is only five guns, not so great a number in a fleet of over 100 ships, many of which were armed with 8pdrs. I was starting to wonder if their primary 8pdr supplier could have had quality problems, but the numbers are too small for that to be the case. Still, we only have detailed information for the Amsterdam ships.

The capture of the St. Patrick (5 Feb 1667)

I am interested in the capture of the St. Patrick (48 guns) by two small Dutch frigates. I am searching for the explanation of this and the Smyrna Convoy fiasco. I have a nasty theory: that the English crews were poor, and that they may have been poorly led. The St. Patrick incident took place off the North Foreland, where the St. Patrick and supposedly, the Malaga Merchant fell on the two Dutch frigates. When there was a fight, the Malaga Merchant fled. The captain was shot for his failings, within weeks.

I really want to ask Frank Fox his opinion on the matter, but haven't been able to contact him, yet. This would seem to fall within his area of expertise: the English in the Second Angl0-Dutch War.

Admiralty of Friesland ships at the Gabbard

This is my current assessment of Friesland ships that were at the Battle of the Gabbard. In July 1653, we know that there had been four ships. One was lying at Hellevoetsluis, after the battle. Another was an unready flute. A third was captured by the English. The fourth was sunk in the battle.

I believe that he first ship was the Breda, a ship built in 1637. The captain of the Breda was Hendrick Bruynsvelt.

The second ship now seems to be the flute Graaf Willem, commanded by Jan Coenders. He did so badly in the battle that he was dismissed from the service. Fortunately for him, he was judged to be too inexperienced. Otherwise, he could have been shot or hung.

The third ship has to be the Westergo, as that was the Friesland ship that was captured by the English.

The fourth ship was the ship commanded by Joost Bulter. If you read The First Dutch War, you might think that the ship was named the Stad en Lande. Other sources indicate that the ship name was Kameel. There is some evidence that indicated that this was a ship belonging to the Groningen Directors (Stad en Lande). All the records in June and July 1653 would lead you to believe that this ship belonged to the Admiralty of Friesland. The biggest change in my assessment of Friesland ships is due to finding that Jan Coenders' ship was the Graaf Willem, a flute.

Pieter Gorcum and the three-masted yacht Dordrecht

I am still pretty happy with my identification of the three-masted yacht Dordrecht as Pieter Gorcum's ship. My primary sources on this subject are The First Dutch War and Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen. A table on page 762 of Vol. I confirms that the ship was in service in March 1653 (because the Dordrecht was the only 17-gun yacht used by Zeeland). From The First Dutch War, in the narrative from Witte de With's journal, leading up to the Battle of the Kentish Knock, we know that Pieter Gorcum commanded a Zeeland yacht. The other Zeeland yacht we know about was the Gloeyenden Oven (14 guns) commanded in 1652 by Adriaan Janszoon den Oven. On page 765, another table is derived form the "Staet van Oorlogh te water voor den jahre 1654", and gives the information for the Dordrecht. What I had not previously noticed is that the crew was 50 sailors. The length we already knew was 85 feet (Amsterdam feet of 283mm), measured from stem-to-sternpost.

A Dutch warship from 1629: the Thetis

I have only scratched the surface of analyzing the Dutch warship lists from 1628 to 1633. I will continue to publish tidbits, as I can, to give you a flavor for what we have. I picked out one ship for today, the Thetis, a ship of the Admiralty of Amsterdam. The Thetis was commanded by Captain van Abt. She carried 30 guns and had a crew of 100 sailors. We don't know dimensions, but we know she was of 250 lasts. To give you an approximate idea of how large a ship of 250 lasts was, I have two example sets of possible dimensions:

1) 130ft x 34ft x 13.5ft

2) 134ft x 32.25ft x 13.5ft

Amazingly enough, we know the list of guns for the Thetis:

2-24pdr, 2-Chambered 18pdr, 2-18pdr, 12-12pdr, 10-8pdr, 2-5pdr, 6-steenstukken plus 12 chambers for them

Chambered guns were typically lighter and made of brass. They had a chamber for gunpowder that was of smaller diameter than the gun bore. As for steenstukken, I had long assumed that they were similar to fowlers, but Jan Glete says that they were swivels, and despite their name, they probably fired iron shot, not stones, as least by this date.

Dutch ships in the Smyrna Convoy battle in 1672

I can at least list the Dutch warships in the Battle for the Smyrna Convoy in March 1672. The armed merchantships seem to be beyond our reach, at this point in time. The crew and gun lists are estimated based what is known about the ship's history. I thought that this could be helpful to gamers, in particular, as not many people have access to the Dutch ship information at this level of detail.

Ship name	Guns	Built	Captain	Admiralty	Crew	Length	Beam	Depth	Gun list
Vlissingen	50	1653	Adriaan de Haaze	Zeeland	200	130ft	34ft	13.5ft	2-24pdr, 4-18pdr, 26-12pdr, 12-6pdr, 4-3pdr, 2-unknown
Klein Hollandia	54	1654	Jan Jacobszoon van Nes	Rotterdam	215	133ft-10in	32ft-5in	13ft-3in	22-18pdr, 20-12pdr, 12-4pdr
Utrecht	48	1653	Cornelis Evertsen de Jongste	Zeeland	175	134ft	33ft	13.5ft	2-24pdr, 4-18pdr, 16-12pdr, 10-8 and 9pdr, 7-6 and 5pdr, 6-6pdr, 3-4pdr, and 2-unknown
Dordrecht	50	1653	Eland du Bois	Zeeland	200	130ft	34ft	13.5ft	2-24pdr, 4-18pdr, 16-12pdr, 12-8pdr, 16-6pdr
Delft	36	1664	possibly Salomon Le Sage	Zeeland	120	116ft	28.5ft	11.5ft	16-12pdr, 12-6pdr, 6-4pdr, and 2-unknown

14 June 1652: captain of the Brederode

This has been available to me for a decade, but the significance of it just hit me: on 14 June 1652, there are signatures on a letter about the battle that took place off Dover on 29 May 1652. Abel Roelants (or Roelantsz.) signed as the captain of the Brederode. I knew that Egbert Meussen Kortenaer was "steurman" (listed here as "stierman"). These signatures are on page 759 of Vol.I of Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen. I had not been able to find any evidence of Abel Roelants (sometimes called "Vader Abel") prior to May 1653, when he assumed command of Witte de With's old flagship, the Prinses Louise (36 guns).

Analyzing the Dutch in the First Anglo-Dutch War

My approach for analyzing the Dutch navy in the First Anglo-Dutch War has been to organize information by captain's last names. The driving reason is that most lists from existing records only record captain's names. For example, we have Jan Evertsen's journal during the Dungeness campaign, and he lists the composition of the fleet. No ship names are mentioned. There are only the captain's names. I am fortunate to have a copy of the handwritten original, and have found that useful, as they transcription in The First Dutch War is of only mediocre quality. I am using an Excel spreadsheet as my current analysis tool to aid displaying information about captain, ship, battles, and operations. I kept wanting to use Word documents and tables, but they just don't work. You can't make a Word table wide enough. The only remaining choices are paper, which is a lost cause, or an Excel spreadsheet. I am going through and recording the data. I have not been able to put as much time into this effort as I would like, but I am up to 77 captains, so far. Where I only know ship names, I will just have to append them to the list in order by ship name, since we don't know their captain's name.

Witte de With sailed from the Texel with 27 warships and 4 fireships

I am collecting information about the Battle of Scheveningen so as to be able to compile the Dutch OOB. Witte de With wrote the States General, on 11 August 1653, that he had sailed from the Texel on 9 August with 27 warships and 4 fireships. Tromp was able to easily draw the English fleet off, so that Witte de With was able to safely put to sea, and then they were able to again outmaneuver the English, so they could join. Apparently, the English misunderstood where the Dutch were, in relation to them. This was typical of the 17th Century, as neither the English nor Dutch understood how to effectively scout. After the Battle of Scheveningen, the Dutch had retreated into the Texel roads. They had about 90 warships, yachts, and service craft remaining, and only two flag officers with the fleet. They were Witte de With and Pieter Florissen. Tromp had been killed. Jan Evertsen was missing. Michiel de Ruyter had been heavily damaged and made for the Goeree Gat. The Dutch were very fortunate that the English were forced, by heavy damage and the need for stores, to give up the blockade. Another letter from De With on 11 August names ships, so this will be helpful in building the OOB for Scheveningen. There is also a damage report that adds further ship names.

There is some new content coming for KentishKnock.com

I sent off a new document to be put into KentishKnock.com. it is a table of English ships and the battles in which they participated in the First Anglo-Dutch War. It will be available as soon as my webmaster finishes her work. I am at work on a richer table for the Dutch for the First Anglo-Dutch War. I keep learning new information, so this will be the best information, yet.

