English Captain: John Barker

John Barker served in the Parliamentarian and Commonwealth navies. In 1643, he commanded the hired merchant ship John and Barbara. In 1646, he commanded the hired merchant ship Lewis in reserve. In 1650, he commanded the Great Lewis. From 1652 to 1653, he commanded the hired merchant ship Prosperous (44 guns). In September 1652, he was assigned to Andrew Ball's squadron sent to the Sound. He was killed in the Battle of Portland. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, "English Fleet-Lists in the First Dutch War," The Mariner's Mirror, Vol.XXIV No.4, October 1938
2. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964
3. J. R. Powell, The Navy in the English Civil War, 1962

English Captain: Abraham Allgate

Abraham Allgate served in the Commonwealth navy. From 1653 until 1656, he commanded the 6th Rate Drake. In 1656, he commanded the Wexford (the ex-Royalist Fleetwood), also a 6th Rate. From 1656 until 1658, he commanded the 5th Rate Oxford. He is not mentioned in The First Dutch War nor in Anderson's fleet lists for the First Anglo-Dutch War. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964
2. R. C. Anderson, Lists of Men-of-War 1650-1700: Part I English Ships 1649-1702, 1966

Dutch Captain: Schelte Wichelma (or Wiglema)

Schelte Tierks Wichelma (or Wiglema, as De Sneuper calls him) served the Admiralty of Friesland. In the First Anglo-Dutch War, he commanded the ship Frisia. He fought in the Battle of the Kentish Knock on 8 October 1652 under the command of Witte de With. On 10 December 1652, he fought in the Battle of Dungeness, under the command of Lt-Admiral Tromp. He also fought in the Three Days Battle (Portland). His ship had a gunpowder explosion on 28 February 1653 and was destroyed, while Captain Wichelma was killed. Sources:

1. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, 1910
2. A. Vreugdenhil, Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702, 1938

English Captain: John Andrews

John Andrews served in the Restoration navy. In 1664, he was appointed as captain of the Lizard. Apparently on 10 May 1665, he had been with the fleet, but by 3 June 1665, the Lizard was lying at Portsmouth. In 1666, he was appointed to command the Sophia. On the other hand, Syrett and DiNardo say he died before 1665. I have reviewed all relevant sources, and this is the extent of what could be found. Sources:

1. Frank Fox, A Distant Storm: the Four Days' Battle of 1666, 1996
2. David Syrett, R. L. DiNardo, The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660-1815, 1994
3. J.R. Tanner, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Naval Manuscripts in the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Vol.I, 1903

The Monnikendam, by July 1654

I imagine that the Monnikendam carried the same armament in July 1654 as she did in 1653 after being uparmed. Her lower tier was mixed, with 8-18pdr, 10-12pdr, and probably 2-10pdr, possibly able to be used as bow chasers. She seems to have had 10-6pdr and 6-4pdr on the upper tier. The heavier guns were probably aft of the unarmed waist, with the 6-4pdrs forward of the waist. The 2-3pdrs were probably mounted on the quarterdeck or poop. With 18pdrs, the Monnikendam gave Pieter Florissen a better chance when fighting English 3rd and 4th Rates that were also armed with 18pdr culverins on the lower tier. The English 4th Rates usually had 9pdr demi-culverins on the upper tier. We really know very little about the armaments of English ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War. The armaments after the Restoration are better documented, compared to almost no information from the Commonwealth years.

The best of the Amsterdam Directors' ships seem to have had a complete lower tier of 12pdrs

All Dutch ships except for the smallest frigates had two complete decks, until the 1660's, when the first three-decked ships appeared. The smaller Amsterdam Directors' ships seem to have had a lower tier of mixed 12pdr and 8pdr guns. The better ships had either a complete lower tier of 12pdrs or 12pdrs with a few larger guns.

One example is the Kroon Imperiael, commanded by Cornelis Janszoon Poort and sunk at the Battle of Portland. On 27 March 1652, the Kroon Imperiael is listed with 20-12pdr guns, 14-6pdr, and 4-4pdr guns. The probable armament scheme was probably a complete lower tier of 12pdrs, the 14-6pdrs on the upper tier, with an unarmed waist, and the 4-4pdrs on the quarterdeck. From 8 November 1652 until her loss, she apparently had 2-brass 24pdr and 16-12pdr on the lower tier and 12-6pdr on the upper deck with an unarmed waist. The guns on the quarterdeck were now 4-3pdrs.

Another ship, the Groote Liefde, had the same armament from the beginning. On both 27 March 1652 and on 8 November 1652, the Groote Liefde had 2-brass 24pdr and 18-12pdr, all probably on the lower tier. The upper tier had 14-6pdr, probably with an unarmed waist. She also had 4-3pdr on the quarterdeck.

The Moor lacked the 24pdrs. We know that on 28 January 1653, she carried 20-12pdr, probably all on the lower tier and 12-6pdr, probably all on the upper tier with an unarmed waist. She only had 2-3pdrs, probably on the quarterdeck, although possibly on a forecastle.

