Frustration: you can't assume anything

The frustrating thing is to find that where you don't have specific information, that the situation was different from anything you have seen. There were apparently some "mystery ships" and different captain assignments in the Dutch fleet up to the storm in the Shetlands in early August 1652. I have good information from September, some of which refers to August and before, so I had assumed that I knew more about ship assignments in the fleet than I apparently do. I am not able to look in the Nationaal Archief myself, so I have to rely upon finding out enough specifics so that my researcher can find and photograph pages for me. One complication is that the research in this area is competitive, so when I find out that there is new information, I am likely not to find out the specific location. The main problem area is the ships and captains of the Admiralty of Amsterdam, apparently. Some ships only appeared in September 1652 and others had new captains in September.

There is more to be learned and understood

There is more information that has been found that indicates that our understanding of Dutch captains and warships for March to September 1652 (and probably more than that) is still incomplete. For example, there were two Amsterdam ships named Overijssel in service at the start of 1652. One was the new ship Overijssel, built in 1650 (seemingly) and the other was an older ship that may or may not have served in the Battle of the Downs in 1639. I have seen a list from 30 June 1652 that indicated that Jan van Campen served with the fleet on that date. What ship did he command? On 5 August 1652, he and Dirck Schey were fitting out two ships between Amsterdam and the Texel. Dirck Schey's ship was the Achillis (the 131ft long ship) while Jan van Campen's ship seems to have been the newer Overijssel. That must mean that the older Overijssel was not sold in March but was still in service, under the command of Abraham van der Hulst.

The Dutch Snauw

I had a request for a list of the snauwen in service in the Dutch navy. I have two sources on the subject. One is Vreugdenhil's list that was published by the Society for Nautical Research in 1938. The other is information that I have from the archivist Ron van Maanen, who is at Geldermalsen. This is the list that I just compiled:

Sources:

1)  Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800",
undated, but circa 1992

2)  A. Vreugdenhil, Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702, 1938


Admiraliteit van Amsterdam:

Haan   18-23 guns  1658-1674, could be the fluytschip transport

Bonte Haan  8 guns  1674

Den Goes   1674

Hoen    12 guns  1674

Tonijn  8-10 guns  crew 40  1674-1677  blown up in action

Bonte Haan 8-18 guns  1675-1686  70ft x 19ft x 8-1/2ft

Prinsen Wapen  8 guns  1675-1676

Roos  8 guns  1675-1676

Kreeft  8 guns  1675-1677


Admiraliteit van de Maze

Faam  12 guns 1667-1674

Griffioen  1672-1694

Kievet  16 guns  1677-1690  79ft x 21-3/4ft x 10-1/2ft

Faam  16 guns  1702-1708   78ft x 21-1/4ft x 10-1/2ft

Maas  1705-1707

San Antonio de Padua  1707-1712


Admiraliteit van Zeeland:

Paragon d'Alette  1666-1667  sunk in harbour

Tijdverdrijf  6 guns  1671

Nachtegaal  crew 60  1690

Zeepost  8-12 guns  crew 25-60  1690-1697

Neptunus  10 guns  1695

Blikkenburg  10-14 guns  1696-1707  captured by the French

Mercurius  16 guns  1702-1705  78ft x 21-3/4ft x 10-1/2ft

There was apparently a lot of shuffling captains and ships in August 1652

Yet again, there are apparently surprises about which Dutch captain commanded which ship in early 1652. I do not have a good list of ships and captains for May to August 1652. I have better information dating from September, but there are still holes in my knowledge, even after having seen hundreds of pages from the Nationaal Archief in The Hague. I know just enough to know that I need to see better information about Amsterdam and Noorderkwartier ships, particularly. One thing that we know is that the Amsterdam ship Groningen was in service prior to September 1652, as you would expect.

The plan to arm ships in early 1653

Apparently, the plan to arm the newly built ships is described in Witte de With's journal on 3 February 1653. The plan for the 140ft ships being built was to give them the following guns:

 4-24pdr bronze half-cartouwen 4400 lbs
10-18pdr iron heavy            3600 lbs
10-12pdr iron heavy            2900 lbs
 6-bronze 6pdr drakes           800 lbs

In addition, the following would have been added:

 8-12pdr iron                  2500 lbs
12-12pdr iron heavy            2900 lbs

The latter seem to have been an afterthought, as they are on the left margin, but they bring the total gun up to a more reasonable 50 guns.

Guns from early 1653

This gun information is from Witte de With's journal, dating from early 1653. I am always looking for specific information about weights for the different kinds of guns:

24pdr bronze      4400 lbs
18pdr iron        3600 lbs
12pdr bronze      2500 lbs
12pdr iron        2900 lbs
 6pdr bronze drake 800 lbs

One thing that I need to do is to collect my various gun inventories from 1652 and 1653

Most of the gun inventories that I have that list the weights of individual pieces on each ship are from early 1653. I have at least one, from a notary document, for a hired ship in 1652. I would think that it would be valuable to be able to make some generalizations about the weights of guns, based on whether they are bronze or iron, regular or drakes (possibly with a bell-shaped chamber). The chambered guns seem to have been bronze. One question is if there were any iron drakes or chambered guns.

From a list dating from 11 September 1653

Witte de With's journal, for 11 September 1653, has a list of Noorderkwartier ships with his fleet:

Adm    Ship                   Guns Crew Commander
N      Monnikendam            34   176  commandeur Pieter Floriszoon
N      Wapen van Monnikendam  28   107  kapitein Arent Dirckszoon
N      Lastdrager             32   102  kapitein Gerrit Munt
N      Hoorn                  28   116  kapitein Claes Aldertszoon
N      Schel                  24   100  kapitein Claes Cornelisz Hen
N      Peereboom ?            24    80  lt-commandeur Hendrick Pietersz Wolf
N      Casteel van Medemblick 28   124  lt-commandeur Dirck Arensz Houttuijn
N      Wapen van Enkhuizen    33   115  kapitein Gerrit Femszoon
N      Harder                 31   136  kapitein Backer

I am concerned about information about Noorderkwartier ships in the 14 July 1653 list

We have this list, dating from 14 July 1653, that includes some interesting information about Noorderkwartier ships on that date. There is an entry for the ship Schel which has the name Coninck Radbout marked out and "de Schel" written above it. The list of guns, totalling 30, includes some heavier guns. On the next page is another entry for the Coninck Radbout (Koning Radboud) that seems more plausible. The captain, Jan Rootjes, is the one that I expected, as well. The entry lists the number of guns as 32, while I had thought that the ship had carried 28 guns. Perhaps all this is correct. I guess that I need to compare my other sources, before I panic.

Zeeland ships, particularly, carried an odd assortment of guns

On 22 June 1653, the ships of the Admiralty of Zeeland carried a very odd assortment of gun calibers and types. Some were very odd weights, indeed:

bronze 36pdr
bronze 24pdr
bronze 24pdr klokwijs (chambered)
?      20pdr
bronze 18pdr
iron   18pdr
bronze 16pdr
bronze 15pdr
iron   12pdr
bronze 12pdr
bronze 12pdr klokwijs (chambered)
bronze 10pdr
iron    9pdr
iron    8pdr
iron    7pdr
iron    6pdr
bronze  6pdr
bronze  5pdr
iron    5pdr
iron    4pdr
bronze  4pdr
iron    3pdr
bronze  3pdr

The Brederode in June 1653

The Dutch fleet flagship is listed in Witte de With's journal as having 56 guns in June 1653. The only gun list that I have from that month has 54 guns. The main feature is that there seems to be a complete lower tier of 24pdr guns, except for the four 36pdr guns, rather than a mix of 18pdr and 24pdr guns. As I recall, there is an Danish article that gives a total of 56 guns, with a large number of 24pdr guns, as well. I need to find that and see what that list is, so I can compare that with the list from 22 June 1653.

The hired ship Harderin in July 1653

The hired ship Harderin, in service with the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier in July 1653 seems likely not to be the same ship that was purchased or built by the Admiralty of Amsterdam, later in the 1650's. This Harderin, commanded by Claes Cornelisz Hen (Claes Valehen), only carried 24 small guns. These were very small guns. Most were smaller than 8pdr. The crew was supposed to be 90 men, but only 38 were on board on 14 July.

Ron van Maanen says that Gerrit Femssen's ship was 120ft long

According to Ron van Maanen, Gerrit Femssen's ship, the Wapen van Enkhuizen, was 120ft long. The Wapen van Enkhuizen was closer in size to Pieter Florissen's ship, the Monnikendam, than to the smaller Casteel van Medemblick, also 120ft long. On 21 June 1653, the Wapen van Enkhuizen carried 34 guns. There were several 18pdr guns, more 12pdr, 8pdr, and 6pdr guns, with another two 3pdr guns.

The Rotterdam ship Roscam, in June 1653

The ship Roscam was hired by the Admiralty of Rotterdam in early 1652 and served until lost in the storm off the Texel in early November 1653. For the entire period, the Roscam was commanded by Corstiaen (or Christiaen) Eldertszoon. The Roscam was mainly armed with 6pdr and 4pdr guns in June 1653, with several larger to bring to total to 24 guns. The crew was nominally 95 men. One new tidbit is that the length was apparently 112 Amsterdam feet.