New information

I have learned two new pieces of information about the First Anglo-Dutch War. At the Battle of Scheveningen, the ship that Jan Coenders commanded was the Frisian fluit Graaf Willem. We don't know anything more about the ship, except that she was hired by the Admiralty of Friesland. The other piece of news is that there was one more ship lost at the Battle of Scheveningen that I had not realized. Cornelis Pietersz. Taenman commanded the Noorderkwartier ship Prins Maurits (32 guns). At the Battle of Scheveningen, he acted as Vice-Admiral to Pieter Florissen. He fought in the rear-guard, protecting the retreating Dutch fleet. At the latitude of the North Maasbank, his ship was lost.

The Friesland ship Groningen

The dimensions published in Pepys' list for the Groningen and Edam got switched, by a copyist. That was Frank Fox's assessment quite a long time ago. Dr Weber incorporated that insite into his book De Vierdaagse Zeeslag 11-14 Juni 1666 published way back in 1984. I had noticed this anomoly, as well, but only in the last five years. The Edam (Black Bull in English service) had Dutch dimensions of 120ft x 28ft x 11ft. The Groningen was a much larger ship: 132ft x 31ft x 14-1/2ft. Yet, the dimensions reported by Pepys for the Groningen were 86ft x 28ft-4in x 12ft. The Edam's English dimensions were 103ft x 30ft x 13ft-6in. Clearly, there was something wrong, as we knew the Edam's Dutch dimensions from the 1654 list. Remember that Dutch dimensions were in Amsterdam feet of 11inches (283mm). The length was that from stem-to-sternpost and the beam was that inside the planking. The depth was that to the side of the main deck, not the center. English dimensions were the length on the keel, the beam outside the planking, and the depth from the top of the keel to the underside of the center of the deck, in English feet (305mm).

More about the Convertine

One wildcard in the process of accessing ship dimensions and the origin of the Convertine is that on July 21, 1653 (NS), Captain John Taylor reported that he had lengthened the Convertine (as well as the Welcome). Did that lengthening affect the keel length, or did he just extend the length from stem-to-sternpost? That would have meant just disassembling the bow and extending the timbers, then replanking. He could have just moved out frames, accordian-like. The goal was to make to make it possible to have more guns on the broadside of both ships. He wanted them to be able to comfortably mount 40 guns on each ship. That seemed a rather odd statement, as the Convertine was quite large, and ultimately mounted 54 guns. The Welcome was a rather odd ship and was quite small. The English measurements were 82ft x 29ft x 10ft-7in. My estimate is that translated to Dutch dimensions of no more than 114ft x 32ft x 12ft. The combination of short length and broad beam is unusual for a Dutch ship. Not infrequently, you would see length-to-beam ratios of 5:1. It seems that the Welcome, captured in 1652, would have to have been a merchantman, but I have not been able to confirm that. It still seems likely that the Convertine was just a captured Portuguese merchantman, although one that was strongly armed as if for the trade to the East Indies.

The English ship Convertine (44 guns)

I had long assumed that the Convertine taken by the Dutch at the Four Days Battle was the original Jacobean Middling ship. Frank Fox had informed me that I was mistaken. The original Convertine had been built as the Destiny, and had been renamed Convertine, in the Navy. I had not thought that the original Convertine's dimensions were known, but R.C. Anderson lists the following dimensions: 96ft x 32ft-2in, with an unknown depth. Anderson omitted depths, which is unfortunate. The Convertine went with the Royalists, in 1648, and was eventually sold in Lisbon in 1650. The new Convertine was Portuguese prize taken in 1650. Her dimensions were considerably different, so this only reinforces the notion that she was a different ship: 103ft x 30ft x 13ft-6in, with a burden of 494 tons. The original ship had a burden that I would calculate as 528 tons. Anderson lists two tonnages that are computed considering the depth. Brian Lavery gives the same dimensions for the Entrance, built in 1619. He did not list the Convertine, for some reason. He also omitted the Swallow, a Carolian "middling ship".

The Battle of Scheveningen

It seems like time to make an attempt to build a list of the Dutch fleet at Scheveningen. Needless to say, this is not an easy thing to do. We need to greatly rely on references to ships in the Hollandsche Mercurius, Dr. Elias' book, Schetsen uit de geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen, and The First Dutch War, Vol.V. I'm afraid that we need to ignore Dr. Ballhausen's book, as it has proved to be extremely unreliable. There was a period when I was tempted to use it. That was when I was building scenarios for battles from the First Anglo-Dutch War. When I investigated more closely, I found that even his maps were incorrect. His map for the Battle of Portland was bogus. I found from Michael Baumber's book, General-at-Sea, and Peter Padfield's Tide of Empires, that Dr. Ballhausen had misplaced George Monck's squadron. My first attempt at a scenario for Privateers Bounty followed that map, and therefore, had the wrong setup. An interesting feature of the Battle of Scheveningen, is that two days before, there was a partial encounter between the fleets. Only about 30 English ships came into action, late in the day, and Monck's Resolution took casualties. I had thought that only English frigates had gotten into action, but obviously, there were major warships, as well. The next day, the weather was so bad that the fleets were fully occupied with staying off the shore, with the wind blowing from seaward. It was only on July 31/August 10 that the fleets came back together to fight. The fleets were sailing westward as early as 7am. The Dutch had the wind, initially, but eventually lost it to the English. The battle proceeded as the fleets tacked and broke through the opposing line. The Dutch seem to have fought in an informal line as well, and were shot to pieces for their trouble. The English were superior in weight of shot and in ship size. The smaller, more lightly armed Dutch were in desperate straits by early afternoon. Tromp was dead, early in the battle, but by agreement, his flag was kept flying from the Brederode. Egbert Meeussen Kortenaer, Tromp's flag captain, commanded the ship and Tromp's squadron for the remainder of the battle. In fact, he seems to have kept command of the squadron for the remainder of the war. Even before the battle, the Vice-Admirals had decided that they would not allow another route, as happened at the Gabbard. De With, Evertsen, and De Ruyter formed a rear-guard, and with difficulty, allowed the surviving ships to retreat. Despite that, Dutch losses were almost as bad as those at the Gabbard. They lost about 10 ships, as I have previously notes.

The Sint Johannes, an Amsterdam Directors ship

I have not dwelt on the Sint Johannes, because I have not been able to identify her captain's name. I originally became aware of the ship from Jan Glete's notes for his book, Navies and Nations. The Sint Johannes was substantial ship, as her dimensions were: 125ft x 29ft x 12-1/2ft. The height between decks was 7ft. The armament was 28 guns: 2-18pdr, 8-12pdr, 10-8pdr, 6-6pdr, and 2-3pdr. She appeared on a manuscript dated 8 February 1653. Obviously, she was one of those ships that we have not been able to correlate with a captain. We can only hope that some source with surface that will answer the question.

Jan Pieterszoon Renaren's ship, the Sint Jeronimus

One thing we know from Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet is that Jan Pieterszoon Renaren's ship was credited with 30 guns and had a crew of 110 men. His ship belonged to the Medemblick Directors. The Sint Jerominus belonged to the ships built to the 116ft charter. The dimensions were, as I have previously noted: 116ft x 28ft x 11ft, with 7ft between the main deck and the upper deck.

Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet

Since we now have Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet, and can see the benefits, it is clear that we need to acquire the rest of the documents that we know exist, or at least existed in 1930. That includes the documents at the Zeeuwse Archief about Directors ships and the "Staet van Oorlogh te water van 1648", probably at the Nationaal Archief at the Hague. I am increasingly sure that Frank Fox is right about everything we want to know existing, and just needing to be found and analyzed. Frank found that to be true with England, and it seems to be true for the Netherlands, as well.

New information

In the last three or four days, I have learned some new things about the Dutch in the First Anglo-Dutch War. From Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet, we know that Reynst Corneliszoon Sevenhuysen's ship, the Roode Leeuw, carried 24 guns and had a crew of 85 men. The Roode Leeuw was paid off in late June, 1652, after the  Battle of the Gabbard. He and his crew moved to the VOC ship, the Mars.   Another point:  I had previously confused to captains named Block. One was the captain of the Zeeland ship, the Wapen van Zeeland (32 guns), which served in the Mediterranean Sea during the First Anglo-Dutch War. The second was captain of the Amsterdam Directors ship the Hollandsche Tuin (28 guns) in 1653. The Zeeland captain was actually Joost Willemszoon Block. The Amsterdam Directors captain was Joris Janszoon Block. I was able to find this in Dr. Elias' book, Schetsen uit the Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen.