Other ships had a more mixed armament. For example, the Prins Maurits, commanded by Nicolaes de With and wrecked by bad piloting on 19 November 1652, had a more heterogenous armament. On 12 March 1652, when hired, she had 18-12pdr, probably all on the lower tier. She probably had a mixed upper tier, fairly sparsely armed and with an unarmed waist, having 6-6pdr and 6-4pdr. She also had 4-3pdr, probably on the quarterdeck. By 8 November 1652, she had 18-12pdr, still all probably on the lower tier, and now had 10-8pdr with 4-6pdr, probably on the upper tier with an unarmed waist. I would speculate that the 8pdrs were aft of the waist and the 6pdrs forward. She now had 2-3pdr, probably on the quarterdeck.

The Dutch were amazed at the Battle of the Kentish Knock, when they encountered what they considered to be small frigates armed with some 18pdrs. They really felt that they were out-gunned, especially given that the 2nd Rates had 32pdr demi-cannon and the two 1st Rates had 42pdr cannon. Their best ship, the Brederode, only had four 36pdrs, some 24pdr and 18pdr guns, probably all on the lower tier. The upper tier was armed with 12pdrs, with 6pdrs on the quarterdeck. The Dutch responded by adding guns to their ships. The 120ft-long Prinses Louise was upgunned to 46 guns by December 1652. This clearly was over-arming her, and they seemed to have backed off to a more reasonable number. Still, Pieter Florissen's ship, Monnikendam, went from 32 guns to 38 guns, and Jan Thyssen's Witte Lam went from 32 guns to 40 guns, when she was De Ruyter's flagship in 1653.

A reader's inquiry: about Captain John Giles in Tangier in 1671

A reader made the following query. I have edited that somewhat. QUERY: Can any contributors supply information on a Captain John Giles, of the Percy Kirke regiment in 17th-century Tangier, who, according to Pepys's TANGIERS PAPERS, was married in Tangier January 29th, 1671. The reader wanted to know the maiden name of the woman he married, who may have been a native African, and some biographical information about Captain Giles.

The Harlingen (Friesland) Directors' ships

One question that I had not thought we would answer is the identity of the two Harlingen Directors' ships mentioned in the list in Vol.I of The First Dutch War. This was done from a translation, with corrections, of the list in Hollandsche Mercurious for 1652. There has been some wild variances in the spelling of one captain's name. I am currently using Ariaan Heeres Cleytien. Thanks to a handwritten document dating from September 1652, we know that he commanded the Vergulde Pelicaen (28 guns and a crew of 100 men). The other ship, the Sint Vincent, was commanded by Andries Douweszoon Pascaert. That ship also carried 28 guns but had a crew of 105 men. These ships are listed by captain in Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet about the voyage to the Shetlands commanded by Tromp in July to August 1652. We still don't know dimensions and my never know them. Andries Douweszoon Pascaert was eventually courtmartialed for being disobedient during the Battle of the Gabbard and was dismissed from the service. Ariaan Heeres Cleyntien took over command of the Sint Vincent (which may have carried as many as 30 guns and had a crew of 100 men in later 1652 and beyond). He probably commanded her in the Battle of Scheveningen and was on the voyage to Norway in September to November 1653. He and his ship were lost off the Texel in the storm in early November 1653, when the fleet was caught outside and was not able to get into sheltered waters before the storm hit.

In a related note, it seemed initially that the ship Kameel was a Groningen Directors' ship. The First Dutch War would lead you to believe that Joost Bulter's ship was named the Stad en Lande (Town and Country). However, Dr. Elias and the list of ships at Vlissingen in July 1653 pretty clearly indicate that the ship lost at the Battle of the Gabbard in June was a ship belonging to the Admiralty of Friesland. This was a 42-gun ship that was newly completed.

I was impressed with Zoltán Petrofsky's ship models

I was impressed with Zoltán Petrofsky's ship models. They are built the way the original ships were built. He had done a model of the Vasa that included the damage to the hull from sinking. If you look between the decks of the model, the structure looks like photos I have seen of the real Vasa. He has a site with photos of his work.

We know absolutely for sure, the captain and stierman of the Brederode on 14 June 1652

There is a letter signed by the more senior sailors on board the Brederode on 14 June 1652. Abel Roelants was captain and Egbert Meeuwssen Kortenaer was the stierman. Since Tromp was involved in a battle that started a war, the fight on 29 May 1652 off Dover, he felt the need to justify his actions in that battle. De Jonge reproduces the letter written by Tromp, and then the letter written by his officers and senior enlisted men on the Brederode at that date. The letter was signed on 14 June 1652. Carl Stapel found that Abel Roelants complete name was Abel Roelantszoon Verboom. In the archive of notary entries for Rotterdam, Carl found that Abel Roelantszoon Verboom had been trumpeter on Tromp's ship (the Aemilia) in 1636. Abel Roelantszoon Verboom was born in Den Haag (the Hague).