English line tactics

One of the things that I heard in the Netherlands, last week, was the assertion, which I believe to be true, is that General Monck decided to use line tactics against the Dutch, starting at the Battle of the Gabbard to counter the Dutch preference for entering and boarding, at which they were very practiced and effective. I would also say that the Dutch used concentration and mutual support, between ships, as a means of staying competitive with the larger, more heavily armed English ships. When the English adopted the line, the Dutch had little alternative to fighting in an informal line of battle, as well. When they adopted the line, their ships and men suffered greatly against the numerous English culverins (18pdr) and demi-cannons (32 pdr). Only the best Dutch ships, except the Brederode, which was much more heavily armed, had a complete lower tier of 12pdr guns. Many had a main battery of 8pdr or even 6pdr guns. I was amazed to see more detailed gun lists for the Dutch ships, to see just how many had such light armaments. They often supplemented the smaller guns with a few larger guns, but maybe just two to six of them. In some cases, the larger guns were 18pdr or even 24pdr guns. In the case of Adriaan Bankert's ship Hollandia, it was the two 36pdr guns, with a few more fairly large guns.

Barend Simonssen in June 1653

One of the few ships that still remain nameless is a new addition: the ship of Barend Simonssen, which is mentioned in the list of 22 June 1653. This is an Amsterdam Directors' ship that carried 30 guns. The list mentions the ship as being missing, after the Battle of the Gabbard. I naively expected to be able to determine the ship name from the known losses in the battle, but they all appear elsewhere in the list!

The Sint Joris

I was somewhat surprised the Jacob Wolphertszoon's small ship, the Sint Joris, fought at the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. His ship was hired by the Admiralty of Zeeland and had just 23 small guns. The crew consisted of 75 sailors and 25 soldiers. The Sint Joris only had four guns larger then 6pdr, out of the 23 guns. There were an odd number of 5pdr guns.

Adriaan Banckert's ship Hollandia (38 guns)

I was amazed to see that Adriaan Banckert's ship, the Hollandia, carried two 36pdr guns in June 1653. The Hollandia was a ship of the Admiralty of Zeeland which had previously been used as Johan Evertsen's flagship. Up through the Battle of the Kentish Knock, the Hollandia had been commanded by Philips Joosten. The crew mutinied and he was replaced by Adriaan Banckert and the crew from the West Cappel. Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge replaced Adriaan Banckert as captain of the West Cappel, and he was force to recruit a new crew. The Hollandia was larger than the published dimensions, as the Hollandia had a length, in Amsterdam feet, of 122ft. By June 1653, the Hollandia was armed with 38 guns.

The start of the First Anglo-Dutch War on 29 May 1652

This is probably not news, but I thought that my ideas about how the First Anglo-Dutch War was started were clarified by hearing the circumstances described. I just spent some time in the Netherlands, from Sunday afternoon to Thursday morning. We had a meeting on Wednesday morning where a friend described the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War. We had been talking about the power of guns (which may not be quite right, but in my present jet-lag addled state, it is the best I can do). We heard how on 29 May 1652, Robert Blake had a shot fired at Tromp's flagship, the Brederode. The purpose was ostensibly to demand that the Dutch fleet salute the English sovereignty in the prescribed fashion. The shot passed completely through the Brederode. After penetrating the near side, a Dutch sailor lost his arm to the shot from Blake's flagship. Tromp was so angered by this, and being already predisposed to resist, he returned fire with a broadside. This broadside effectively started the First Anglo-Dutch War (the Dutch call it the First English War, or Eerste Engelse Oorlog).

Late June 1653

One thing that is really interesting is that there is a very good list of Dutch ships from 22 June 1653, along with inventories of ships. Several of them have gun inventories, with weights. In one case, the length of the pieces is mentioned. There are gun lists for ships like the Herder, the Harderinne, the Lastdrager, and Wapen van der Veere. The latter should be the upgraded armament, after being rearmed after the Three Days Battle in early 1653.

Pronouncing Dutch names

Since I arrived in the Netherlands, I found out that most of my way of saying names was wrong. Just a small example is Evert Anthonissen. I would say "ev-ert an-ton-is-sen". Carl Staple says the name something like "Ay-fert ahn-tone-iss-son". The key man at Artitec's name is Herbert Tomesen. I would say "Tom-uh-sen". From Ab Hoving, I found out that the correct way to say Herbert's name is "Tome-ay-sen". I try to hide behind the fact that I have never been around native Dutch speakers, before. I only was around my Afrikaans-speaking manager in 2001 to 2004. He helped me learn Dutch and helped me do translation.

I flew over the Dover area today, leaving England

When I left Gatwick Airport for the Netherlands, I passed near the Dover area, where the unfortunate incident took place on 29 May 1652. As I have said before, I believe that Tromp had entered area, ready to fight. He was already angry about English affronts to Dutch sovereignty, and after hearing a biased report from Joris van der Zaan about the encounter with Anthony Young's small squadron off the Start, a week or so earlier. Anthony Young was very congizent of the tense state of Anglo-Dutch relations, so he backed off from demands from the Dutch, after the original shots were fired. Anthony Young did not want to be the cause of a war with the Dutch. After leaving the seven Straatsvaarders he had been convoying, Joris van der Zaan and Jacob Huyrluyt found Tromp and the fleet. He gave Tromp a rather embellished account of his encounter with Anthony Young, so that angered Tromp further. Tromp was in no place to salute the English colors and strike the Dutch flag as they Englihs demanded. I believe it was Tromp who answered the demand with a broadside, and started the First Anglo-Dutch War.

I'll be making a flying trip to the Netherlands and back this week

Blogging will be affected while I travel. Once I arrive, I hope to have WiFi and to be able to do some blogging.

Joost Bulter's ship

We are fairly certain that Joost Bulter's ship in May 1653 and up to the Battle of the Gabbard, when the ship was sunk by gunfire, was the ship Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden. This was a ship employed by the Admiralty of Friesland, and was one the two Friesland ships in service in March to June 1653 that carried 38 guns. The originally intended armament was just 28 guns, as indicated in documents from 1652. The ship was of modest size, just 120ft long (in Amsterdam feet). The Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden (or simply, the Stad en Lande) is mentioned in Vol.V of The First Dutch War, as being named the "Town and Country" (Stad en Lande). This seems to have been accurate, while the many references to the ship as "Kameel" with 42 guns seem to be incorrect. They are curious, though, as they are so widespread. The appendix to Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen that lists an outline list of Dutch ships in service in March 1653 says that there were two Friesland ships that were "States' Ships" with 38 guns in service in March. One ship had a crew of 110 men and the other had a crew of 140 men. One of them was the Zevenwolden (with a crew of 140 men), commanded by Frederick Stellingwerff, and the other was Joost Bulter's ship, the Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden (with the crew of 110 men). Many of us had been mislead by the reference to the Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden as a "Groningen ship" or a ship "of the Stad en Landen" as meaning that it was a Directors' ship. That seems be wrong and the ship was employed by Admiralty of Friesland, as is indicated in the documents.

One question is how close we can come to the Dutch fleet list for the Three Days Battle

I would think that we could at least prepare a partial list which substantially covered the Dutch fleet in the Three Days Battle (or Battle of Portland). I have used a list based on what is in Dr. Ballhausen's book in the past, but I have only modest confidence in it. Most likely, it is wrong. I had thought that Wikipedia for the Netherlands might have a list, but they seem mostly to have such lists if I have previously published them. The English version of the battle in Wikipedia also does not have a list. Sources:

1. Dr. Carl Ballhausen, Der Erste Englisch-Höllandische Seekrieg 1652-1654, 1923

Armaments for Dutch ships

The more modern style of arming gave ships a uniform lower tier of guns. In fact, where it made sense, each tier was uniform. As well, the guns on the quarterdeck would be the same shot weight and the guns on the forecastle, where there were guns, would be the same. Many of the best Amsterdam ships in 1652 and 1653 were armed this way. The larger Amsterdam ships would have the uniform 12pdr lower tier typically supplemented by 4-24pdr guns. The upper tier would be either 6 or 8pdr guns. There were many ships, though, which had odd collections of guns, as if they had whatever was available. Zeeland and the Noorderkwartier seemed to arm their ships this way. The earlier attempts at arming Dutch ships might have 6 or 8 12pdr guns, with a larger number of 8pdr guns. They would have an upper tier of 4 or 6pdr guns, possibly supplemented with some 3pdr guns. Many famous Amsterdam ships were armed this way in 1652 and into 1653, such as the Bommel and Prins Willem. Most Friesland ships in 1652 and into 1653 had odd collections of guns, as well. There are signs that they had hoped to have more uniform armaments, but they were probably forced to use a more diverse armament for new ships, such as the Zevenwolden (38 guns), simply because of what was available.

Aert Jansz Verhaeff's ship Rotterdam in 1653

Aert Jansz Verhaeff commanded the Rotterdam ship named Rotterdam. This was one of the ships that measured 116ft x 27ft x 11ft in Amsterdam feet of 283mm. The usually published dimensions are actually those in Maas feet of 308mm: 106ft x 25ft x 9ft, which are what was reported in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654. If you convert to English feet, the dimensions are about 107ft x 25-1/4ft x 9ft. These are measured differently from how the English measured their ships. They length from stem to sternpost x beam inside the planking x hold at the deck edge from the keel. The English actually measured length on the keel x beam outside the planking x depth in hold at the center of the ship. Decks usually had a camber or curvature, so the center was higher than at the deck edge. I estimate the English-style dimensions for the Rotterdam as 87ft-3in x 22ft-4in x 8ft. I would guess that the length on the gun deck, in English feet, was about 112ft. The Rotterdam was like a rather small English 5th Rate. An oddity was that the Rotterdam is usually said to have 18pdr guns on the lower tier. I have a document that indicates that the Rotterdam had 18-18pdr guns. I assume that they had to be very lightweight guns, if this is true. Jan Evertsen's old flagship Hollandia carried four 18pdr guns that were only about 2400 lbs, so maybe the Rotterdam carried similar guns. For that little weight to be workable, they must have used reduced charges. Otherwise, the guns would have been dangerous to fire.

