Colin Martin and the Swan

Colin Martin, from St. Andrews University, has been involved in investigating the wreck of the English ship Swan, lost in 1653. This is inconsistent with the description in R. C. Anderson's list of the Swan, number 42, which was said to have been sold in 1654. This article, though, indicates that it is the same 5th Rate mentioned by Anderson. However, the wreck cannot be the Royalist prize, simply because that Swan was still in service on 27 December 1653, convoying colliers. The convoyer was a ship commanded by Thomas Wilks that carried 22 guns and had a crew of 80 men. If there was in fact a ship Swan lost at Duart Point, it is not the same Royalist prize. The Swan is said to have been built in 1641 as a warship for the navy, but it is not listed by Anderson. I looked at Powell's book, The Navy in the English Civil War, and it says that the Royalist Swan was taken by the Jocelyn, a hired ship, in 1645. Without knowing more, I have to be skeptical of the identification, although I can believe that Anderson missed including the Swan in his list, due to the existence of the larger Swan that was in service in December 1653 and was sold in 1654.

A document that has a subset of the ships from this list from June 1653

I have this list that is similar to that seen by an English spy and reproduced in Thurloe's State Paper's book. I looked again at a document that I received about the time that I left for the Netherlands, in early May, and I noticed immediately that the ships listed are included in the sparser document. On major difference, besides that this list is smaller, is that there are dates on this document. The surprising fact is that this list dates from before the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). The dates are from around 7 June 1653. The list is of ships lying in the Texel roads at that date:

Adm    Ship             Commander
A      Pelicaen         kapitein Overcamp
A      Overijssel       kapitein Jan van Campen
A      Goude Reael      kapitein van Loenen
Me-Dir Coninck Radbout  kapitein Jan Rootjens
N      Eenhoorn         kapitein Jan Jansz Heck
N      Lastdrager       kapitein Gerrit Munt
F      Sara             kapitein Hessel Fransz
F      Breda            kapitein Bruijnsvelt
F      Graef Hendrick   (kapitein Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer)
F      Waterhont        (kapitein Oosteroon)
A      Sonne, FS (?)    
A      Cleijne Hoop, FS  

Spanish Armada guns, again

I still am interested in getting more information about guns carried by the ships in the Spanish Armada. In an article from 2002, published in British Archaeology, Colin Martin says that the inventories listing the guns for almost all the ships in the Spanish Armada exists. I need to find out how to get a copy, as that would be invaluable. Colin Martin is or was at St. Andrews, so I need to find out from him about getting the gun lists.

I would be interested to see the list of Dutch ships in 1648

I do not have the information, but the list of Dutch warships in service in 1648 apparently exists. At least one person who I know has the list and I suspect that Dr. Elias had access to the list, as well. I hand asked Rick van Velden, at the Nationaal Archief, to look for the list, but he did not know where to look and couldn't find it. I had seen a reference in Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen that referred to such a list. That was in July 2004. I would be interested to see the last from 1648, as I know for a fact that the ships included in the group funded from 1648 changed over time. That was caused by warlosses and the moving of ships between groups to have their service financed.

The Zeelands ships funded in 1651, as of December 1652

My theory is that as ships were lost in battle or storm and were discarded, that the ships included in the various funding categories changed over time. I have this list from December 1652 that has a list of Zeeland ships included in the funding of 1651. Perhaps the only difference is the captains have changed. That seems to confirm that this is a good list:

Adm   Ship            Guns Commander
Z     Hollandia       36   kapitein Adriaen Banckert
                           vice-admiraal Johan Evertsen
Z     Zeelandia       32   kapitein Andries Pietersz den Boer
Z     Zeelandia       32   kapitein Johan Naelhout
Z     Zeeridder       28   kapitein Gillis Janszoon
Z     Neptunis        25   kapitein Jan Pauwelsz
Z     Vlissingen      32   kapitein Cornelis Mangelaer
Z     Salamander      26   kapitein Jan Christoffelsz Duijm

The 7 Zeeland ships of 1651

Seven of the 36 ships funded in 1651 were from Zeeland:

Adm    Ship              Guns Crew Captain
Z      Wapen van Zeeland 34   140  Joris Willemsz Block
Z      Zeelandia         32   138  Andries Pietersz den Boer
Z      Zeelandia         32        Jan Naelhout
Z      Vlissingen        32   115  Cornelis Mangelaer
Z      Salamander        26   110  Jan Christoffelsz Duijm
Z      Zeeridder         28   120  Gillis Janszoon
Z      Neptunis          25   115  Johan Pauwelszoon

This is based on two documents that I received back in early February 2007.