Tromp's voyage to the Shetlands

I have had more thoughts about Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet, since yesterday. The list of ships is impressive. By mid-July 1652, the Dutch had managed to collect a very effective fleet to dispute control of the Channel and North Sea. There were other ships on various patrolling and convoying duties, as well. This was the time when De Ruyter's fleet that was tasked with convoying in the lower Channel was being assembled. There were other ships that were protecting the Dutch fishing fleets. The Dutch had more than 150 ships in service at this time, including those already in the Mediterranean Sea. I don't know this for sure, but I suspect that there were more losses in the voyage to the Shetlands than are generally acknowledged. For example, there is the case of Jan Maijkers, who commanded the Alexander. He never appears again, in any list or published source. We know all about his ship. It first appearedon 13 March 1652, in a list of Amsterdam Directors ships. The dimensions were: 131-1/2ft x 27-3/4ft x 13ft. The height between decks was 6-3/4ft. She carried 28 guns: 12-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 6-6pdr, and 2-3pdr. Her crew was 95 men. The 1652 Hollandsche Mercurius mistakenly gave her 38 guns and a crew of 100 men. That list is filled with what we can only call "typos" or misreadings of handwritten documents. For example, that is where Jan Maijkers was listed as "Jan Deyckers". The "D" is wrong, but the rest is a reasonable variant spelling of Jan Maijkers name. I can only be confident as to his name after seeing it written at least two times in copies of original documents. In any case, the voyage to the Shetlands was a major disaster. One of the misfortunes was the capture of 13 Dutch fishery protection vessels (20-28 guns), and the harrassing of the Dutch fishermen by Blake. The other, greater problem, was the dissolution of the fleet by the storm they encountered in the Shetlands. After the storm, Tromp resigned rather than be fired. Witte de With was given command of a fleet that he had yet to assemble. He had about 40 ships, the survivors of the previous fleet. He aborbed about 20 ships of De Ruyter's convoying fleet. The other 1o were too damaged by their participation in the Battle of Plymouth, to stay at sea. Witte de With performed creditably at the Battle of the Kentish Knock, with a scratch force that included too many hired merchantment and timid regular naval captains. They went up against the largest English ships, including the Sovereign (90 guns) and Resolution (88 guns), and only lost two ships. Witte de With was politically unacceptable to the Dutch royalists (Orangists), so they used the defeat as an excuse to restore Tromp to command of the fleet.

I received a copy of Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet, today

Thanks to Ron Brand at the Maritiem Museum Rotterdam, I have a copy of Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet. It is valuable, in that it is a complete list of captains who were part of Tromp's fleet on the "Voyage to the North" (as The First Dutch War calls Tromp's voyage to the Shetlands in August 1652). The voyage was a disaster, although the losses were minor. The big problem was the number of damaged and scattered ships. Tromp was forced from his command, for this debacle. The list is quite similar to that contained in the Hollandsche Mercurius for June 1652. That list was translated and reprinted in Volume I of The First Dutch War. This list is unique, but similar in that captains and many guns and crew numbers are part of the list. The only ship names are for fireships. One thing caught my eye. Jan Maikers, who served the Amsterdam Directors, had his name less mangled in this list. In the Hollandsche Mercurius, he was called Jan Deyckers. Here, his handwritten name was rendered as Jan Meyckes. I have seen his name written in manuscripts from the Nationaal Archief, so I am pretty sure of the correct spelling.

Witte de With's squadron sent to Brazil in 1647

In 1647, the situation in Brazil had deteriorated, for the Dutch, to the point that they might be expelled from the country. A squadron was sent, under the command of Witte de With, to restore the Dutch position. Witte de With's squadron, as sent, consisted of the following ships: Admiralty of Rotterdam:

• Brederode (49 guns) Witte Cornelisz. de With
• Gelderland (40 guns) Joost van Coulster
• Dolphijn (32 guns) Job Forant

Admiralty of Amsterdam:

• Huys van Nassau (40 guns) Govert Vorens. Later, Matthijs Gillissen (heavily damaged on 28 Sept. 1648. Later captured by the Portuguese and refitted)
• Haarlem (36 guns) Matthijs Gillissen. Lt. Dirck Crijnen Verveen
• Utrecht (32 guns) Jacob Paulusz. Cort (destroyed by explosion on 28 Sept. 1648)
• Zutphen (30 guns) Corenlis Toelast. Later, Claes de With
• Overijssel (28 guns) Dirck Crijnen Verveen. Lt. Steven Cuyper.

Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier:

• Eendracht (41 guns) Paulus Coolen. Lt. Gijsbert Malcontent.
• Wapen van Nassau (38 guns) Lieven de Zeeuw. Lt. Jacob Cleydijck.
• Witte Eenhoorn (30 guns) Jan Gijzen. Pieter Adriaansz.
• Koning David (? guns) Willem Claesz. Ham

There was also a captured Portuguese ship: São Bartholomeu (35 guns) Boëtius Schaeff. This was later renamed as the Gewapende Ruyter. She was listed under the Admiralty of Amsterdam. The list is from W.J. van Hoboken's book, Witte de With in Brazilië, but is augmented, to some extent. Many of the captains and lieutenants (that is my interpretation of "t." in the list) played roles in the First Anglo-Dutch War. For example, Willem Ham lost a leg at the Battle off Dover in May 1652. Boëtius Schaeff was killed at the Battle of the Gabbard in 1653. In 1652, his ship was captured by the English in June 1653. Dirck Verveen had a distinguished career, dying of his wounds after the Battle of the Sound, in 1658. Job Forant, however, was banished for his part in allowing the mutiny that was part of the end of Witte de With's foray to Brazil.

Which ship did Jan de Liefde command during the 1st Anglo-Dutch War?

As I try to answer the remaining questions about Dutch ships and captains in the First Anglo-Dutch War, one that remains is "which ship did Jan Evertsz. de Liefde command?" I have long assumed that it was the Maecht van Dordrecht (Dordrecht), built as Witte de With's flagship in 1636. She was built to similar dimensions to Tromp's flagship, the Aemilia. In Maas feet, the dimensions were 132 foot length and a 32 foot beam. For my purposes, I guessed that would equate to something like 143ft x 35ft x 14-1/2ft (Amsterdam feet). Thanks to J. C. De Jonge, we know her armament in 1642: 10-24pdr, 14-18pdr, 16-12pdr, and 6-6pdr. She was very heavily armed, for the time. If you thought that the dimensions in Maas feet were Amsterdam feet, you would have tought that she was greatly over-armed. In fact, I estimate that her armament would have been about 54.6 tons, which would have only been 6.2% of an estimated 880 tons displacement. I estimate her burden calculated English fashion to have been about 650 tons (the size of a moderate-sized English 3rd Rate). Reading Vreugdenhil's list, you might be mislead to believe that the Dordrecht survived until 1665. That seems to be wrong. Dr. Elias summarizes a list from 1655 that omits the Dordrecht. I am even skeptical that she was in service in 1652. She was too large a ship to have only carried 38 guns during the war. If that is the case, then what ship did Jan de Liefde command? Dr. Ballhausen, at one point, says it was the Jonas, a name that appears no where else in the most widely available published sources. The only reason that might be a possibility is that a widely distributed reference that originated from the 1652 volume of the Hollandsche Mercurius says that Jan de Liefde's ship was hired by the Rotterdam Directors. That would seem to contradict my identification of his ship as the Dordrecht (Maagd van Dordrecht, or Maecht van Dordrecht). InDr. Ballhausen's book, the source of the Jonas name is an obscure reference: Rotterdamsche Historiebladen, Rotterdam, 1880, III Afdeeling, I, 472. The problem with that, besides my difficulty in checking the source, is that anything that Dr. Ballhausen wrote that relies on analysis is likely to be wrong (his track record is very bad). A further problem is that the 26 February 1652 Admiralty of Rotterdam list gives Jan de Liefde's ship as the Dordrecht (dimensions 116ft x 27ft x 11ft, with 26 guns). Actually, the dimesions were in Maas feet, so they were 106ft x 25ft x 10ft. Thanks to Dr. Weber, we know the dimensions for the Gorcum (or Gorinchem), and the Dordrecht was the same dimensions as her. Perhaps the Hollandsche Mercurius was wrong, and he commanded that ship for the war. It seems unlikely, however. I am hoping that the Hendrick de Raedt pamphlet might help resolve this issue, although I would wager that it will not. I expect that the list in the pamphlet, at best, will only list captains names. At worst case, it will only list numbers. We shall see in about a week, depending on the post.

Why did the Dutch reduce ship armaments in July 1654?

I am curious as to why the Dutch reduced 40-gun ships to 32 and 34 guns in July 1654. That is one of the really striking features of the "Staet van Oorlogh te water voor den Jahre 1654". Even the Vrede, which carried 44 guns for much of the First Anglo-Dutch War was reduced to 32 guns. She was a substantial ship with dimensions of 131-1/2ft x 31-1/2ft x 13-1/2ft. Her reduced armament consisted of: 4-brass 24pdr, 4-brass 6pdr drakes, 18-iron 12pdr, and 6-iron 8pdr. One theory that occurred to me that is that there were difficulties in finding guns for all the new construction from 1653-1654. Another theory is that these ships were reduced in armament for service in distant waters (which I don't believe was the case). Does anyone have any other ideas (or knowledge)?

I'm finally working on analyzing the "Staet van Oorlogh te water voor den Jahre 1654"

This afternoon, I started work on reading the pages (digitized from microfilm) for the July 1654 list (the "Staet van Oorlogh te water voor den Jahre 1654"). I am up to page 46 of 111 pages. As usual, there are parts of the document that are really good, and other parts that are a big disappointment. The disappointments are where little information is recorded. There are at least two versions of this list extant. I believe that there are at least three. The first copy I got was of an incomplete list. The one I am currently analyzing is the most complete of the three.