Dutch guns from 1653

The amazing thing is that I now have the gun inventories for many Zeeland ships from March 1653. Some guns of greatly varying shot sizes weighed the same. That explains, in part, why some ships might have what seems to be a very heavy armament: the guns carried turn out to be very light, usually chambered in the normal way, or with the bell-shaped chamber that the Dutch called "klokwijs". Some examples:

18pdr half-cartouwen bronze  3200 lbs
12pdr                bronze  3300 lbs
 5pdr                bronze  1750 lbs
 5pdr klokwijs       bronze  1850 lbs
12pdr sakers         iron    3200 lbs

The captain of the Faem in March 1653

I have this photograph of a page that says that the captain of the Amsterdam Directors' ship Faem (28 guns), in March 1653, was kapitein Jacob Cornelisz Swart. Most documents just say "Jacob Swart", so you don't know if the man was Jacob Andriesz Swart or Jacob Cornelisz Swart. This definitely says "Jacob Cornelisz Swart".

One thing that I just received is a letter signed by Witte de With and Michiel de Ruijter

I still am really interested in understanding better the relationship between Witte de With and Michiel de Ruijter. I just received a letter signed by both Witte Cornelisz de With and "Michiel Adr Ruijter" on board the ship Leeuwarden on 2 May 1653. This is about two weeks after the abortive raid on Scarborough, commanded by Witte de With. that operation is very curious, but unlike his usual decisive mode of operation, in this case, Witte de With held a council of war where they decided not to go into Scarborough Bay with the squadron of about 18 ships, including the Leeuwarden (36 guns) and ships such as Cornelis de Groot's ship Sampson (28 guns).

Joost Bulter's ship in early 1653

Joost Bulter commanded the ship Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden from late 1652 to mid-1653, when the ship was sunk at the Battle of the Gabbard and he was drowned. The first pages showed the ship with just 28 guns, but the latest things I have seen show that the ship carried 38 guns. The 38 guns included four bronze 12pdr, of which two were klokwijs guns (with a bell-shaped chamber) and the rest were divided among 10pdr, 8pdr, and 5pdr guns. The ship was not that large, just 120ft long. This seems to be the ship that the published literature calls "the Kameel". I have yet to understand where that name came from. I would have guessed that the picture on the tafferel had a camel, but I have been repeatedly assured that it could not have had a camel.

The four Amsterdam Directors' ships listed as being lost in the Three Days Battle

On photograph that I just received shows the four Amsterdam Directors' ships that were lost in the Three Days Battle (what the English called the Battle of Portland) from 28 February to 2 March 1653. They were the Croon Imperiael (kapitein Cornelis Jansz Poort), the Groote Liefde (kapitein Bruijn van Seelst), the Arcke Troijana (kapitein Abraham van Campen) and the Sint Francisco (kapitein Stoffel Juriaenszoon). There are no other Amsterdam Directors' shown to have been lost.

Maarten Schaeff's ship Engel

By 27 March 1653, Maarten Schaeff's ship Engel had been paid off. Sadly, the list I just received doesn't have dimensions, but it does had a gun list and crew figures. The Engel was primarily armed with 8pdr and 4pdr guns, with a couple of 12pdr and 3pdr guns, in addition. The crew consisted of 100 men and 20 musketeers. I was interested by the terminology in this list, as they are usually called "landsoldaten" (land soldiers).

The 125ft 40-gun ships

There were a number of 125ft long 40-gun ships in service during 1652 to 1653, while most of the 40-gun ships were 128ft long and of 250 lasts (the last figure is the Dutch gross tonnage measure, before they switched to using tons). One example is the Amsterdam ship Goes, with dimensions of 125ft x 29ft x 11-1/2ft x 7ft. I estimate that this size ship would be measured at 200 lasts, the same nominal size as the Noorderkwartier ship Eenhoorn, built in 1625, but only carrying 28 guns. The Eenhoorn was 125ft x 29ft x 11-1/2ft, as well. The Eenhoorn was often said to be the oldest Dutch warship in service in the war.

Amsterdam Directors' ships in service from late April 1653

Yesterday, I received photographs of a document that lists all the Amsterdam Directors' ships in service, or coming into service, in late April 1653. This is the order in which they appear in the document. I have added captains' names:

Adm   Ship                 Guns Captain
A-Dir Samson               28   Cornelis Cornelisz de Groot
A-Dir Rooseboom            28   Bartholomeus Rietbeeck
A-Dir Valck                28   Cornelis Jansz Brouwer
A-Dir David en Goliat      34   Claes Bastiaensz van Jaersvelt
A-Dir Blauwen Arent        28   Hendrick Claesz van Streeck
A-Dir Engel Michiel        28   Frederick Bogaart
A-Dir Sint Pieter          28   Gerrit Schuyt
A-Dir Catrina              28   Jan Jacobsz Kop
A-Dir Sint Matheeus        42   Cornelis Naeuoogh
A-Dir Faem                 28   Jacob Swart
A-Dir Pellicaen            28   Barent Soudaen
A-Dir Gidion               34   Dirck Jansz Somer
A-Dir Elias                34   Frans Fransz Sluijter
A-Dir Moor                 34   Adriaen Cornelisz van Ackersloot
A-Dir Walvis               28   Abraham Verleth
A-Dir Hollandsche Tuin     28   Harman Walman
A-Dir Moorin               28   Cornelis Cornelisz Jol
A-Dir Keurvorst van Keulen 34   Sijmon Dootjes
A-Dir Hercules             28   Sijmon Veeneman
A-Dir Coninck Davidt       28   Dirck Hendricksz Vogelsang

Books

I have several books that would be good to sell. Two are high value, and not for everyone, while two others might be of more general interest:

1)  Lieuwe van Aitzema, Saken van staet en
oorlogh, in, ende omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden,
beginnende met het jaer 1621,ende eyndigende met het jaar 1669. 
's Gravenhage, Johan Veely, Johan Tongerloo, ende Jasper Doll, 1669-1672. 6
volumes in 7. With titles printed in red and black, engraved frontispiece,
engraved portrait. - 
Also: L. Sylvius (= Lambertus van den Bos). Historien onses
tyds, behelzende saken van staat en oorlogh .. Amst.,
Jan ten Hoorn, 1685-1699. 4 volumes. With engraved
portraits and plans. Together 11 volumes.

2)  Pieter Castelyn, Hollandtze Mercurius, Vervatende Het Gepasseerde in Europa, Voornamentlijk in Den Engelze Ende Nederlantschen Oorlog in 't Jaer 1666. Het Seventhiende Deel, Together with the Same, Vols 18 , 19, 20 and 21 (covers
the years 1666 to 1670).

3)  Frank Fox, Great Ships: the Battlefleet of King Charles II, Conway Maritime
Press, 1980.

4)  John R. Stevens, AN ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION AND EMBELLISHMENT OF OLD TIME SHIPS, 1949. This is number 177 of 500.

5) Dr. Frank Howard, Sailing Ships of War 1400-1860, Greenwich, 1979.

6) L. G. Carr Laughton, Old Ship Figure-Heads & Sterns, Republished by Conway Maritime Press in 1991. The original was published in 1925.

7) N. Aartsma, Michiel De Ruyter 1607-1676, Een Heldenleven in Flechtsvervulling voor het Vaderland, s'Gravenhage, 1942.

8) Hans Christian Bjerg and John Erichsen, Danske orlogsskibe 1690-1860, 1980. Published by Lademanns Forlag. Two volumes, the latter with plans and drawings.

9) E. Keble Chatterton, Sailing Models Ancient & Modern, London, 1934

10) W. Voorbeijtel Cannenburg, Beschrijvende Catalogus der Scheepsmodelen en Scheepsbouwkundige Teekeningen 1600-1900, Amsterdam, 1943

11) J. C. M. Warnsinck, Admiraal De Ruyter De Zeeslag op Schooneveld Juni 1673, s'Gravenhage, 1930

If you have any interest in these, please contact me by email. By the way, I recently sold a copy of John Charnock's History of Marine Architecture to The Ten Pound Island Book Company, along with a copy of Thomas Lediard's book , The Naval History of England in all its branches, London, 1735. I would imagine that they could be purchased there, if you are interested.

Some gun lists from April 1653 for new ships

I was interested to see some photographs that I received yesterday of pages that have gun lists for new ships. They date from April 1653, apparently. The first of them is for a ship with dimensions of 136ft length and 34ft beam. The list includes 44 guns, of which four are bronze 24pdr and six are iron 18pdr guns. There is a fairly large complement of 12pdr guns, with a few 8pdr, 6pdr, and two 4pdr guns.