More about the Graef Hendrick

Yesterday, I looked at another list dating from late September 1653. That list indicated that Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer's ship, the Graef Hendrick, was a ship of the Admiralty of Friesland, not a Groningen or Friesland Directors' ship. As I have written, in the face of conflicting information, I am still leaning towards listing the Graef Hendrick (Graaf Hendrik) as a Groningen Directors' ship, but if I can find more conclusive information, I am ready to change my mind. The many pages of Friesland ship data to do not supply the definitive answer. They say that the Graef Hendrick was a ship hired by Groningen, and that is really all they say.

The First Dutch War book in six volumes

The First Dutch War book, consisting of six volumes, was my first contact with information that was close to primary sources about the First Anglo-Dutch War. To its credit, The First Dutch War publishes material to which most people would not have had access. That was true for me, up to sometime in the latter 1990's, when I started to encounter better information sources about the war. Many of the problems with The First Dutch War stem from the death of the original author, Samuel Rawson Gardiner. C. T. Atkinson made a valiant effort, but came up short, simply due to his lack of familiarity with the subject. Still, my primary criticism is the lack of good references, in footnotes and bibliography. For the Dutch material, the references sources are so non-specific as to be useless. Compare that situation with Dr. Ballhausen's book, which is well-footnoted, even thought in some cases, the sources do not support the conclusion. In the last six months, I have seen many of the original Dutch documents that were likely used as the source for the Dutch information, especially in Vol.IV of The First Dutch War. Vol.IV has the best and most useful list of Dutch ships, with ship names, captains, guns, and crew figures.

The ship Gerechtigheid in September 1653

The Gerechtigheid was a ship belonging to the Amsterdam chamber of the VOC. The Gerechtigheid was one of six VOC ships from various chambers to serve with the Dutch fleet in 1653. The Gerechtigheid had carried 34 guns and had a crew of 105 men in May 1653. By September 1653, I have a page that says that the Gerechtigheid carried 42 guns and had a crew of 138 men. The Gerechtigheid was a pretty large ship, as it was 136 ft long. It was also well-armed with more than the usual small number of 18pdr guns and with a good lower tier of 12pdr guns. The Gerechtigheid was one of the ships lost in the storm off the Texel in early November 1653, when the fleet returned from Norway.

The Friesland ship Graef Hendrick

There is at least some evidence that Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer's ship, the Graef Hendrick, was hired by the Groningen Directors. I had not been satisfied with any of the other candidate ships. There were certainly other ships hired by Groningen for service in 1652 to 1653, but they probably served under the Admiralty of Friesland. The two Harlingen Directors' ships, the Vergulde Pelicaen (28 guns) and the Sint Vincent (28 guns) were also considered under the category of Friesland and Groningen Directors' ships. The Vergulde Pelicaen was eventually discarded, but the Sint Vincent served up until being lost in the storm off the Texel in early November 1653.

The ship that I had long assumed was the Groningen Directors' ship, the ship of Joost Bulter, seems to have been bought for service under the Admiralty of Friesland. That ship was named Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden. That was one of two 38 gun ships listed in De Jonge's list for March 1653. The other was the Zevenwolden. The Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden came into service much later than the Graef Hendrick and the two Harlingen Directors' ships. The other candidate, the Groeninger Sint Nicolaes, also hired by Groningen, seems to have served under the Admiralty of Friesland and was commanded by Laurens Hermansz Degelcamp. I might be persuaded otherwise, but for now, I am listing the Graef Hendrick as the Groningen Directors' ship hired in 1652.

Jacob Pauwelsz Cort must have been Michiel De Ruijter's flag captain in late 1653

These documents that I received yesterday show Jacob Pauwelsz Cort as the captain of the Huijs te Cruijningen (late 1653 spelling), the newly acquired ship that Michiel De Ruijter used as his flagship during the voyage to Norway from September to November 1653. De Ruijter and Witte de With had been fitting out the new ships taken over from Genoa in August, if not before. They were not ready for the Battle of Scheveningen but were ready by September. That must mean that Jacob Pauwelsz Cort was De Ruijter's flag captain. I had seen that Albert Claesz Graeff had taken over Jacob Pauwelsz Cort's ship, the Star or Morgen Sterre by June 1653 and I had wondered what had become of Jacob Pauwelsz Cort.