I will be getting a copy of Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet

I don't know if I should get my hopes up, or not, but I will be getting a copy of Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet that lists Tromp's fleet in the abortive July-August 1652 voyage to the Shetlands. Almost any information from this pamphlet would be useful. The best sources have captain's name, the ship name, and the admiralty or Directors that funded the ship. Some really exceptional sources also give dimensions and armament, but I would only expect that from ship lists that document ship acquistions, and the state of the fleet on a specific date. Now, to fully capitalize on sources that are known to exist, I need to get a copy of some documents that are held by the Zeeuse Archief. Ivo van Loo told me: I also received a communication from Ivo van Loo: At the Zeeuws Archief you can find information about 'director's ships' in the accounts in the archives of the Rekenkamer van Zeeland (Zeeland auditor's office) (Zeeuws Archief, Arch. Rekenkamer II, inv.nrs. 1179a en 1179b). You can in these archives you can also consult the following accounts (both approved by the Generaliteitsrekenkamer): - the account of the directors of Vlissingen concerning the extraordinary outlay for the equipment of warships for the actions against England by the order of the States General. - the account of the directors of Veere concerning the extraordinary equipment of the warship 'Wapen van der Vere'. If there is anyone who can help with this, it would benefit us all. I have made great strides in the last 1-1/2 years in advancing our knowledge of the Dutch fleet in 1652 to 1654, and this would take us that much further. I will advise you as to what I find from Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet.

Gerrit Femssen

Gerrit Femssen served the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier. We know he served in the First Anglo-Dutch War and was at the Battle of the Sound, in 1658.

We know three ships he commanded. In 1652, he commanded the Wapen van Enkhuijsen The first listing credited her with 30 guns and a crew of 110 men. There is another listing which credited her with 34 guns while still having a crew of 110.

In 1656, Gerrit Femssen commanded the Gouden Leeuw in the blockade of Danzig, under the command of Jacob van Wassenaer. The Gouden Leeuw carried 48 guns and had a crew of 155 men. Her dimensions were: 134ft x 34ft x 13.5ft.

In the Battle of the Sound, Gerrit Femssen commanded the old ship, the Eendracht, built in 1639. She carried 38 guns and had a crew of 125 men. Her dimensions were: 130ft x 32ft x 12ft.

We know a few facts about his service in the First Anglo-Dutch War. On July 26, 1652, attended a council of war on Tromp's flagship, following the storm off the Shetlands [1DW1, p.393]. At the Battle of the Kentish Knock, Gerrit Femszoon commanded the North Quarter ship, Wapen van Enkhuisen, which carried 30 guns and a crew of 110 men [Ball, p.366]. There was a document that listed the Noorderkwartier ships that were part of the "36 Ships of 1651": Gerrit Semssen [Femssen] was captain of the ship, 't Wapen van Enkhuisen, which carried 34 guns and a crew of 110 men. The ship is a national ship ('s Lands schep). There is a notation on the list that the ship "was cruising between Texel and Ushant, and afterwards served under Lt-Admiral Tromp's flag, and being engaged in the last action with the English, came in damaged to Enkhuisen; is now lying ready to return to Texel". The ship appeared on a list of ships belonging to the thirty-six ships of 1651. [1DW4, p.315].

On November 2, 1653, Admiral Wassenaer reported that Gerrit Femszoon's [Femssen] ship, from Enkhuisen, was lying off the Texel, with other ships [1DW6, p.159]. This was after the strong storm that swamped or wrecked may Dutch warships, on their way home while convoying a merchant fleet that had put into Norway.

Gillis Thijssen Campen

Gillis Thyssen Campen served the Admiralty of Amsterdam. Frank Fox says that Gillis Thyssen (Tijssen, Thijssen) Campen was Cornelis Tromp's Vice-Admiral at the Battle of Lowestoft, in 1665. He says that at the Battle of Lowestoft, four ships had run together and were tangled. They were Gillis Thyssen Campen's flagship, the Koevorden (56 guns), the Prins Maurits (53 guns), the Elf Steden (54 guns), and the Stad Utrecht (48 guns). They would not surrender to the English, so a fireship was sent in. One ship blew up, and freed the Elf Steden, which was towed off by another Dutch ship. Gillis Thyssen Campen was killed in the explosion.

At the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War, Gillis Thyssen Campen commanded the 24-guns hired ship, the Gouden Leeuw. In October 1652, she was paid off, along with other older and smaller hired ships. By early 1653, he was given the 42-gun ship, the Groningen, which he commanded for the rest of the war.

Markus Hartman, captain of the Gekroonde Liefde (36 guns)

There seems to be very little information about Markus Hartman. I can find no trace of him prior to 1652, in the sources that are available to me. His ship was lost in the great storm that struck on November 1, 1653. I suspect that he drowned.

We first read of him in a letter from Michiel De Ruyter to the Admiralty of Zeeland. On September 3, 1652, De Ruyter met Captain Hartman at sea, with some other ships, about 3 in the morning.

In April 1653, De Ruyter was on board Markus Hartman's ship, the Gekroonde Liefde, 36 guns (Middelburg Directors). In mid-May 1653, Captain Hartman was De Ruyter's Rear Admiral. De Ruyter commanded the fourth squadron of five in the Dutch fleet, prior to the Battle of the Gabbard.

In early August 1653, prior to the Battle of Scheveningen, Markus Hartman was still with De Ruyter. Captain Hartman's "squadron" (really, division) consisted of his ship, the Gekroonde Liefde of 36 guns, the ships of Jacob Wolphertsen (unknown name or guns), Jacob Swart (Vliegende Faam, 28 guns), and Captain de Bitter (the Mercurius of unknown guns).

There is a copy of Frank Fox's first book for sale

I noticed that there is a copy of Frank Fox's first book, Great Ships: the Battlefleet of King Charles II, for sale at Albion Books. What is significant about this book is the priced. I own multiple copies, and never paid more then $80 (US). This copy is for sale at $254.53 (converted to dollars from pound sterling, presumably).

I would expect that unless someone is really wanting this book and willing to pay a premium, this copy could be for sale for some time. I use Addall.com/used for finding used and out-of-print books. I have consistently found that more useful than Amazon, although for finding Frank Fox's second book, A Distant Storm: the four days battle of 1666, the only option seems to be Amazon.co.uk.

Notes about small bits of information from December 1652

One thing that was of interest to me was about the hired ship Anthony Bonaventure, which was captured by the Dutch at the Battle of Dungeness. The captain had been Wlater Hoxton, who was killed in the battle. His ship carried 36 guns and had a crew of 110 men. I had never seen the crew listed before. That is on page 56 of Vol.IV of Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen.

The Garland, also captured, carried 44 guns and had a crew of 200 men. Her captain had been Charles Batten.

The hired ship Hercules (34 guns) was run ashore, so that the crew could escape. The pursuing ship was the Vlissingen Directors ship Haes. Her captain was to become famous at the Battle of Lowesoft: Bastiaan Centsen (Centen, or Senten).

The Dutch lost the Rotterdam ship Gelderland, which caught fire in the night, and blew up, killing the captain and part of the crew.

Cornelis Corneliszoon de Groot and the Samson

I had listed the Amsterdam Directors ship Samson as being commanded by Cornelis Corneliszoon, but it seems that it is actually Cornelis Corneliszoon de Groot. I have seen this phenomenon all too frequently, where the last name was dropped. Other examples were Evert Anthonissen (Marre) and Ewout Jeroenszoon (de Moy).

The dimensions for the Samson, as you may recall, were 119ft x 28.25ft x 13ft with an armament of 28 guns: 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-3pdr.

I have done some analysis, and my estimate of the displacement is 533.3 tons and the burden, calculated English style, was 357.3 tons. The weight of broadside was 119 lbs. and the armament weight I estimate to be 25.17 tons.

The plan for manning the 50 Directors ships in 1652

The intent for manning the 50 Directors ships was for them to have 85 officers and sailors, along with 25 soldiers, as well. There was a directive in mid-March 1652, that spelled this out. My reference is Dr. Elias' book, Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen, Vol.II, page 42.

I wonder if Hendrick Adriaanszoon's ship, the Samson is the one for which I have data

I posted, on December 6, 2003, a note about my translation of some text about Evert Anthonissen's five ships. Two ships, the Samson and the Purmerlandt, were providing local defense in the Vlie roads. One of those ships, said to be unready, was Hendrick Adriaanszoon's ship, the Samson. Some of Evert Anthonissen's ships were hired by the Amsterdam Directors: Frederick de Coninck's ship, the Vergulde Fortuijn and Hendrick de Raedt's ship, the Swarte Leeuw If the Samson is the one for which I have data, it would likely have been hired by the Amsterdam Directors.