Luitenants who moved on to command Amsterdam Directors' ships

This is the list of luitenants who later commanded Amsterdam Directors' ships in 1653, and the ships that they commanded:

Adm   Ship                 Guns Crew Commander
A-Dir Blauwen Arent        28   110  lt-cdr Hendrick Hendricksz Heij
A-Dir Roosenboom           30   107  kapitein Bartolomeus Rietbeeck
A-Dir Moorin               28   107  kapitein Cornelis Cornelisz Jol
A-Dir Gideon               34    95  kapitein Dirck Jansz Somer
A-Dir Coninck David        28   164  kapitein Dirck Hendricksz Vogelsang
A-Dir Elias                34   107  kapitein Frans Fransz Sluijter

Uldrich de Jager and Dirck Jansz Soomer

So, which ships, exactly, did former luitenants Uldrich de Jager and Dirck Jans Soomer (or Somer) command? I have some information from early 1652 that shows that Ulrich (or Uldenich or Uldrich) Claesz de Jager was the luitenant of Hector Bardesius on the Amsterdam Directors' ship Gideon van Sardam. That some document shows that Dirck Jansz Soomer was luitenant of Lambert Pieterszoon's ship Nassouw (or Nassouw van den Burgh, later just called the Burgh). This document is really good, as luitenants that we later hear about include:

Ship              Captain                   Lieutenant
Blauwen Arent     Dirck Pater               Hendrick Hendricksz Heij
Gideon van Sardam Hector Bardesius          Ulrich de Jager
Valck             Cornelis Jansz Brouwer    Bartholomeus Rietbeeck
Elias             Jacob Sievertsz Spanheijm Frans Fransz Sluijter
Nassouw           Lambert Pieterszoon       Dirck Jansz Somer
Engel Gabriel     Bastiaen Bardoel          Cornelis Cornelisz Jol
Vergulde Fortuijn Fredrick de Coninck       Dirck Hendricksz Vogelsang

So what were the 32 24-to-28 gun Directors' ships in service in March 1653

De Jonge, in Appendix XXII of Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, says that there were 32 Directors' ships in service in March 1653 with 24 to 28 guns. I suspect that the list includes ships with up to 32 guns, as well. So can we name them?:

No.  Adm   Ship                   Guns Crew Commander
 1   A-Dir Valck                  28   111  Cornelis Jansz Brouwer
 2   A-Dir Samson                 28   110  Cornelis Cornelisz de Groot
 3   A-Dir Engel Michiel          28   110  Fredrick Bogaert
 4   A-Dir Sint Pieter            28   109  Gerrit Schuijt
 5   A-Dir Blauwen Arent          28   110  Hendrick Claesz van Streeck
 6   A-Dir Catharina              28   110  Jan Jacobsz Kop
 7   A-Dir Walvis                 30   104  Abraham Verleth
 8   A-Dir Moorin                 28   107  Cornelis Cornelisz Jol
 9   A-Dir Swarte Leeuw           28   110  Hendrick de Raedt
10   A-Dir Faem                   28   108  Jacob Swart
11   A-Dir Rooseboom              30   107  Bartholomeus Rietbeeck
12   A-Dir Gulden Pelicaen        30   120  Barent Tijmensz Soudaen
13   R-Dir Hollandia              26    95  Ruth Jacobsz Buijs
14   R-Dir Roscam                 24    95  Corstiaen Eldertszoon
15   R-Dir Sint Pieter            28   110  Sijmon Cornelisz van der Meer

16   En-Dir Vergulde Sonne        28   115  Jacob Claesz Duijm
17   Ed-Dir Vergulde Halve Maen   30   107  Hendrick Pieterszoon
18   Mo-Dir Swarte Beer           32   104  Jan Olij

19   Vl-Dir Haes                  30   120  Bastiaen Centsen
20   Vl-Dir Arent                 30   100  Teunis Post
21   Mi-Dir Gouden Leeuw          30   120  Jacob Pensen

22   Ha-Dir Sint Vincent          28   110  Adriaen Heeres Kleijntje

In mid-March 1653, it is not obvious to me what the other 10 ships are. Perhaps some of the ships that came into service in April were counted.

De Jonge's March 1653 list

Now that I have seen as much as I have from the Nationaal Archief in The Hague (I have only seen a small fraction of what there is), I would think that the two Friesland 38 gun ships are the Zevenwolden and the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden (actually a Groningen ship). That is almost a certainty, because the list that I just saw in photographs has those two ships with the Zevenwolden, which had 38 guns and a crew of 140 men, and the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden, which had 38 guns and a crew of 110 men. Those are the crew sizes, I believe, in De Jonge's list in an appendix to Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, Vol.I. Hendrik Jansz Camp's ship seems to be absent from that list.

I am still baffled by the identity of Abraham van der Hulst's ship from May to August 1652

The consensus, at least right now, is that from the beginning of the First Anglo-Dutch War, and probably before that, Abraham van der Hulst must have commanded a convoyer funded in 1648, at the peace treaty with Spain. There were nominally 40 convoyers, but the number actually in service varied. The identity of which ships were funded under that vehicle also seems to have changed over time. From a variety of sources, including Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet about the Dutch fleet that sailed to the Shetlands in July and August indicates that Abraham van der Hulst's ship carried 26 guns and had a crew of 100 men. Those are at least the nominal figures. His ship was not one of those hired in 1652, but was built as a warship. Ships like the klein Zutphen are possible candidates, but it is unclear as to what the comprehensive list is. I am usually uncertain about a number of ships, because they were "hired" in 1652, but were built as warships.

An ill-conceived practice

I will try to be as non-specific as possible, but I would imagine that if this fits you, you will know it. It seems likely to be true that a certain archive organization allows certain people to restrict access to boxes of documents from the 17th Century for extended periods of time, even for over six months. For one thing, there is no justification for this to be allowed. A person can photograph an entire box of documents in a relatively short period. If they don't want to take the time to do that themselves, they can either pay the archive to make copies, or else hire someone like Eric Ruijssenaars, of the Dutch Archives Research Bureau, to take photographs for you. This also has the benefit of reducing the handling of fragile pages that should not be handled too frequently. An archive shouldn't show favoritism, either, towards anyone, even if that person is trying to restrict access to information so that he can get to publication before anyone else(I apologize for being so nasty, but I don't like this practice at all). Let me know of any reason why I am wrong on this, and should change my view.

Ron van Maanen on the Zeeland ship Amsterdam

The Zeeland ship Amsterdam was lost in early November 1653 (Ron van Maanen says that the date was 11 November), in the terrible storm off the Texel, after the return voyage from Norway. I was curious to see what Ron van Maanen had about the ship:

The Zeeland ship Amsterdam
Guns: 2-20pdr, 6-12pdr, 2-10pdr, and 14-other guns
(not enough to show the complete list of 30 guns)
  The ship actually carried an additional 2-24pdr, a total of 17-12pdr guns,
   some 7pdr guns(!) and 2-6pdr guns

The Amsterdam was built with a length of 120ft, one of many ships of that size. The Amsterdam was commanded by Adriaen Kempen up to her loss, and he perished with the Amsterdam. Sources:

1. James C. Bender, "Dutch Warships 1648-1720", 2007
2. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "ZEELAND", undated

Dutch ship sizes

When you realize that the Maas foot is very similar in size to an English foot of 305mm, then us English-speaking people should be able to better understand how large Dutch ships were in the mid-17th Century. The Dutch flagship at the Battle of Lowestoft, the Eendracht, was 150ft x 38ft x 15ft, in Amsterdam feet of 283mm. In Maas feet, the dimensions were 137-1/2ft x 34-1/4ft x 13-1/2ft. Just for comparison, the Duke of York's flagship, the Royal Charles, was 131ft on the keel x 42ft-6in outside the planking x 18ft-6in depth of hold. The Eendracht was measured from stem to sternpost. I would estimate that the gundeck length for the Royal Charles was about 167ft. That is about 30ft longer than the Eendracht. The beam is much greater, although the Dutch ship was measured inside the planking. I would estimate the beam outside of the planking to be about 36ft, in English feet. Of course, the Royal Charles was an 80 gun First Rate, while the Eendracht was more like a small 3rd Rate, with 73 guns. The lower tier on the Royal Charles had 20-cannons-of-7 (42pdr) and 6-demi-cannons (32 pdr). The Eendracht had just 3-36pdr guns and 22-24pdr guns, considerably less than the English combination of 32 and 42pdr guns. Anyway, no wonder that Lord Obdam, Jacob Wassenaer, ultimately lost his duel at Lowestoft with the Duke of York. The Eendracht exploded, eventually, killing Jacob Wassenaer and almost all his crew. Frank Fox says that five men were saved. Sources:

1. Frank Fox, A Distant Storm: the Four Days' Battle of 1666, 1996
2. Frank Fox, Great Ships: The Battlefleet of King Charles II, 1980
3. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated, but circa 1992

This list of the Dutch fleet from late 1652

This one list of the Dutch fleet from late 1652 is quite informative. It has information such as that Witte de With's flag captain was Jan de Liefde. It also says that at the time, Jan Aertsz van Nes commanded the ship of his father, Aert van Nes. He was a luitenant of his father's ship, the Gelderland. In another case, it has a bracket that seems to associate both Jan Gideonsz Verburgh and Cornelis Adriaensz Kruijck with the VOC ship "Vogel Struijs" (the Vogelstruis). There is another Amsterdam Lt-Commandeur named what looks like Joris Faesz, which I don't recognize. Later on, there is list item that shows that by this date, Crijn Cornelisz Mangelaer commanded the Wapen van Zierickzee, the ship formerly commanded by Cornelis Rocusz Fincen. Even further towards the end of the list are the names of Volckert Schram, commandeur Johannes Bourgoigne, and Harman Munneckes (the way it is spelled here). Carl Stapel says that at this date, Volckert Schram commanded the Noorderkwartier ship Lastdrager.