Some ships at Amsterdam on 12 September 1653

I received some photographs today with some interesting information about the ships in Witte de With's fleet on 12 September 1653. These are some of the ships lying at Amsterdam:

Adm    Ship               Guns Crew Commander
A-Dir  Hollantsche Tuijn  32   116  Harman Walleman
A-Dir  Blaeuwen Arent     28   116  captain in detention, in poor condition
A-Dir  Gidion             34   130  Dirck Somer
A-Dir  Engel Michael      28    73  Frederick Bogaert, short of 37 men
A-Dir  Swarte Leeuw       30    74  Hendrick de Raedt, short of 36 men
A-Dir  Sint Pieter        28    81  Gerrit Schuijt, in poor condition, short of 29 men
A-Dir  Walvisch           29    62  captain absent, short of 48 men
A-Dir  Vergulde Valck     26    83  Cornelis Jansz Brouwer, short of 27 men

A list of Amsterdam ships from September 1653

The list of ships from September 1653 must be from Witte de With's fleet. This is the Amsterdam ships that has one ship not from Amsterdam:

Adm     Ship                  Guns Crew Commander
A       Huis te Swieten       56   270  Vice-Admiraal Witte de With
A       Amsterdam             50   210  kapitein Gideon Verburgh
A       Huis te Cruijningen   48   210  kapitein Jacob Pouwelsz Cort
A       Bommel                34   130  kapitein Pieter van Braeckel
A       Morgen Sterre         30   110  kapitein Albert de Graeff
A-Dir   Hercules              27   104  kapitein Veeneman
A-Dir   Koninck Davidt        28   124  kapitein Volgelsanck
A-Dir   Sampson               26   100  kapitein Cornelis de Groot
A-Dir   Ceurvorst van Ceulen  32   124  kapitein Sijmon Dootjes
A-Dir   Faem                  28   128  kapitein Jacob Cornelisz Swart
Me-Dir  Coninck Radbout       28    90  kapitein Jan Rootjes (not an Amsterdam ship)
A-Dir   Moor                  36   140  kapitein Arij Cornelisz van Ackersloot

Sorry for the commercial message: rare books for sale

Sorry for the commercial interruption, but I am still hoping to find buyers for two rare books from the 17th Century:

564     AITZEMA, Lieuwe van. Saken van staet en oorlogh, in, ende
omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden, beginnende met het jaer 1621, ende
eyndigende met het jaar 1669.
's Grav., Johan Veely, Johan Tongerloo, ende Jasper Doll, 1669-1672.
6 volumes in 7. With titles printed in red and black, engraved frontispiece,
engraved portrait. - Added: SYLVIUS, L. (= 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. Folio. Contemporary blind-stamped
vellum, with later red morocco title-labels (1 mounted with
tape), raised bands. Containing numerous documents concerning New
Netherland and other parts of America, the foundation
of the West India Company, Usselincx and the
Swedish Company of the West-Indies, the Dutch in
Brazil, etc. Cat. NHSM p.346; Knuttel, Verboden Boeken 11; Van
Eeghen & Van der Kellen 106.

I paid a whopping 8,500 euros in 2001, when the euro was not worth as much as now. I apparently paid too much, but I had the resources at the time and thought it worth getting the volumes. I would be negotiable on price. I had bought them from Gert Jan Bestebreurtje.

I also have one volume of the Hollandsche Mercurius that covers 1666-1670 that I would sell. I have a copy of the volume covering 1650-1658, but would not part with it.

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 Pieter Castelyn 1667 - 1671. 5 vols bound in one volume in
contemporary vellum, hinges cracking but firm. Bears signature of Carl
Ewald Ziervogel, an 18th century Cape of Good Hope colonist.

I purchased the book from a bookseller in Johannesburg (he still has his advertisment posted after all this time).