The Samson was mentioned in a document dated 27 January 1653. The dimensions were: 119ft x 28ft x 13ft, with a height between decks of either 6-1/4 or 6-1/2ft. The armament was 28 guns: 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-3pdr. I had believed that this was the ship that the English spy misread the name as Ganapan, as when I first saw the handwritten name, that is what it looked like. The capital "S" was shaped like a "G" (a loop above another loop). The second, lowercase "s" had the upper curve closed on itself, so it resembled a "p".

Dirck Quirijn Verveen (as Mollema spells his name)

J.C. Mollema wrote about Dirck Verveen in the "Honor Roll". This is my translation of what is there.

We don't know when he was born, but he died on 2 December 1658. He served the Admiralty of Amsterdam, became a lieutenant in 1636 and captain in 1639. In 1636, he served under Forant before Dunkirk as a lieutenant. In 1639, he was a fireship captain at the Battle of the Downs. In 1646, he served in the blockade service before Dunkirk. In 1647, he commanded the Haarlem (40 guns) under De With in the relief force sent to Brazil, and fought at Bahia. In 1651 to 1653, he commanded the Haarlem under Joris van Catz en Johan van Galen. He fought at the Battles of Monte Cristo (Elba) and Livorno. In 1654, he was a temporary Schout-bij-Nacht under De Ruyter in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1656, he commanded the Gouda (46 guns) under Van Wassenaer in the Sound and before Danzig. In 1657, he served under De Ruyter in the Mediterranean Sea and off the Portuguese coast. In 1658, he commanded the Zon (Son) under Van Wassenaer in the Battle of the Sound, where he was wounded. He died of his wound following the battle.

I'm hoping that the list of English fireships and Frank Fox's article will help a lot with the hired merchant ships

I'm not sure if there are just a lot of common names, or if the fireship list in Pepys' papers (printed by the Navy Records Society) really will help with dimensions for hired ships, some of which served in the First Anglo-Dutch War. Certainly, Frank Fox's article from 1998 also helps.

Frank Fox's theory is that everything we could ever want to know is there, waiting to be found. The problem is the large volume of unsorted and uncataloged papers, at least in the UK.

The problem in the Netherlands is finding everything that was known to exist in the 1916 to 1930 period, and noted by Dr. Elias. The archives changed their numbering system at least once, and Dr. Elias' footnotes are not always comprehensible. Still, there is enough there to really make me anxious to go dig for what is there.

More documents that I would like to see

For sure, there is a list of warships belonging to the Admiralty of Amsterdam that is dated 1 May 1654. That is the source for the data about Gillis Tijssen Campen's flagship, the Groningen. The Groningen had a crew of 140 men and carried 42 guns, from 1653 to 1654. It also seems that Witte de With's journal would be really useful. I would guess that it would be good for 1652 to 1654, without question. I don't know if all of it still exists, but at least some did in the early 20th Century. It is likely that it still exists, although we would need to as "where?".

The definitive word on English hired merchantmen in the Second Anglo-Dutch War

Thanks to Frank Fox, we have some substantial information about English hired ships. He published two articles in the Mariner's Mirror Vol.84, numbers 1 and 2. His series is called "Hired Men-of-War, 1664-7". I am fortunate enough to have a reprint of Part II that Frank presented to me, 3-1/2 years ago. An added bonus is that Part II gives the dimensions for several ships that had served in the First Anglo-Dutch War. For example, the Exchange (built 1650) was 74ft-9in (LK) x 28ft-11in, with a burden of 332 tons. There were 18 maindeck gun ports. Another ship, the King Ferdinando (built 1650) had the dimensions 81ft-0in (LK) x 30ft-6in, with a burden of 401 tons. The ship data, with dimensions, is all on page 153. Frank also has some armament information listed, as well. Much of this is from records about gun painting, as I had understood Frank to say.

Dutch ships captured by the English at the Battle of the Gabbard

I would have thought that hired merchant ships would not have seen service after capture, but that was not the case for the ships captured at the Battle of the Gabbard in 1653. What I think is interesting is to look at the ships that survived to the Restoration and past, as they obviously were valued.

Two of the captured ships are listed as 5th Rates in Frank Fox's book, Great Ships: the battlefleet of King Charles II. They were the Half Moon (Halve Maan) and the Rosebush (Rozeboom). Two others were 4th Rates: Mathias (Sint Matheeus) and Elias (same name in both Dutch and English service). The Mathias was a really good ship that came to a bad end in 1667, when she was scuttled during the Dutch raid on the Medway. It says something that she had served for 15 years in the English service, after being captured. Her Dutch dimensions were 144ft x 36ft (unknown depth in hold)(Amsterdam feet of 283mm). The dimensions for the Elias were 132.5ft x 30ft x 13ft. She carried 34 guns: 4-24pdr, 14-12pdr, 10-8pdr, 4-6pdr, and 2-3pdr. The only other ship that we have the Dutch data for is the Rozeboom. The dimensions were 118ft x 27ft x 12.5ft. Her guns were 12-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 6-6pdr, and 2-3pdr.

I keep hoping that documents will surface that will fill in the (big) gaps in our knowledge of Dutch ships during the First Anglo-Dutch War. There is some reason for hope, as Dr. Elias had seen and noted a good number of documents, in the period 1916 to 1930, that I have not yet been able to find (or rather, Rick van Velden had not been able to find). The titles and dates listed in Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen really look promising.

The Noorderkwartier ship, the Jonge Prins in July 1654

This is another in the continuing series of posts about Dutch ships from the 1654 list (the "Staet van Oorlogh te Water voor den Jaere 1654").

Admiralty:	Noorderkwartier
Ship:	Jonge Prins
Date built:	1634
Captain:	Cornelis Barentszoon Slordt
Guns:	28
Length:	120 feet
Beam:	28 feet
Hold:	11-1/2 feet
Brass Guns:	2-24pdr, 2-12pdr
Iron Guns:	8-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 2-5pdr, 4-4pdr, and 2-2pdr

Block coefficients and displacement

Displacement is the basis for comparison between fleets in Jan Glete's book, Navies and Nations. It turns out that Jan Glete is using the navigational draft for computing block coefficient and displacement. I can understand that it might be "fair game" to define a method and that would be a useful way of camparison. One issue is that you would not be able to compare his displacements and block coefficients with other sources, where they are computed using different standards.

Both Ab Hoving and Frank Fox arrive at much greater block coefficients than Jan Glete. The reason is largely that the more standard block uses the mean draft, rather than the navigational draft (the maximum draft). Jan Glete's block is larger for the same displacement, so the block coefficient is smaller.

Block coefficient = (displacement x 35 cubic feet/ton) / (water line x beam x draft)

Dutch captains: Adriaan Janszoon den Oven and Abel Roelants ("Vader Abel")

During 1652, Adriaan Janszoon den Oven commanded the Zeeland yacht, Gloeyenden Oven (14 guns). He was also called Adriaan Janszoon den Gloeyenden Oven. Possibly, the yacht named after him, as maybe it was hired from him, with him as captain in 1652.

By the end of 1652, another captain had taken command of the yacht. Captain den Oven commanded the Zeeland ship Neptunus (28 guns) at the Battle of the Gabbard, where the ship was lost to the English. That is why he was absent from Scheveningen. The yacht, the Gloeyenden Oven was serving as a fireship at the Gabbard, and was captured by the English and taken to the Thames.

Captain den Oven had been made a captain in 1636. He fought under Evertsen against the Dunkirk admiral Collaert in 1636. In 1637-1639, he distinguished himself against the Dunkirkers and at the Battle of the Downs. In 1643, he was in the blockade service in front of Dunkirk. In 1645-1646, he fought against the Dunkirkers.

As for Abel Roelants, he definitely served the Admiralty of Rotterdam. It seems that he took command of Witte de With's old flagship, the Prinses Louise (36 guns) in early May 1653. There is a note that in late 1652, the Prinses Louise carried as many as 46 guns. I really would like to find the documents that are mentioned in the note, as they would seem to be of great interest: List of ships of the Admiralty of Rotterdam near the letters of this admiralty, and "Hare Hoog Mogenden, of 27 September and 18 November 1652).

Apparently, Abel Roelants was a division commander (Rear-Admiral) in Egbert Meeuwsen Kortenaer's squadron in October 1653 (one of 16 ships). The other division commander was Gideon de Wildt, who as Vice-Admiral in Kortenaer's squadron. Kortenaer flew his flag on the Brederode. I imagine that Gideon de Wildt was still using the Amsterdam ship Vrede (44 guns) as his flagship and Abel Roelants was probably still using the Prinses Louise. I don't have any information about Abel Roelants, after 1653.