Ships in Witte de With's fleet in 1645 that served in 1652

There are a few ships in Witte de With's fleet in 1645 which clearly served in the First Anglo-Dutch War, at least in 1652. There are several others that may have served:

Definitely served in 1652:

Adm   Ship                  Guns Crew Commander
R     Brederode             51   183  vice-admiraal Witte de With
A     Zutphen               32   100  kapitein Jan de Lapper
A     Bommel                30    80  kapitein Jan Uijttenhout
N     Wapen van Alkmaar     24    80  kapitein Jan Warnaertsz Capelman
N     Wapen van Hoorn       24    87  kapitein Claes Tesselaer
N     Kasteel van Medemblik 26    80  kapitein Gabriel Anthonisz

May have served in 1652:

Adm   Ship                  Guns Crew Commander
A     Goude Maen            34   100  schout-bij-nacht Johan van Galen
A     Goude Zon             33   100  commandeur Anthonis van Zalingen
A     Wapen van der Goes    32   101  commandeur Willem van Nijhoff
A-Dir Patientia             26    71  kapitein Cornelis Jansz Poort
A-Dir Gouden Leeuw          24    85  kapitein Adriaan Houttuijn
N     Sampson               28    92  kapitein Schellinkhout

Sources:

1. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Ships 1600-1700", 2006
2. G. W. Kernkamp, De Sleutels van de Sont, 1890

Another look at Rotterdam ships in May 1653

Lest us look at the list of ships of the Admiralty of Rotterdam that were with the Dutch fleet in May 1653, according to Witte de With's journal:

Adm Ship              Guns Crew Commander
R   Overijssel        22    98  commandeur Haexwant
R   Utrecht           24    98  kapitein Dirck Vijgh
R   Rotterdam         32   120  luitenant-commandeur Pieter Verhaven
R   Gorcum            30   116  kapitein Willem Arensz Warmont
R   Dolphijn          32   116  kapitein Paulus van den Kerckhoff
R   Gelderland        24    99  kapitein Aert Jansz van Nes
R   Brederode         56   268  the ship of lt-admiraal Tromp

A noteworthy feature is that the Overijssel, Utrecht, and Gelderland were all built to the same dimenions, as small frigates. Not all sources acknowledge that, but the relatively well-known list from 26 February 1652 of Rotterdam ships makes that clear. Sources:

1. Witte de With, journals from 1652 to 1658, Archive E8812 from the Riksarkivet, Stockholm

Large Amsterdam Directors' ships with the fleet in May 1653

Several of the Amsterdam Directors' ships that were with the Dutch fleet in May 1653 were quite substantial ships. One had fairly long service in the English navy (the Sint Matheeus as the Mathias). This is the list:

Adm   Ship               Guns Crew Commander
A-Dir Sint Matheeus      42   155  kapitein Cornelis Laurensz (Cornelis Naeuoogh?)
A-Dir David en Goliad    34   125  kapitein Claes Bastiaensz van Jaersvelt
A-Dir Elias              34   107  kapitein Frans Fransz Sluijter
A-Dir Gideon             34    95  kapitein Dirck Jansz Sommer
A-Dir Burgh              34   119  kapitein Hendrick Glas

Sources:

1. Witte de With, journals from 1652 to 1658, Archive E8812 from the Riksarkivet, Stockholm

The larger ships in Witte de With's fleet in September 1653

Perhaps someone besides me would be interested to see the list of the larger ships in Witte de With's fleet that went to Norway in September 1653. They were joined after leaving by Egbert Meeuwssen Kortenaer's squadron (he probably did not start using the Kortenaer name until later):

Adm   Ship               Guns Crew Commander
A     Huis te Swieten    56   276  vice-admiraal Witte de With
A     Huis te Cruiningen 48   250  commandeur Michiel de Ruijter
A     Amsterdam          50   210  kapitein Jan Gideonsz Verburgh
A     Vrijheid           50   210  kapitein Abraham van der Hulst
Z     nieuw Vlissingen   39   145  kapitein Jacob Wolphertszoon
R     Brederode          54   275  kapitein Egbert Meeuwssen
A     Oosterwijck        55   226  commandeur Gideon de Wildt

Sources:

1. Witte de With, journals from 1652 to 1658, Archive E8812 from the Riksarkivet, Stockholm

Ron van Maanen's dimensions for the Oranje

I noticed, again, Ron van Maanen's amazing dimensions for the VOC ship Oranje, a retourschip, commanded by Bastiaan Centsen at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665. Ron's dimensions are 180ft x 52ft x 17ft, with a height between decks of 7ft. These are Dutch measurements in Amsterdam feet. To put these into perspective, let us convert these to English feet:

Dutch measurement:
Length from stem to sternpost: 180ft
Beam inside the planking:             52ft
Hold:                                                 17ft

English measurement:
Length on the keel:                       135ft
Beam outside the planking:           46ft
Depth of hold:                                  15ft

I would estimate the length on the gundeck to be about 175ft in English feet.

Herbert Tomesen, at Artitec, is using a much smaller set of dimensions:

Length from stem to sternpost: 170ft
Beam inside the planking:             38ft
Hold:                                                 18ft

This would translate into English measurement:

Length on the keel:                       127ft-10in
Beam outside the planking:           33ft-8in
Depth of hold:                                  15ft-11in

estimate length on the gun deck: 166ft

This actually seems more reasonable than Ron's dimensions.
Ron is pretty consistent, though, with his large retourschip dimensions.
I have yet to find the source, however.

1. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Ships and the Relationship Between English and Dutch Measure", 2003
2. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "ZEELAND", undated

A ship named Eenhorn, built in 1638

Ron van Maanen has information about an Eendracht built in 1638 and possibly only in service until 1641. The ship was 150 lasts, which could be a ship 116ft x 26-1/2ft x 10ft (Noorderkwartier dimensions for a 116ft ship). Ron has the armament for the Eenhoorn, which was 26 guns: 21-8pdr, 3-6pdr, 1-5pdr, and 1-2pdr. Sources:

1. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated, but circa 1992

modellmarine.de

I just spoke with Frank Fox and he told me that he had been told that modellmarine.de had photographs of Artitec 17th Century Dutch ship models (over one hundred). I see the site but am not sure where to look for the Dutch ship models. I guess the Roads of Texel page must be the one. There are multiple pages so there is quite a bit there.

A question: is this ship Hoorn the ship commanded by Pieter Allertszoon up to the Three Days Battle?

We believe that Pieter Allertszoon commanded the ship Hoorn (or Eenhoorn) from sometime in 1652 up to the time when he was killed in the Three Days Battle on 28 February 1653. Ron van Maanen has the details of what seems to be that ships. The dimensions were 120ft x 27ft x 11ft, with a height between decks of 7ft. The armament was 6-12pdr, 20-8pdr, 4-6pdr, and 2-4pdr guns (a total of 32 guns). Sources:

1. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated, but circa 1992

The Zeeland ship Vlasbom

Ron van Maanen has the dimensions for the Zeeland ship Vlasbom. The Vlasbom apparently was a ship of the Middelburg Chamber of the VOC that served with the fleet in August 1665. The Vlasbom was commanded by Engel Janszoon had carried 46 guns and had a crew of 171 sailors and 42 soldiers. The dimensions were 135ft x 29ft x 14ft, with a height between decks of 6ft. In August 1665, the Vlasbom was assigned to the Second Squadron, commanded by Lt-Admiraal Cornelis Evertsen. Sources:

1. Gerard Brandt, Het Leven en Bedrijif van den Heere Michiel de Ruiter, 1687
2. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated, but circa 1992

This list of ships from March 1653 that were suitable for hiring

This list of ships from March 1653 that were apparently suitable for hiring is very suggestive. There are names such as Jonas, Hoop, Engel Gabriel, and of course, the Profeet Samuel. They sound like the names of ships that actually served in May to August, at least, in 1653. A ship named Jonas was commanded by Joris Collerij. A ship named Hoop was commanded by Boetius Schaeff at the Battle of the Gabbard, where he was killed and his crew mutinied. The Hoop was commanded by Dirck Pater at the Battle of Scheveningen. Adriaan van den Bosch commanded a ship named Engel Gabriel at the Battle of Scheveningen.

Ship           Length
Jonas          139ft
Hoop           123ft
Engel Gabriel  120-1/2ft
Profeet Samuel 124ft

A ship named Medemblik from 1690

There was a ship named Medemblik, Stad Medemblik, or Wapen van Medemblik built in 1690 and captured by the French in 1693. The Medemblik was built at Medemblik (or was in built at Enkhuizen?). The dimensions were approximately 135ft x34ft x 15ft, although there is some uncertainty about them. The French measured the ship at different times and got different results. For example, in 1696, they said that the Medemblik measured 138ft x 39ft x 12ft. Later, the length was stated to be 122ft. Perhaps thay used a different part of the ship for the length measurement. The Dutch used "stem to sternpost". The Medemblik carried anywhere from 50 to 64 guns and had a crew of 210 men. Sources:

1. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated but circa 1992

The Jonge Prins of 1666

Ron van Maanen has some information that complements what Dr. Weber had in his book about the ship Jonge Prins (or Prins van Oranje), built in 1666 and in service until 1686. the dimensions were 150ft x 39ft x 14-3/4ft x 7-3/4ft (at least nominally). Ron says that the actual measured dimensions, as built, were 150-1/2ftx 39-1/2ft x 14ft-3in x 7ft-2in. The Jonge Prins was built at Medemblik by Cornelis Janssen Olij. Dr. Weber say that the armament at the Four Days' Battle in 1666 was 2-bronze 36pdr, 22-iron 18pdr, 24-iron 12pdr, 12-iron 6pdr, and 6-bronze 4pdr guns. The crew at the Four Days' Battle was 235 sailors and 51 soldiers. Sources:

1. H.A. van Foreest and R.E.J. Weber, De Vierdaagse Zeeslag 11-14 Juni 1666, 1984
2. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated, but circa 1992

The West Cappelle listed in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 should have been the new ship

Since we know that the West Cappelle, built in 1638, was lost at the Battle of Scheveningen, the West Cappelle listed in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 should have been the new ship probably built in 1654. This West Cappelle was in service until 1667. While the original ship is usually listed as 112ft long, the new ship was smaller: 108ft x 26ft x 11ft x 6ft. They apparently loaded as many as 40 guns onto the new ship, which must have terribly overloaded it, unless they were quite small. This is based on the information in Ron van Maanen's "Zeeland" document (undated).