Two VOC 7-gun ships fought at Lowestoft

We know that two VOC ships armed with 70 guns fought in the Battle of Lowestoft in June 1665. It turns out that we know the armaments of those two ships, although we don't know which one has a specific armament. The two ships were the Delfland and the Huis te Zwieten. De Jonge, in an appendix to Vol.I of Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen lists the armaments of the two ships. They are as follows:

VOC ship 1

70 guns:
1-36pdr
4-24pdr
21-18pdr
20-12pdr
24-8 and 6pdr

VOC ship 2

70 guns:
4-24pdr
22-18pdr
6-12pdr
20-8pdr
14-4pdr
4-smaller

We do know the armament of the Huis te Zwieten in 1654, which consisted of 60 guns, but this doesn't really help much with the armament in 1665:

10-24pdr
16-18pdr
24-12pdr
10-6pdr

Writing was precluded last night, as Blogger was down

Last night, since Blogger was down all evening, I was not able to do any new writing on any of my blogs.

Blogger was down last night, so nothing new got written

I would have written last night, but Blogger was down all evening, so writing was not a possibility. Instead, I worked on my comprehensive list of English and Dutch naval officers, about whom I have written. I have finished Anglo-Dutch Wars blog, and am into mid-2005 on 17th Century Naval Wargaming. I also need to look at Kentishknock.com, to see what I have put there.

I have corrected the post about the ships lost in the storm off the Texel in November 1653

While reviewing the posts to fix problems and to add captains to my list of those about whom I have written, I found that the post from January 2006 about the ships lost in the storm in November 1653 had what essentially a big typo. I just fixed that problem.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but I have been fixing all character issues and formatting in the entire blog

I am close to having finished reviewing and correcting all posts since November 2003 on this blog. I have been fixing the early posts where there are formatting issues that greatly detract from reading, and fixing all character set problems, where there are characters in MS Word that were copied and pasted, and don't render in a browser. The motivation behind the review is to collect information about the English and Dutch captains about whom I have written, so that I can better choose candidates to write about in the future, and to eliminate mistaken duplication.

More thoughts on Jacob Claeszoon Boet's ship

I am compiling a complete list of the Dutch and English captains about whom I have written, and I saw, again, a note that I had written about the identity of Jacob Claeszoon Boet's ship:

Dr. Ballhausen read Jodocus Hondius's book Onstelde-Zee, Oft Zee-Daden (1654) Dr. Ballhausen cites page 82 from that book as the reference for Jacob Claeszoon Boet's ship being the Leeuwin (32 guns and a crew of 115 men). The Leeuwin was a Monnikendam Directors's ship carrying 4-brass and 28-iron guns. If this is correct, then the ship at the Battle of Portland was not the Zeeland Director's ship, but this one. My list lists Jacob Claeszoon Boet's ship, with reservations, as being the Leeuwin.

It still is true that Claes Janszoon's ship, the Leeuwin, was at the Battle of Portland, as he is mentioned as returning home with the 17 Zeeland ships after Portland. Sources:

1. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, 1910.
2. Dr. Carl Ballhausen, Der Erste Englisch-Höllandische Seekrieg 1652-1654, 1923.
3. Jodocus Hondius, Onstelde-Zee, Oft Zee-Daden, 1654.

The Letters of Robert Blake

The book edited by J. R. Powell entitled The Letters of Robert Blake, published by the Navy Records Society, has some useful details. For example, this book lists the ships assigned to Robert Blake's squadron at the Battle of the Gabbard. I believe that R. C. Anderson used this information for his article in the Mariner's Mirror about fleet lists in the First Dutch War. There is also important information about Blake's squadron that was pursuing the Royalists prior to the First Dutch War.

Very belatedly, I am compiling a list of English and Dutch naval officers about whom I have written

I am really missing having the usual help that I have been receiving, suggesting naval officers for me to write about. I am hampered by not having a complete list of those of whom I have written. It will take about forever (it seems like) to complete the list, but I have made a small start. They are written on both Anglo-Dutch Wars and 17th Century Naval Wargaming.

Dutch Naval Officer: Hiddes Sjoerd de Vries

Hiddes Sjoerd de Vries served the Admiralty of Friesland. He was born at Sexbierum on 22 December 1645 and died on the North Sea on 1 July 1694. He was appointed as a kapitein-ter-zee in 1683. He was promoted to Schout-bij-Nacht on 26 March 1692. He commanded a squadron off Dunkirk that consisted of 3 ships of 50-54 guns, 2 of 44-46 guns, 2 of 34 guns, 3 of 26-28 guns, 2 of 18 guns, and 2 of 8 and 12 guns. He apparently flew his flag on the Prinse Friso (58 guns). In a fight with French privateers near Dunkirk on 1 July 1694, he was shot in the breast and killed. Sources:

1. Luc Eekhout, Het Admiralenboek: De Vlagofficieren van de Nederlandse marine 1382-1991, 1992.
2. J. C. De Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, Vol.III, 1860.

The armament list for a Dutch 30-gun ship from 1616

We know an example armament for a 30-gun Dutch ship from 1616. We even know that lower deck and upper deck guns:

Lower deck:

2-brass 24pdr
2-long 18pdr
2-short brass 18pdr
2-brass 12pdr
12-culverins, 18pdr

Upper deck:

2-brass 6pdr
8-sakers, 5pdr

Sources:

1. J. C. De Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, Vol.I, 1858.