The Royal Navy: A History from the earliest times to the present, Vol.II, page 431 and note

Even the most prominent authors sometimes "gets it wrong". Mostly, it is due to lack of knowledge of the material in question. That seems to be the case with William Laird Clowes and his monumental 7 volume work, The Royal Navy: a history from the earliest times to the present. In volume II, page 431, and note 2 on that page, he makes several errors. On December 25, 1666, an English squadron commanded by Robert Robertson, captain of the Warspite, fought an action with five Dutch ships. He says that the English captured three ships, the Cleen Harderwijk (38 guns), the Leijden (36 guns), and the Els (36 guns). In his footnote, he notes that the contemporary accounts called the ships Clean Harder, Leyden, and Eeles. The only one of the ships that he got right was the Leiden. Both Leijden and Leyden were acceptable, contemporary spellings for the ship that had fought in the First Anglo-Dutch War. The footnote is closer to the right names. The first ship was actually the Klein Harder. The last ship was the Elias. The Elias seems to have been the only one which was taken into the English service. Frank Fox lists her in an appendix to his book, Great Ships: The Battlefleet of King Charles II. He gives the English dimensions as 78ft x 27ft x 8ft, with an English burden of 302 tons. Her armament was 34 guns. My estimate for her Dutch dimensios are: 102ft x 30.5ft x 9ft. I am somewhat skeptical of these dimensions. The length seems short for the beam and the depth also seems too small. We have to use the few cases where we definitely have both the English and Dutch dimensions as a guide, and what I have given are based on the average factors.

There will be a new research result posted at Kentishknock.com

At some point, relatively soon, there should be a new "Research Result" posted to KentishKnock.com. It is a comprehensive listing of information about Directors ships from 1652 to 1653. It is mostly in outline form, but parts have more discussion, based on what is known from sources. If you want a copy of the Word document version, I can send that upon request (e-mail). I can't guarantee that I would be able to reply before Tuesday night, as I will be traveling on a long weekend.

Jan Glete's assumptions about calculating Dutch and English sailing warship displacements

Jan Glete is an acknowledged expert on sailing warships. I have found his two-volume work, Navies and Nations to be very helpful in my research. His bibliography and notes are comprehensive. A key aspect in his work is comparison of navies by displacement. To do that, he developed a system for estimating displacements.

Jan Glete assumed, for various reasons, that English ships had finer lines than Dutch ships. My impression is that Ab Hoving agrees with that. When he designed the lines for the new Zeven Proviniën, he gave her very full lines. Jan Glete made the following assumptions:

Even in the 1650's Dutch ships were heavily armed, mainly with iron guns, which were heavier than brass guns.

The Danish and Swedish navies found ships built by Dutch design principles to be slower than ships built using English design principles.

The French found that English prizes sailed better than Dutch prizes.

English ship design methods required finer lines than more boxlike Dutch lines. Ab Hoving's book about Nicolaes Witsen illustrates this.

In retrospect, Jan Glete wonders if the difference might not be so great. He also now thinks that Dutch drafts might be greater than he had previously thought.

This is more information transcribed from the "Staet van Oorlogh te Water voor den Jaere 1654", from July 1654. The two ships that I list here were both active participants in the First Anglo-Dutch War. I expect that the armaments listed here are either that carried during the war, or at least representative of what they carried. The Campen had been Joris van der Zaan's ship in the opening act of the First Anglo-Dutch War, when Jacob Huyrluyt and Joris van der Zaan had been convoying 7 Straatsvaarders returning from the Mediterranean. They were stopped by Anthony Young, off the Start. They exchanged a few shots, and then continued on to meet Tromp and his fleet, near Dover, leaving their charges behind, at the Start. Willem van der Zaan took command, after the Battle of Portland, where his brother had been killed.

Admiralty:	Amsterdam
Ship:	Leeuwarden
Date built:	1645
Captain:	Jan Egbertszoon Ooms
Guns:	34
Length:	120 feet
Beam:	29-3/4 feet
Hold:	11-3/4 feet (estimated)
Brass Guns:	4-18pdr, 6-6pdr, and 2-4pdr
Iron Guns:	14-12pdr and 8-6pdr

Admiralty:	Amsterdam
Ship:	Campen
Date built:	1652
Captain:	Willem van der Zaan
Guns:	42
Length:	128-1/2 feet
Beam:	32 feet
Hold:	13 feet
Brass Guns:	4-18pdr, 6-12pdr, and 4-6pdr
Iron Guns:	16-12pdr and 10-8pdr

The Battle of Plymouth

I did another simulation run of the Battle of Plymouth scenario. It only confirms my view that the English did very poorly, when they should have given the Dutch a sharp defeat. I tend to blame Sir George Ayscue's leadership, and have wondered if he was relieved from his command due to his performance. Frank Fox says that it was not the case, and that it was more for political reasons. Sir George Ayscue served after the Restoration, so he must have been viewed as Royalist sympathizer by the new administration.

Dutch guns

From my perspective, there are many unanswered questions about Dutch guns in the 17th Century. My basic concerns are to learn dimensions and weights for the different types. The types are:

normal Iron guns

normal brass guns

chambered brass guns

drakes or draakjes

"light" brass guns

"klokwijs" guns (with a flared muzzle)

steenstukken (Jan Glete says that these were swivels)

What I want to be able to do is to estimate weights for all the types. For example, I have quite detailed information about guns from 1628 to 1633 and for 1654. I want to be able to do a weight analysis for ships, and that means knowing the gun weights.

There is new information at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com

I just posted two new items at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. One has three Dutch guns from the 17th Century and the other is a table of gun data from the same source.

Portrait of Sir George Ayscue (another experiment)

I tried to do a lot more digital painting on this portrait of Sir George Ayscue, and it probably isn't as successful as the De Ruyter portrait. I thought it fitting that De Ruyter's opponent at the Battle of Plymouth would be the next portrait that I attempted. This is done after Peter Lely's portrait of Ayscue.

Portrait of Michiel De Ruyter (an experiment)

As an experiment, I tried doing as portrait of Michiel De Ruyter, after a well-known painting. My picture is a combination of pencil and graphic painting. I wanted to see what I might be able to quickly do. If I can come up with a reasonable approach, I want to do portraits, in a common style, of commanders during the Anglo-Dutch Wars.

Portrait of Michiel De Ruyter after the painting by Ferdinand Bol.

The "Gulden Dolphijn" or "Dolphijn"

The dimensions that I just listed for the Gulden Dolphijn are those from the "Staet van Oorlogh te Water voor den Jaere 1654", but they considerably differ from those listed in the 26 February 1652 Admiralty of Rotterdam list. In that list, they are: 110ft x 25.5ft x 12.5ft (not 116ft x 25ft x 12ft). That converts to more reasonable dimensions in Amsterdam feet: 120ft x 27.75ft x 13.5ft (generously rounded). The 26 February 1652 list, in its entirety is available at: KentishKnock.com Research Results. I have found that it is not so unusual to have conflicting information about dimensions (sadly).

This is more information transcribed from the "Staet van Oorlogh te Water voor den Jaere 1654", from July 1654. I have not seen this information in published form. Vreugdenhil only published the dimensions, not the armament details or names of captains. Since all Rotterdam ships are said have dimensions in Maas feet (308mm), I have done the conversion to Amsterdam feet (283mm), as well.

Admiralty:	Amsterdam
Ship:	Groningen
Date built:	1641
Captain:	Gillis Tijssen Campen
Guns:	34
Length:	128 feet
Beam:	31-1/2 feet
Hold:	12 feet
Brass Guns:	4-10pdr, 2-12pdr, 4-8pdr, and 4-4pdr
Iron Guns:	16-12pdr, and 4-8pdr

Admiralty:	Rotterdam
Ship:	Gulden Dolphijn
Date built:	1634
Captain:	Paulus van den Kerckhoff
Guns:	32
Length:	116 ft (Maas), 126-1/2 ft (Amsterdam)
Beam:	25 ft (Maas), 27-1/4 ft (Amsterdam)
Hold:	12 ft (Maas), 13 ft (Amsterdam) /td>
Brass Guns:	4-chambered 24pdr, 2-chambered 5pdr
Iron Guns:	16-12pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-4pdr

Rationale for tonnage calculations

There are several reasons for being concerned with estimating dimensions and doing tonnage calculations for sailing warships. One is for analytical reasons. Tonnage seems to be a reasonable metric for comparing fleets. Alternatively, you might estimate displacement. Tonnages (burden or burthen) is easier, as displacement requires estimating drafts and block coefficients. Tonnages only require estimating beam and keel length. Usually, we know either the keel length, length on the gun deck, or length from stem to sternpost. We are then reduced to comparing with the few known examples to estimate the values for a new ship. Even harder is to do estimates for Dutch ships, which were measured on a totally different basis (length from stem to sternpost and beam inside the planking).

English tonnage calculations

Sorry for all the math, but it is unavoidable in this sort of analysis. Before the Restoration, the burden calculation used until the end of the age of sail was formulated. That formula was:

LK = length on the keel

LGD = length on the gundeck

B = Beam

D = Depth in hold

Burden in tons = LK x B x B/2 x 1/94

This is often simplified as:

Burden in tons = LK x B x B / 188

The "Beam/2" is a normalized depth, instead of using a true depth in hold, as had previously been the custom. The next step after that, was to use a calculated length of keel, based on the length on the gundeck and the beam:

LK = LGD - 2/5 x B

Now there were both a normalized length on the keel and a normalized depth. Only the length on the gundeck and the beam determined the burden. I believe that eventually, the real length of keel was used, after 1688.