One troubling issue: the ship belonging to the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC

The outline list of ships at Vlissingen (actually including some ships at the Texel and at Goeree) in early July 1653 names very few ships. One of those named is the ship said to belong to the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC. The name is given as the David en Goliat and the ship is said to be "old". This is add odds with other information that we have, chiefly from Witte de With's journal, that gives the ship name as Wapen van Nassau. Ron van Maanen even has dimensions for the ship. The page that dates from March 1653, when the six VOC ships were hired for use by the fleet says that the Nassau was a new ship. Ron van Maanen equates Nassau with Wapen van Nassau, and thinks that it is the ship of the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC. So why does the July 1653 list say what it does?

A document dated 22 March 1653 that describes the "hiring" of the two Genoese ships.

One of the last photographs that I received today was dated 22 March 1653 and says that two Genoese ships were "hired". I had thought that they were purchased, not hired. The document gives the dimensions of the two ships: 146ft x 36ft x 15ft and 140ft x 34ft x ? ft. These ships were later named Huis te Swieten and Huis te Kruiningen. During July 1653, Witte de With was getting the Huis te Swieten ready to be his new flagship and Michiel De Ruyter was fitting out the Huis te Kruiningen. They were not ready in time for the Battle of Scheveningen, on 10 August 1653, but served as their flagships during the voyage to Norway in September to November. In September, the Huis te Swieten carried 56 guns and had a crew of 276 men while the Huis te Kruiningen carried 48 guns and had a crew of 210 men.

A list of Noorderkwartier ships that I had heard about

In the last few days, I received pages from this list of Noorderkwartier ships from 1652 that were obviously what Carl Stapel had seen. A feature of this document is that fours are formed like they were nines. In fact, the list shows the correct armaments as well as lists actual crew numbers, from some date. The list has entries like:

Capt. Jan Heck            the ship the Eenhoorn        90 men  28 guns
Capt. Thijs Pereboom      the ship the Pereboom        81 men  24 guns
Capt. Theunis Vechtersz   the ship the Schel           75 men  24 guns
Capt. Claes Allertsz      the ship the Nieuwe Casteel  65 men  14 guns

Fishery ships taken by the English

Capt. Jan Heck            the ship the Adam en Eva       70 men  24 guns
Capt. Herman Munnekes     the ship the Wapen van Hollant 90 men  28 guns
Capt. Jan Noblet          the ship the Lant van Beloften 70 men  24 guns

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Sint Pieter

The list of Amsterdam Directors' ships from March 1653 is significant in that it shows the details of the ship Sint Pieter, commanded through 1653 by Gerrit Schuyt. The page does not list his name, but from other sources, such as Witte de With's journal, we know that the Sint Pieter was Gerrit Schuyt's ship. He had previously commanded the called Rooseboom (28 guns) in this list. These are the details:

The ship Sint Pieter, kapitein Gerrit Schuyt

Length:  123ft
Beam:     28ft-7in
Hold:     12-1/2ft
Height:    6-1/2ft

28 guns:  10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-3pdr

Crew: 110 men

Four unnamed Amsterdam Directors' ships

I have a photograph of this page, dating from about March 1653, that includes the dimensions and gun lists for four unnamed Amsterdam Directors' ships:

                                  Guns
The first:  Length  137 feet       20 of 12 lbs
             Beam   31 feet       12 of  6 lbs
             Hold   13-1/2 feet    2 of  3 lbs
           Height    7 feet       34 guns

The second: Length  125 feet       10 of 12 lbs
             Beam   29 feet        8 of  8 lbs
             Hold   12-3/4 feet    8 of  6 lbs
           Height    7 feet        2 of  3 lbs
                                  28 guns

The third:  Length  130 feet       10 of 12 lbs
             Beam   29 feet        8 of  8 lbs
             Hold   13-1/2 feet    8 of  6 lbs
           Height    6-3/4 feet    2 of  3 lbs
                                  28 guns

The fourth: Length  125 feet       10 of 12 lbs
             Beam   29 feet        8 of  8 lbs
             Hold   12-1/2 feet    8 of  6 lbs
           Height    7 feet        2 of  3 lbs
                                  28 guns

The first is easy. That is the ship the Moor, commanded by Adriaan van Ackersloot.
The second seems to be the ship the Moorin, commanded by Cornelis Jol.
the third ship appears to be the Hollandsche Tuin, commanded by Harman Walman.
The armament listed here was augmented by 4-18pdr guns.
The fourth might be the Walvisch, although the length is different from what I would expect.

Sources:

1. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Directors' Ship Information 1652-1653", 2004

The Amsterdam ship Phesant

The modern spelling is Fazant, but the document that I have from 1652 spells the name Phesant. Jan Jansz Lapper, the shoemaker, commanded the Amsterdam ship Phesant during the First Anglo-Dutch War. Ron van Maanen has information about the Phesant:

The ship Phesant, built in 1646

Dimensions: 120ft x 29ft x 12ft, height between decks: 6-3/4ft

16 Nov 1652   28 guns: 18-12pdr, 10-6pdr
1 April 1653  32 guns: 18-12pdr, 14-6pdr
1 April 1665  38 guns: 18-12pdr, 16-6pdr, 4-3pdr


Crew: 120 men

Sources:

1. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated but circa 1992

Drawing of the VOC ship Mercurius

On the Maritieme Digitaal website, you can view the entry for the VOC ship Mercurius commanded by Pieter de Bitter in 1653. I found it by using the search term 1652 and then paging through the results (not a very great way to get there). This was record 241 of 359 entries. They have links to the Willem van de Velde de Oude drawing from 1649. I believe that this is one of these odd drawings that simultaneously show a ship from two different angles. Sadly, the image seems to be pretty low resolution. The entry gives the ship's dimensions as 123ft x 30ft x 12ft. They give the armament as 40 guns, but Witte de With's journal from May 1653 gives the armament as 36 guns and the crew as 110 men.

Kroum Batchvarov's Masters Thesis

There is an abstract of Kroum Batchvarov's MA thesis on the Texas A&M Nautical Archaeology web site. The subject was the framing of 17th Century ships. You can download the PDF file of his thesis from this page.

Wendy van Duivenvoorde's page about the Batavia

Oddly enough, there is an important nautical archaeology program at Texas A&M University. On that site, there is a page, written by Wendy van Duivenvoorde, about the Dutch East Indiaman Batavia that was wrecked on Australia in 1629.

The common error in the summer of 1653

There is a remote possibility that this is not an error, and that there had been some change in assignment of ships, as the error is very widespread. What seems to be an error is that Jacob Claesz Duijm's ship, the Vergulde Zon, is listed as being hired by the Edam Directors, not the Enkhuizen Directors, and Hendrick Pieterszoon's ship, the Vergulde Halve Maan, is listed as being hired by the Monnikendam Directors, not the Edam Directors. This error is present in the information used by Dr. Elias for Vol.V of Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen, the July 1653 Vlissingen list, and Witte de With's journal. I can only account for it by assuming that some common source, such as a list prepared by Lt-Admiraal Tromp had the error, or else it was not an error, but there was some change. Aitzema, however, assigns the ships as we would expect, in Saken van Staet in Oorlogh in ende omtrent de Vereenigte Nederlanden.

No. 65 in the list of ships at Vlissingen in early July 1653

A feature of a number of documents dating from the spring and summer of 1653 that they assign some ships to different Directors than we think had hired them. A prominent case in point is the Vergulde Halve Maan, usually called the Halve Maan. The Halve Maan was captured by the English at the Battle of the Gabbard and served in the English navy up past the Restoration as the Half Moon. I believe that Dr. Elias, in Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen, in a note in Vol.V, says that the ship was hired by the Monnikendam Directors. In actuality, the Monnikendam Directors hired the ship Zwarte Beer.

The fireship St. Maria

Have I written about this before? The Amsterdam fireship Sint Maria (or just Maria) was in service in the summer of 1652. I actually have the dimensions for the ship, which is rather nice:

A  Maria or Sint Maria  1652

Dimensions:  117ft x 24ft x 13ft x 6ft

1652  fireship  schipper Jan Claes. The ship was built in 1649.
      crew: 15 men

None of the published sources that I have seen list the crew size for Dutch fireships in the First Anglo-Dutch War. I see quite a few crew sizes, along with some armaments, for fireships. In some cases, we actually have dimensions, as well, as is the case for the Sint Maria.

Ron van Maanen seems to have misunderstood the Jozua

The Noorderkwartier ship Jozua (or Josua) is well-known to have been built in 1654. There is an oblique mention of the ship in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654, prepared in July. The Jozua was built as Pieter Florissen's flagship and that was the ship on which he flew his flag at the Battle of the Sound, in 1658, when he was killed. The only thing useful that Ron van Maanen has is that the height between decks was 7-1/2ft. Otherwise, his information is misleading, as he gives the dates for the ship as 1665 to 1672. I believe that the Jozua was sunk at the Battle of Solebay, in 1672, so I would agree with that date. The 1665 is so wrong as to not be understandable.