The mystery ship St. Johannes from Jan Glete's notes

Jan Glete had kindly supplied me with a copy of his notes from studying documents at the Nationaal Archief at The Hague, when he was doing research for Navies and Nations. Those notes listed a ship St. Johannes, which we never found anywhere else. Yesterday, I received a photograph of a page that seems to supply the answer. The document is dated 18 February 1653. It says "gehuert van S~ Johannes Louten ende Son Hahoort (?)". The dimensions are those given by Jan Glete. There are two gun lists. The one on the left includes 2-18pdr guns and matches that for the St. Johannes. The list further right has 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-3pdr guns, which is typical for an Amsterdam Directors' ship with 28 guns. The name is the "Walvis" (or Walvisch). I am guessing that Jan Glete had mistaken the owner's name for the ship name.

Oosterwijk commanders

I was recently asked about the Amsterdam ship Oosterwijk, which was built in 1653. The dimensions were 140ft x 35ft x 13-1/2ft. I happen to have information about the ship's commanders:

From September to November 1653, commandeur Gideon de Wildt commanded the Oosterwijk on the voyage to Norway with Witte de With's fleet. In July 1654, Gideon de Wildt still commanded the Huis te Oosterwijk, as it was called in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654. Even in 1659, he commanded the Oosterwijk in 1659,when he was with De Ruyter's fleet in the Sound.

June 1665, at the Battle of Lowestoft, Dirck Schey commanded the Oosterwijk. He still commanded the ship in August, under De Ruyter's command.

August 1666, at the Twee Daagse Zeeslag, the ship was commanded by Lt.Col. Fransçois Palm, who was a marine.

In May to July 1667, during the raid on Chatham and Harwich, the ship was commanded by Jan Roeteringh.

In 1671, Engel De Ruyter commanded the Oosterwijk.

From May to July 1672, Volkert Hendriksz Swart commanded the Oosterwijk.

In April 1674, Pieter van Middeland commanded the Oosterwijk.

In July 1675, Jacob Teding van Berkhout commanded the Oosterwijk. He still commanded the ship in April 1676.

Rotterdam ships with the fleet on 24 July 1652

One page that I received about a week ago has the list of captains with Tromp's fleet on 24 July 1652. This is the list of Rotterdam captains, suitably annotated:

Adm   Ship               Guns Commander
R     Brederode          54   Lt-Admiraal Tromp
R     Utrecht            22   Cornelis Engelen Silvergieter
R     Gorcum             30   Jan van Nes, the Boer Jaep
R     Overijssel         22   Leendert Ariensz Haecxwant
R     Schiedam           30   Dirck Juijnbol
R     Holland            30   Hendrick de Munnick
R     Roscam, hired      24   Costiaen Eldertsz
R     Maria, hired       24   Quirijnen van den Kerckhoff
R-Dir Hollandia          26   Ruth Jacobsz Buijs
R-Dir Jonas              36   Jan de Liefde
R-Dir Meerman            32   Jacob Cleijdijck
R-Dir Prins te Paard     38   Corstiaen Corstiaensz (de Munnick)

The gun list for the Vogelstruis (oops, I don't have it!)

My main regret about my trip to the Netherlands and my trip to the Nationaal Archief in The Hague, slightly more than a month ago was that I failed to write down the gun list for the ship Vogelstruis, when I saw it. Instead, I thought that I had arranged to have the page copied, so I didn't need to take the time to write it down. The Vogelstruis was a ship of the Amsterdam chamber of the VOC. It was apparently built in 1641. The dimensions of the Vogelstruis were 160ft x 36-38ft x 13ft with three decks, based on some calculations made using the dimensions taken by her English captors and from email from Herbert Tomesen of Artitec. There is a page about Herbert (in Dutch) and video of him with a ship model. The Vogelstruis (old spelling is Vogel Struijs) carried between 40 and 44 guns, as far as I can tell. One page gives the crew as 200 men, but I am not certain if that is correct, or not. As I remember, the Volgelstruis carried 4-24pdr guns and perhaps a lower tier of 12pdr guns.

Ships in 23 June 1653 with the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC

I am not sure of these ships all actually belonged under the category of the Rotterdam Chamber of the VOC (the East India Company), but in the classic list of ships that had been at the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort), these all fall under that category:

Nr.   Adm     Ship                  Guns Crew Commander
60    R-VOC   Nassou                32   124  Jan Adriaensz van der Werf
61    R       Haij, advijs boot      6    14  Teunis Willemsen van der Heiden
62    R       Coninck David,fireship ?    14  Jacob Arentsen
63    R       Orangie boom, fireship ?    13  Dirc Janssen Stroo

The Haij, number 62, is noteworthy, as the summary list looked like it said "advijs berck". Actually, it should have said "advijs boot".