To look at the history of calculations, we have some useful data. There is a list of ships from 1590-1591 that has dimensions and burden in tons. Let us use the famous Ark Royal as our example:

LK	100 ft
Beam	36 ft
Depth	15 ft
Burden	540 tons

So let us look at the burden calculation:

540 tons = 100 ft x 36 ft x 15 ft x 1/100

This calculation holds true for all the ships in the list.

Now, let us look at the Prince Royal, as built in 1610:

LK	115 ft
Beam	43.5 ft
Depth	18 ft
Burden	1200 tons

So let us look at the burden calculation:

1200 tons = 115 ft x 43.5 ft x 18 ft x 4/3 x 1/100 (rounded from 1200.6 tons)

The only variation for this formula formula was that the burden might be rounded to one or two digits, rather than giving an exact number (such as 700 tons or 650 tons). For example, the Constant Reformation was nominally 750 tons, but the actual product was 752.6 tons.

Given our knowledge of formulas, we can now estimate the dimensions of ships for which we only have burdens. For many of the hired or purchased ship from 1642 to 1660, we only know burdens. Let us estimate the dimensions for the English ship, the Cygnet, purchased in 1643.

233 tons = LK x B x D x 4/3 x 1/100

Using some factors from examples, we can estimate each of the dimensions:

LK = LGD x 0.8

B = LGD x 0.25

D = B x 0.4

For the Cygnet, that gives the following:

Burden = LK x B x D x 4/3 x 0.01 = (LGD x 0.8) x (LGD x 0.25) x (B x 0.4) x (4/3) x 0.01 =

Burden = (LGD x 0.8) x (LGD x 0.25) x ((LGD x 0.25) x 0.4) x (4/3) x 0.01 =

Burden = LGD x LGD x LGD x (0.8 x 0.25 x 0.25 x 0.4 x 1.333 x 0.01) =

Burden = LGD x LGD x LGD x 0.000267

This simplifies to:

LGD = (Burden / 0.000267)1/3

So for the Cygnet, the LGD = (239 / 0.000267)1/3 = 96.37ft or 96ft-4in (about)

The LK = LGD / 1.25 = 96.37 / 1.25 = 77.096ft = 77ft-1in (about)

The Beam = LGD / 4 = 96.37 / 4 = 24.09ft = 24ft-1in (about)

The Depth = Beam x 0.4 = 24.09 x 0.4 = 9.636ft = 9ft-8in (about)

So let's test the result: Burden = 77.096 x 24.09 x 9.636 x 4/3 x 1/100 = 238.6, which is finally right!

Anyway, that is my system for estimating. If you change the proportions, the factors change, but the system stays the same, for this earlier period. For the later period, we are reduced to looking at example ships, as the formula doesn't tell us what the real depth was. (I kept making the error of using the LGD in the last calculation, and couldn't figure out why it came out wrong. I just figured out what I had done)

The Battle of Portland (28 February-2 March 1653)

I now suspect that after being wounded on the first day, and having his flagship heavily attacked, that Robert Blake was reluctant to press the fight to the Dutch. At the end of the first day, after having gone on the attack and having been repulsed, the Dutch went into defensive mode.

The Dutch formed a crescent around their convoy, and facing the English. As it was, English frigates picked off merchant ships. On the last day, two warships were also taken. The Dutch had been reduced to about 30 warships that still had ammunition. If the English had pressed an attack, they could have destroyed the remnants of the main Dutch fleet, and taken the convoy. Instead, at nightfall, the English let the Dutch escape. There was a threat of a storm and they were near the French coast. The English pilots were reluctant to enter the shallows, while the Dutch, with their shallow draft ships used the shallows to escape.

I had often wondered why the English accepted action at the start of the Four Days Battle

An 18th Century British admiral would never have accepted battle when he had such an inferior force as the English had at the Four Days Battle. Frank Fox's book, A Distant Storm: the Four Days Battle of 1666 provides the answer, as best as it is possible to know. George Monck, by then, the Duke of Albemarle, had decided before ever encountering the Dutch to give battle. He could easily have justified withdrawing, as he knew that reinforcements would soon be ready. The fleet was also reduced due to Prince Rupert being sent to intercept a suspected French raid on Ireland. Instead of withdrawing, Albemarle fought.

The clinching point was as the English came up on the Dutch fleet, they found that the Dutch were anchored. The English had caught the Dutch completely by surprise. Such opportunities seldom are presented. The English swept down on the anchored Dutch fleet. Cornelis Tromp was the first to recognize what had happened. The ships of his squadron cut their anchor cables and set sail, as quickly as possible. The last time I spoke with Frank Fox, he mentioned the Blue flag from the Fighting Instructions. Albemarle used it, in this instance, to mean "fall into line in my wake". After that, Albermarle suddenly ordered the "Bloody Flag" raised on the fore. At that signal, the English ships swept in for an attack. Then the battle started.

Good sources about Dutch ships

On page 355, Vol.I, of Jan Glete's book, Navies and Nations, in Note 10, he talks about a list of about 40 ships hired by the Directors in 1652 to 1653. As far as I can tell, there is no single list. Instead, there are many separate documents, from various dates, starting from early 1652 up until mid-1653 or so. The reference is: "Erste Afdeeling, Directies, Equipering Oorlogsschepen, Algemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague. Mr. Ron van Maanen had originally pointed out this archive to Jan Glete.

There are many other references to documents and letters in the archives in Dr. Johan E. Elias' 6-volume book, Schetsen uit de geschiedenis van ons zeewezen. Dr. Elias had thought that J.C. De Jonge had missed a great deal of material, when he compiled Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, originally in the 1840's. Schetsen is filled with references to documents that Dr. Elias saw in the early 20th Century (at least from 1916 to 1930). Rick van Velden was able to find a few of them, but I would think that a large number remain unseen for the last 70 or 80 years. We really need to find them and make that information available. I am convinced that if we had the time and resources to do the research, we could fill in most gaps in our knowledge of Dutch ships during the First Anglo-Dutch War. I have already mentioned the Hendrick de Raedt pamphlet. That has the prospect of being very useful, if we could obtain a copy.

The best picture I have seen of the Sovereign of the Seas (1637)

Teemu koivumäki has the best picture I have seen of the Sovereign of the Seas (1637).

If you are not familiar with his site, Sailing Warships: List of Sailing Warships from 17th. to 19th. Century, you need to be. There is no other source available, in print or on the Web, that has as much information in one place. He has had many contributors, including myself.

I contributed to the Dutch ship section, especially that for the Directors' ships during the First Anglo-Dutch War. Professor Jan Glete pointed out that there was information in the Nationaal Archief, in the Hague, for about 40 Directors' ships. Rick van Velden was able to find much of what Prof. Glete had seen about 20 years ago, as well as a few documents that Prof. Glete had not seen.

More Dutch ships: Eenhoorn (1625) and Eendracht (1639)

This is more information transcribed from the "Staet van Oorlogh te Water voor den Jaere 1654", from July 1654. Two interesting ships were the Eenhoorn (the patriarch, being the oldest Dutch warship) and the Eendracht. Both belonged to the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier. I believe that the Eenhoorn dimensions may differ from that published by Vreugendhil. The Eenhoorn was a vessel of 200 lasts. Both ships were armed with an odd assortment of guns. They were whatever was available, apparently. During this period, the Dutch struggled to obtain sufficient guns.

Admiralty:	Noorderkwartier
Ship:	Eenhoorn
Date built:	1625
Captain:	Jan Janszoon Heck
Guns:	30
Length:	125 feet
Beam:	29 feet
Hold:	13 feet (estimated)
Iron Guns:	13-10pdr, 7-12pdr, 4-8pdr, 2-6pdr, 2-4pdr, and 2-3pdr

Admiralty:	Noorderkwartier
Ship:	Eendracht
Date built:	1639
Captain:	Jan Janszoon Heck
Guns:	41
Length:	130 feet
Beam:	32 feet
Hold:	12 feet
Brass Guns:	4-24pdr, 2-18pdr, 4-12pdr, 2-9pdr, 4-6pdr, and 2-4pdr
Iron Guns:	8-18pdr, 8-12pdr, and 7-8pdr

The Kasteel van Medemblick in July 1654

This is a very minor bit of information, but it still information that is not generally available. In particular, I have not seen the gun list in print, although the dimensions have been previously published.