Jan Olivierszoon's ship

As I have written about in the past, Jan Olivierszoon's Veere Directors' ship was named the Wapen van der Vere. That has been repeatedly shown to be the case in a number of documents. That was a revelation to me when I found out when I received copies from the Zeeuws Archief. In the photographs that I have received in the last few weeks, there were two sets of guns listed for the Wapen van der Vere. The first list claimed to sum to 38 guns, but actually had 34 guns. More recently, I received a page with a full 38 guns listed. I had wondered what the difference was between them, and the answer is that the first had only 4-iron 6pdr guns while the second had 8. This was a ship with a main battery of 8pdr guns and a length of 123-1/2ft. The ship could carry as many as 38 guns on that length because they were relatively small. 30 guns were 8pdr or less.

Again, Amsterdam ships with the fleet in early August 1652

Based on Hendrik de Raedt's pamphlet, these were the Amsterdam ships with the fleet in early August 1652:

Adm   Ship name             Guns Crew Commander
A     Vrede                 42   160  commandeur Gidion de Wildt
A     unknown ship name     26   100  kapitein Abraham van der Hulst
A     Dolphijn              26    95  kapitein Gerbrandt Schatter
A     Star                  28    95  kapitein Jacob Paulusz Cort
A     Leeuwarden            36   140  kapitein Govert Reael
A     Hoop                  28   100  kapitein Joris Collerij
A     Campen                38   130  kapitein Joris van der Zaan
A     Zeelandia             36   120  commandeur Nicolaes Marrevelt
A     Amsterdam             34   125  kapitein Barent Pietersz Dorrevelt
A     Leiden                28   100  kapitein Cornelis Hola

In Witte de With's squadron with the fleet

Adm   Ship name             Guns Crew Commander
A     Vrijheid              46   160  kapitein Augustijn Balck
A     Prins Willem          28   100  kapitein Jan Jansz Boerman
A     Hollandia             32   110  kapitein Albert de Graeff
A     Gouden Leeuw          24    75  kapitein Gillis Thijssen Campen
A     Edam                  28   100  kapitein Barent Cramer

Sources:

1. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, 1910
2. list of Amsterdam hired ships from the Wrangell Collection, Riksarkivet, Stockholm
3. Hendrik de Raedt, Lyste van de schepen van Oorloge onder het beleyt Admirael Marten Harpersz. Tromp, 1652

Is this the ship that Barent Dorrevelt commanded?

Barent Dorrevelt commanded a ship named Amsterdam that foundered in the storm in the Shetlands in early August 1652. Ron van Maanen says that the information that he has about a ship named Amsterdam may be for that ship. He has the dimensions 120ft x 29ft x 11ft. The armament was 18-12pdr, 10-6pdr, and 2-4pdr guns. Sources:

1. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated but circa 1992

I was interested to see that Ron van Maanen knew about the Zeeland ship Sint Joris

In Ron van Maanen's lists, he includes the Zeeland hired ship, the Sint Joris, which Jacob Wolphertszoon commanded in 1652 and 1653. This is the ship that I have seen called a "Scots frigate". Ron shows no sign of having seen the page that has dimensions and the gun list, but he does indicate that the owners were Paulus de Molter and Andries Rennij. By the way, the Sint Joris had a main battery of 6pdr guns.

A Dutch bomb galliot, the Geweld

The navies all built or purchased vessels suitable for carrying mortars, to fire "bombs". The Dutch were no exception. The bomb galliot Geweld was built by Hendrick Cardinaal at Amsterdam in 1695. The Geweld was broken up in a navy yard in September 1719. The Geweld had dimensions of 90ft x 24ft x 10-1/2ft and was armed with 8-4pdr guns and two mortars. The Geweld typically had a crew of between 23 and 26 men. 24 years was a long service life for a small vessel. Sources:

1. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "ZEELAND", undated

Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet

I have a copy of Hendrick de Raedt's list from his pamphlet, a list of Tromp's fleet dating from early August 1652, and the only mystery ship remaining is the name of Abraham van Hulst's 26 gun ship. The ship seems to have been a purpose-built warship, not a hired ship. I have seen a list dating from before this date, and the 26 gun ship is not a mistake. After returning from the disastrous voyage to the Shetland, when the fleet was severely damaged by a severe storm, Abraham van der Hulst was given command of a larger ship, the 40-gun Groningen. But what ship did he command in July 1652? The answer is that I don't know and haven't been able to make a good guess. I now know the name of every other ship on the list, including those which are only referenced by the captain's name, with no guns or crew listed.

Tromp's crew size recommendations

In a letter dated 22 February 1653, Lt-Admiraal Tromp recommended crew sizes for the ships to be built in the wartime building program. For the 140ft ships, he recommended a crew of 150 sailors and 25 soldiers. The Amsterdam was a ship built to the 140ft length. The Amsterdam was in service by September 1653 and was commanded by Jan Gideonsz Verburgh. In September, the Amsterdam carried 50 guns and had a crew of 210 men, larger than the crew recommended by Tromp. By 11 June 1666, the Amsterdam had a planned crew of 250 sailors and 40 soldiers.

Yesterday, I received a photograph of the page about Cornelis Rocusz Fincen's ship

Yesterday, I received the photograph of the page that talks about Cornelis Rocusz (or Rocussen) Fincen, his ship, the Wapen van Zierikzee, and his replacement by Crijn Cornelisz Mangelaer as captain. The page shows that the main battery of the Wapen van Zierikzee consisted of 8pdr guns, with a few larger and the rest being smaller, but totalling 34 guns. The crew consisted of 90 sailors and 25 soldiers. We still do not know the dimensions of the Wapen van Zierikzee. We did learn the name of the ship from this page, as Dr. Ballhausen had erroneously called the ship the Liefde.

Gmail is misbehaving today

I am not sure if the problem is with Gmail, or just my access to it from work, but I cannot get to Gmail. If you need to reach me, use the same email address, but with Yahoo.com as the domain (I have the same email address across multiple domains).

I received an interesting page yesterday

This is just the first page of a multi-page document, but the first page is interesting. The page is dated 14 January 1653 and still mentions the proposal from 27 November 1653 to build six large ships of 150ft, 12 of 140ft, and 12 of 134ft. The Netherlands would have been much better served if they had implemented that proposal rather than what they actually built, which was just one 150ft ship, some 136ft ships, and many 130ft ships. Dr. Elias, in De Vlootbouw in Nederland tells the story, if you have access to the book and can read Dutch.

I have an abstract submitted for a symposium in London on 23 June 2007

I had submitted an abstract for a Williamite Universe event: "Anglo-Dutch Relations c.1650-1720", London, Saturday, 23 June 2007. I am still waiting to hear the result, but I will be ready, if it is accepted. My paper is about the reaction of the Dutch to English provocations in 1651 up to the start of the war, and about Dutch naval strengthening from 1651 to 1653, in response, including the attempt to strengthen the navy before and during the war.

The Amsterdam ship Gelderland, built in 1683

Ron van Maanen has the details about the Amsterdam ship Geldeland, built in 1683. Ron saw an indication that the Gelderland was still in existence as late as 1711, but more likely, the ship was broken up in 1708. The Gelderland was built by Jan van Rheenen at Amsterdam. There is conflicting information about the ship and perhaps that reflects another ship built later. Anyway, this is what Ron has:

The ship Gelderland, built in 1683

Dimensions:  156ft x 40ft x 15ft

72-74 guns:  26-18pdr, 26-12pdr, 18-6pdr, and 4-3pdr

Crew: 375 to 400 men

Sources:

1. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated, but circa 1992

Bastiaen Centen's ship the Haes

Bastiaen Centen commanded the Vlissingen Directors' ship, the Haes (26 guns), from the summer of 1652 until late 1653. After the Battle of Dungeness, he chased and captured the English ship Hercules (36 guns) whose crew had panicked and run the ship ashore. The ship was refloated, as the ship was relatively undamaged. The situation was obviously brought about by the poor state of English morale, following the battle, as the Haes was a rather small ship, not very heavily armed. The Haes had four bronze 18pdr guns, a couple of iron 12pdr guns, and the rest were split between iron 8pdr and 6pdr guns.

Ron van Maanen says that the Tholen of 1654 was rigged as a brig

I had seen the Zeeland ship Tholen mentioned in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654, dating from July. The only information was the length (106ft) and a little more. Ron van Maanen says that the Tholen was rigged as a brig and was of 150 lasts measurement. He also says that the Tholen was last mentioned in 1655. Ron says that the Tholen carried from between 10 and 20 guns and had a crew of 60 men. He says that the Tholen was built in 1653 to 1654. He also had seen a reference that said the length was 108ft and that the Tholen had 10 guns. Sources:

1. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated but circa 1992

The captain of the Zeeland ship Sint Jan

I am increasingly confused about the correct last name for the captain of the Zeeland ship Sint Jan, which served during 1652. There is a list in The First Dutch War, Vol.VI, that calls the captain Laurens Pensier. That is the name I have been using for a long time. The index for The First Dutch War, however, indicates that Laurens Dispensier is the preferred name. I am looking at a list where his name looks like Plensier. There is another Zeeland list where his name looks like Lispessier. I have not seen anything that resembles "Dispensier". Dr. Elias does not mention the man in Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen, so I don't know what to think.