The "Prins te Paard"

Michael Robinson, in catalog of Van de Velde paintings, calls the ship first commanded by Corstiaen Corstiaenszoon the Prins te Paard. The actual documents that I have from the Nationaal Archief all call the ship the Prins, except for a page that I received two days ago. That page gives the captain's full name, which was Corstiaen Corstiaensz de Munnick (perhaps a relative of Hendrick de Munnick, the Rotterdam captain). That page also calls his ship, which carried 38 guns, the Prins te Paerde. I have heard that perhaps that full name for this ship was the Jonge Prins Willem te Paard. The names of Dutch ships in the 1640's and 1650's seems to have been rather fluid and allowed for many alternative names that were frequently used. For example, the document that includes this page has Barent Cramer's ship listed as the Swarte Bul, which was the frequently used nickname for ships name Edam. The black bull was the symbol for the city of Edam.

Friesland Directors' ships in December 1652

One question has been: what ship was hired by the Groningen Directors in 1652? The answer seems to be the Graaf Hendrick, commanded by Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer. I have a photograph of a document dating from early December 1652 that says that this is the case. There were other ships hired by Groningen, but this seems to be the Directors' ship.

My current arrangement for research

With me being in the United States and the information that I desire being in the Netherlands, I have relied on people there to obtain copies for photographs for me. I am really pleased with my present arrangement with the Dutch Archives Research Bureau and the work that Eric Ruijssenaars is doing for me. I also have been greatly helped by Carl Stapel and others there in the Netherlands, such as Ab Hoving, Ron van Maanen, Nico Brinck, and Herbert Tomesen of Artitec, and others who have helped me over the last five years in the Netherlands. I owe a great deal to the help provided by Prof. Jan Glete in Stockholm. I would not know nearly as much as I do without his assistance over the last four years. Of course, I have also greatly benefitted from the help and advice from Frank Fox, the author of Great Ships and A Distant Storm, since late 1999. Frank is here in the United States, although he lives quite a distance from where I am. There is an amazing community of enthusiasts, researchers, authors, artists, and model makers interested in 17th Century warships and naval history.

Jan Glete's book was a revelation to me

I had originally started to get information from the Nationaal Archief in The Hague through Drs. Rick van Velden, through "The Missing Link" service. I had contacted him in August 2002, after I found "The Missing Link" by searching on the Internet. I believe that it was after that that I had Jan Glete's book Navies and Nations. Navies and Nations was a revelation to me, as Jan Glete's references and footnotes indicated that there were more information to be found than I had guessed. He mentioned that Ron van Maanen had told him about the information about Directors' ships. After seeing that, I looked for and found Jan Glete's email address. He kindly provided me with a copy of his notes. I had to switch to dealing with the Nationaal Archief at the beginning of 2003. I was able to get copies of some of the Extraordinarie Equipage documents that listed dimensions and had gun lists for the Amsterdam Directors' ships. I just kept with the process of finding more information and I continued to use Navies and Nations in my search. I was able to get copies of the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the years 1628, 1629, 1631, and 1633, as I have previously written. I have just continued the process of getting information to this day.

The ship Sint Vincent

Barring any evidence that this is wrong, I suspect that the Sint Vincent mentioned in David de Wildt's list is the ship hired by the Harlingen Directors for service in the First Anglo-Dutch War. In 1652 and into 1653, the Sint Vincent was commanded by Andries Douwesz Pascaert. The Sint Vincent seems to have been a 113ft long ship that carried 28 guns. From May 1653, Jacob Kleijntje commanded the Sint Vincent and did so up through the voyage to Norway, under Witte de With's command, from September to November 1653. You would think that the Sint Vincent must have been a good ship.

Not every Amsterdam hired ship was small

The hired ship Amsterdam is an example of larger ship that was hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam must have been a good ship, as she served through the war. The Amsterdam was large, with a 130ft length. The armament included 18 8pdr and 12pdr guns. That was out of a 30 gun armament. The rest were mostly 6pdr guns, along with 2-3pdr guns. the crew was substantial: 120 sailors and 30 soldiers. Paulus Egbertsz Sonck was appointed to replace Sijmon van der Aeck, probably by about April 1653.