Admiralty:	Noorder-Kwartier
Ship:	Casteel van Medemblick
Date built:	1640
Captain:	Captain Houttuijn
Guns:	28
Length:	120 feet
Beam:	27 feet
Hold:	11 feet
Brass Guns:	2-6pdr
Iron Guns:	10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 6-4pdr, 2-3pdr

Some notes about English ships from the 17th Century, from Frank Fox

Frank Fox is the reigning expert about English ships from the 17th Century. I will try to paraphrase some of what he has said about English ships:

With respect to armaments, the official establishments can't be relied upon. They weren't followed for various reasons, often the availability of the needed guns. Real surveys are the only thing that can be trusted. Some of those were published in Adrian Caruana's book, History of English Sea Ordnance, 1523-1875, in the first volume. The guns used included the light-weight "drakes" and "cuts", for demi-culverins, sakers, and minions.

With respect to manning, both the English and the Dutch wanted to man the guns on both sides in the first two wars. They allocated fewer men per gun than in later times. The establishments in the first and second wars are minimums. If they could find them, supernumeraries were allocated. At Lowestoft, that was about 20 men per ship.

The English allocated 40 shot per gun, plus some special types for the medium and small guns. At the Four Days Battle, they actually carried 50 shot per gun.

With respect to ballast, very few ships carried iron ballast, due to the expense. For example, the galley-frigates carried iron ballast, as well as other ships "built for speed". The other ships usually carried coal or shingle ballast (the Dutch were reduced to using sand, which is very problematic, when it gets wet). Some examples of ballast carried are: the Royal Katherine, 145 tons; the Prince of 1670, 206 tons; and the Lennox of 1678, 325 tons. Frank says that the latter was required due to the increase in height of gunports above the water. Unballasted, the ships had a high center of gravity, which had to be compensated by increased ballast.

Some reflections on the Battle of Portland

Tromp attacked Blake, and a group of ships with him that were protecting his ship, the Triumph. This was in the opening moves of the battle. At first light on the first day, Tromp could see two groups of ships to his South. due South, he could see a group of a dozen or so ships, with William Penn's flag on one. Two miles to the East, was another group of similar size, with John Lawson in command.

In between were a half dozen ships. One was the Triumph, with Robert Blake and Richard Deane jointly in command. The rest of the English fleet was 5 or 6 miles to the leeward. The wind was from the Northwest. The Dutch charged directly downwind. Jan Evertsen went for Lawson, Tromp went for Blake, Pieter Florissen tried to go into the gap between Blake and Penn. De Ruijter charged directly at Penn. Lawson intended to tack to the West and sail South of Blake. He intended to then tack back towards Blake and attack from the Southwest. Penn tacked back towards Blake, having been on a Westerly course, at the start.

As I said, De Ruijter charged into Penn's group of ships. They boarded the Assistance, the Prosperous, the Oak, and the Sampson was sunk. The Assistance was John Bourne's flagship. He was Rear-Admiral of the Blue. The Sampson was a Dutch prize (the Sampson van Hoorn, captured while on fishery protection duties in July 1652, off the East coast. The Oak was also a Dutch prize (evidently an Akerboom, perhaps merchant).

Unfortunately for De Ruijter and the Dutch, John Lawson now arrived and recaptured the Assistance, Prosperous, and Oak. They also broke through the circle of Dutch ships around Blake, and broke the Dutch attack.

This first encounter happened right South of Portland Bill. Blake had started his voyage from Beachy Head, and tacked down the Channel, mostly against the wind. By the morning of the first day, the wind had shifted to the Northwest.

As darkness fell on the first day, the Dutch withdrew to the North, to cover their convoy from attacks by Monck's frigates. In the course of the first day's battle, Jan Evertsen's squadron had suffered dearly. He lost 8 ships. Four were sunk: the ship of Captain Cleydyck (Kleijdijck) (30 guns); the Kroon Imperiaal (34 guns), the ship of Cornelis Janszoon Poort; the Engel Gabriel (36 guns), the ship of Isaak Sweers; the Arche Troijane (28 guns), the ship of Abraham van Campen, and probably Sipke Fockes' ship, which was apparently called the Groote Sint Lucas (28 guns).

Schelte Wichelma's ship, the Frisia, blew up. Almost all of the ships that blew up in the Anglo-Dutch wars were probably caused by in sufficient care when handling gun powder. Another possible cause is that a ship can catch fire, and blow up. Apparently, it was possible to have a lot of powder dust in the air, that could be explosive, if there was a spark. It is almost impossible for a hit by a single shot to cause a ship to explode (like the battlecruisers at Jutland or the Hood in 1941).

Three more were captured: the Wapen van Holland (30 guns), commanded by Hendrick de Munnich; the East Indiaman, the Vogelstruis (40 guns), commanded by Cornelis Adriaanszoon Cruijck; and Cornelis Loncke's ship, the Faam (30 guns).

That was all by the end of the first day.

At the end of the third day, there were about 35 Dutch ships protecting the convoy, fighting to keep the marauding English frigates away. Two Dutch warships were lost on that last day: the Vergulde Haan (36 guns) and the Groote Liefde (38 guns).

The Rotterdam ship Schiedam

On February 26, 1652, the Schiedam was in service with the Rotterdam Admiralty. The Schiedam was commanded by Marinus Juynbol. At this time, she carried 26 guns. The dimensions were the same as the Gorcum: 116ft x 27ft x 11ft. On this date, she was engaged in convoying merchant ships to Rouen. I have not seen any further references to the Schiedam after this date. The only published reference I have seen to the Schiedam is in a note on page 81 of Volume VI of Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen. This is another one of those mysteries which we probably will never solve, although we could be surprised.

More about the Battle of Portland (28 February to 2 March 1653, New Syle)

I have been reading the Onstelde-Zee (1654) pages about the Battle of Portland (with some difficulty). Now, I have open my copy of Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen. I am looking at the Dutch ship losses and captains killed.

Rotterdam captains killed:

Corstiaen Corstiaenszoon, Prins te Paard (38 guns)

Quirijn van den Kerckhoff, Maria (26 guns)

Hendrick de Munnick, Wapen van Holland (30 guns)(burnt)

Amsterdam captains killed:

Augustijn Balck, Vrijheid (44 guns)

Joris van der Zaan, Campen (42 guns)

Cornelis Janszoon Poort, Kroon Imperiaal (34 guns), Director's ship (sunk)

Jacob Sijvertszoon Spanheijm, Elias (34 guns), Director's ship

Sipke Fockes, Groote Sint Lucas (28 guns), Director's ship (captured)

Dirck Schey, Achilles (28 guns)

Abraham van Campen, Arche Troijane (28 guns), Director's ship (sunk)

Noorderkwartier captain killed:

Pieter Aldertszoon, Burcht (24 guns)

Zeeland captains killed:

Joost Banckert, Liefde (26 guns)

Johannes Regermorter

, a ship (30 guns), a Middelburg Directors ship

Johannes Michelszoon, a fast storeship

East India Company captain killed:

Cornelis Adriaanszoon Cruijck, Vogelstruis (44 guns) (captured)

In addition to this list, which is from Jan Evertsen's journal, we know that the Friesland ship, Frisia, commanded by Schelte Wichelma, blew up, and he was almost certainly killed.

Captain Lambert Pieterszoon

In early 1652, Lambert Pieterszoon commanded the Amsterdam Director's ship, the Nassouw van den Burgh. I have seen his ship called the Hector, although not in the documents that I have from the Nationaal Archief, in the Hague. The first dated document that I have seen showed her in service on 12 March 1652.

The Nassouw was a substantial ship with dimensions 130ft x 32ft x 12ft with a height between the main deck and the upper deck of 7ft. Her armament was quite mixed, being 4-24pdr, 14-12pdr, 10-8pdr, 4-6pdr, and 2-3pdr.

We know that Lambert Pieterszoon joined Witte de With's fleet on 29 September 1652, as part of a group of seven ships. On 10 October, it was reported to Witte de With that Captain Pieterszoon had sailed to the Texel, without orders. Later, on 2 December 1652, he was in Maarten Tromp's squadron, prior to the Battle of Dungeness. Interestingly enough, there is a mention that Lambert Pieterszoon's ship was in company with Jan Evertsen, in a group of 8 ships that had been scattered by a storm. My question is what happened to Lambert Pieterszoon? Was he killed at Dungeness, or what happened to him? We find no further mention of him, after that last date.

I wonder if the March 1653 list in De Jonge's book is only for home waters

I am working on filling in more of the March 1653 list that is outlined in Vol.I of Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen. I have the Rotterdam Admiralty section filled in pretty completely, and have started on the Amsterdam Admiralty and Director's ships. My reaction is to wonder if there is a place in the list for the ships in the Mediterranean. The list was made right around the time of the Battle of Livorno (14 March 1653, New Style).

I am making good use of my list that I compiled to aid me in building scenarios for First Anglo-Dutch Wars battles. That list is ordered by captain's last name, and lists ships every time there is a new captain. That is because that most published lists for the Dutch only list captains and not ship names.

I believe that I can make more progress filling out the March 1653 list

Apparently, I have learned enough in the last five months to be able to finally come close to filling out the March 1653 list from Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen. What I just posted for Rotterdam is just part of that list. The list shows the state of the Dutch navy just after the Battle of Portland and prior to the Battle of the Gabbard.