David de Wildt's list

I have to admit that Carl Stapel is correct, that I should not assume that just because a ship with a recognizable name appears in David de Wildt's list, dated 22 February 1652, that the name refers to a ship that we know was hired for service in the First Anglo-Dutch War. Still, I would hazard a guess that many of the ships with recognizable names, such as the Sint Matheeus and Croon Imperiael, were the ships hired by the Amsterdam Directors. The entry for the Sint Matheeus seems to confirm that the more expansive set of dimensions, listed in Dr. Weber's book better reflect those of the Sint Matheeus that was captured by the English in the Battle of the Gabbard than the smaller ones listed in various documents from 1652. These dimensions are: 144ft x 36ft x 15ft, with a height between decks of 7ft. These dimensions are in Amsterdam feet, of course. Dr. Weber did not know the hold dimension, but we can see here that the hold was 15ft.

Some "real numbers" from 30 September 1652

I have a page that lists captains, guns, and crew size, dated 30 September 1652. There are some surprises, as these are largely real numbers, not nominal. I have supplied ship names, and in at least one instance, the captain's name:

Adm    Ship               Guns Crew Captain
R      Brederode          54   193  Abel Roelantsz Verboom
A-Dir  Sint Maria         31   102  Sipke Fockes
Me-Dir Sint Jeronimus     28    90  Jan Pietersz Een arm
R-Dir  Sint Pieter        28   119  Jan Janssen van der Valck
A      Graaf Willem       38   125  Jan Gideonsz Verburgh
A-VOC  Vrede              26   192  Pieter Salmonszoon
A-VOC  Vogelstruijs       43   180  Douwe Auckes
A      Drie Coningen      38   113  Lucas Albertszoon
A      Aartsengel Michiel 38   111  Emanuel Salingen

The document from the Wrangell Collection

One thing that I discovered while photographing original copies is that Jan Glete had marked the document reference on the back of the first page of the list from the Wrangell Collection. The writing is Jan Glete's, in pencil and says: "Skoklostersamlingen Riksarchivet Vol. E 8564". Having that information would enable you to order a copy from the Riksarchivet in Stockholm.

I've reached the conclusion that David de Wildt's list contains more ships that we can identify

I had several hours this morning, where I had nothing else to do but study copies from the Nationaal Archief, from the Collection Johan de Witt. I looked more closely at David de Wildt's list of ships, dating from 22 February 1652, and suspect that there are more ships from the list that we can identify. I wondered if the Sint Joris listed is the same as Jacob Wolphertszoon's ship that served the Admiralty of Zeeland in the First Anglo-Dutch War. This is the rather small vessel described as a "Scots frigate". The Adam en Eva, St. Jan Battista, and Roode Leeuw are among the ships listed.

The Delmenhorst in 1658

The Dutch had taken a Swedish ship in the Baltic in 1658 and used the ship in service as the Delmenhorst. The Delmenhorst was about the size of directors' ships from the First Anglo-Dutch War. There are conflicting dimensions. The smaller is 125ft x 28ft x 11ft-9in, although this might be in Danish feet. The larger is 138-1/2ft x 31ft x 13ft. The ship carried 36 guns. This is based on information from Ron van Maanen's comprehensive list.

I have a page that shows Jan Pietersz Deucht een Arm

I received a sharper image of a page that listed ships from 1652, with some guns. The Jeronimus did not have guns, but the striking feature was that the captain was called "Jan Pieterszoon Deucht een Arm" (one arm). That would lead you to believe that his name was Jan Pieterszoon Deucht, with his nickname being "Een Arm", similar to how Cornelis Jol was called "Houtebeen" (wooden leg).

Some more amazing hired ships from 1652

The list of Amsterdam ships dating from 21 September 1652 is really enlightening. There are these amazing ships listed as being hired:

Adm  Ship              Guns Crew Captain
A    Campen            40   130  Joris van der Zaan
A    Hollandia         32   100  Albert Graeff
A    Star              28    90  Jacob Paulusz Cort
A    Achilles          30   100  Dirck Scheij
A    Goude Leeuw       24    80  Gillis Tijsz Campen
A    Hollandse Tuijn   24    80  Hillebrant Jeroensz

Three of these are not unexpected, in that the Hollandia, Goude Leeuw, and Hollandsche Tuin were legtimately hired, as far as we know. The other were apparently involved an artifice, so that the Admiralty of Amsterdam could fund their service under the hundred ships appropriation.

I have not seen any reference, other than Dr. Elias, for the Prinses Louise carrying 46 guns in late 1652

I have seen a note in Dr. Elias's book, Schetsen uit de geschiedenis van ons zeewezen, that says there was a time in late 1652, when Witte de With's ship Prinses Louise had been upgunned to 46 guns. In all the documents from that period that I have seen to date, I have not seen any evidence of any armament other than 36 guns. As the Prinses Louise was a 120ft ship, even a 12pdr-heavy 36 gun armament must have heavily loaded the ship. I can only imagine the effect of 46 guns on such a small ship, although I know that sort of thing was done in 1665 and 1666.

The Prins te Paard was another small jacht with Abraham Crijnssen in 1667

The jacht Prins te Paard was much smaller than the Visschers Harder. Ron van Maanen says that the Prins te Paard was just 90ft long. He does not have the other dimensions. Ron credits the Prins te Paard with 16 guns and a crew that varied between 40 and 85 men. The Prins te Paard sailed from teh Veersche Gaat with Abraham Crijnssen's small squadron on 30 December 1666, heading for the West Indies. Capt. Warnsinck credits the Prins te Paard with 14 guns and a crew of 75 men. Her captain was Salomon le Sage. A similar small frigate was 89ft x 23ft x 9-3/4ft (taking some liberties with rounding) and was armed mainly with 6pdr guns, with 2-4pdr. Sources:

1. H.A. van Foreest and R.E.J. Weber, De Vierdaagse Zeeslag 11-14 Juni 1666, 1984
2. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated, but circa 1992
3. J. C. M. Warnsinck, Abraham Crijnssen de verovering van Suriname en zijn zeeslag op Virginië, 1936

The small Zeeland frigate Visschers Harder

The small frigate Visschers Harder was built in 1664 by the Admiralty of Zeeland. The Visschers Harder continued in service until 1672, according to Ron van Maanen. Ron has the dimensions, which were 100ft x 26ft x 10ft, with a height between decks of 5ft. A similar, but some longer Zeeland frigate, the Schakerlo, carried 8-8pdr, 17-6pdr, 3-4pdr, and 2-3pdr in 1666. Ron van Maanen gives the Visschers Harder's armament as 26 guns and the crew as 105 men. The Visschers Harder took part in the capture of Suriname , under the command of Abraham Crijnssen, in 1667. The Visschers Harder's captain was Boudewijn Keuvelaar, during this period. Sources:

1. H.A. van Foreest and R.E.J. Weber, De Vierdaagse Zeeslag 11-14 Juni 1666, 1984
2. Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated, but circa 1992
3. J. C. M. Warnsinck, Abraham Crijnssen de verovering van Suriname en zijn zeeslag op Virginië, 1936

I have a list with ship names, guns, crew, captains, and weeks of victuals

I have a document that I received today of Amsterdam ships, seemingly in August 1652 that has groups of ships, saying if they were landsschepen or hired, how they were employed, the ship names, the captains, guns, crews, and weeks of victuals. Maarten Schaeff and his son, Boetius Schaeff both appear in the list. Boetius Schaeff commanded the landsschip Omlandia, which was armed with 28 guns and had a crew of 80 men. His father, Maarten Schaeff, commanded the hired ship Engel, which was armed with 28 guns and had a crew of 80 men. I believe that the Engel is the same as the 28-gun ship named Engel Gabriel that we see in notary records from the Gemeentearchief Amsterdam.

I keep seeing cases where the writers did not know the exact list of guns carried by ships

I received a photograph, in the last day, which explained part of a fuzzy photograph from several weeks ago. The out of focus photograph had gun lists for the Noorderkwartier hired ships Vergulde Schel and Peereboom, and the Enkhuizen Directors' ship Maecht van Enkhuizen. For the Vergulde Schel, there were 10-3 or 4pdr guns, while the Maecht van Enkhuizen had "4 small, bronze klokwijs guns", with no shot size specified.

Dutch ship data in the period of 1628 to 1633

I was amazed when I first saw the Staeten van Oorlog te Water for the years 1628, 1629, 1631, and 1633. For Rotterdam and Amsterdam ships, in many cases, they included lists of guns carried. For the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier, at best, you had the number of guns, crew, and the size of the ship in lasts. Jan Glete treats lasts as being equivalent to two tons of gross tonnage (volume). That is probably too simplistic, but for his analysis, he needed some measure that would give his burdens in tons for all ships. For "steenstukken", usually just the number are mentioned, perhaps with the number of chambers. Since steenstukken (stone guns) were breach loaders, they could have multiple chambers that could be loaded while one was fired in the gun. The Amsterdam and Rotterdam ships would often specify iron or "metalen" for guns. Many authors, Frank Fox included, assume that these were brass, but Nico Brinck, the Dutch authority on guns, says that they were bronze. You might also see Dutch guns called "kopere", which Nico says were composite guns of copper, iron, and lead, beaten into shape with hammers. Nico says that "klokwijs" guns had a bell-shaped chamber for the powder, which allowed for a smaller powder charge and thinner walls for the gun. Guns might also be just referred to as "chambered", which are similar in concept, with a reduced size chamber for the powder charge. "Drakes" (Draecken) were lightweight guns, which were disliked, as they tended to be more affected by recoil, as they lacked the weight of normal guns.