Gideon de Wildt's ship Vrede in June 1653

The 23 June 1653 list gives the length of the Vrede, commanded by commandeur Gideon de Wildt, as 135 ft. Gideon de Wildt was a very young man and owed his appointment to being the younger brother of David de Wildt, the secretary of the Admiralty of Amsterdam. Carl Stapel says that Gideon de Wildt was hated by his men. The Vrede carried 44 guns. The main battery was a large number of 12pdr guns, supplemented by a few 24pdrs. The upper tier was incompletely armed with 8pdr guns. I would guess that the few 6pdr guns were carried on the quarterdeck. The crew was quite large by this date. The establishment was for 192 men. There were 176 actually on board: 145 sailors and 31 soldiers.

Is the Morgen Sterre the same ship as the Star?

I have an set of dimensions, with a gun list, dating from September 1652, for the Amsterdam ship Star. I had wondered if this was the same ship as the Morgen Sterre listed on 14 July 1653. Jacob Paulussen Cort had commanded the Star up to about April 1653. The ship was not listed in the 23 June 1653 list of ships with the fleet. On 14 July, the captain was Albert Claesz de Graeff and he commanded the ship at the Battle of Scheveningen. Previous lists give the number of guns as 28, but the 14 July entry gives just 26 guns. They both give only 6-12pdr guns and 12-8pdr guns, but the smaller guns vary considerably. Still, I tentatively accept that they were the same ship.

d'Oude Prins Willem (23 June 1653)

This fascinating list from 23 June 1653 has information about the ship Prins Willem, here called d'Oude Prins Willem. The ship's length is given as 128ft, which if corret is quite long for a 30 gun ship. The Prins Willem had a main battery of 8pdr guns with a few 12pdr and a mixture of smaller guns between 6pdr and 3pdr. The crew is given as 106 men. There is no information listed about the mixture of sailors and soldiers.

Ship names

So, I assume that all the ships named with some variation of "Jonge Prins", "Prins Willem", "Prins te Paard", or even "Jonge Prins Willem te Paard" were named after Willem II, rather than his infant son, Willem III. The Rotterdam Directors' ship usually called simply the Prins was actually named in this pattern. The name may even have been the longest version, Jonge Prins Willem te Paard (young Prince William on horseback).

A good email just got deleted and can't be recovered

A good email got caught in the Gmail spam bucket and it was being deleted before I realized that I didn't want to lose it. Gmail does not allow recovering deleted mail, so it is gone. If you sent me an email about the Dutch in the Arctic, please send it again. Having a spam bucket is problematic, as good emails occasionally end up being classified as spam and I do not recognize them until it is too late.

I have this document with a title

The title on a document that I received today is sort of interesting (to me): "Ceedes van Behoefte van 't Jacht vijrat (?) Hollandia daer Capt op is Rut Jacobsen Buis". The captain's name is often given as "Ruth Jacobszoon Buijs". This is apparently his handwriting, however, so perhaps the spelling is more authoritative. This probably dates from late October 1653. He was with Witte de With's fleet.

The storm off the Texel in November 1653

The last few days, I have been receiving inventories from ships, dating from right before the storm off the Texel in early November 1653. Two of the recent inventories were from ships that foundered in the storm, the Gecroonde Liefde (Marcus Hartman's ship) and the Luipaert (Cornelis Tiebij's ship). The inventories have entries, like "one Prince's flag" and "one wimpel". At the top of the Gecroonde Liefde inventory is "one cable of 15 inches". By the way, there is this page called "Vlag en Wimpel". A wimpel is apparently a pennant or streamer. The storm was quite disasterous in its effect. Brave men and stout ships were lost in the storm. The lucky were wrecked on the coast. The worst foundered and were lost with all hands (they say "man and mouse"). Ships like the 37-gun Luipaert, the 34 gun ship Keurvorst van Keulen, 30 gun Coninck Radbout, the 36 gun Gecroonde Liefde foundered. Witte de With saved his fine ship, the Huis te Zwieten, by cutting the mainmast and letting it go over the side. The storm had the effect that was worse than losing the Battle of Scheveningen, where about nine or ten ships were lost.

The Zeeland ship, the Haes

The Zeeland ship, the Haes, was listed as one of the Hundred Ships of the Extraordinary Equipage, in 1652. The Haes was apparently a fluit. From early in the First Anglo-Dutch War up to the Three Days Battle (the Battle of Portland), Johannes Michielszoon commanded the Haes. He was killed in the battle. By June 1653, Jan van Housen commanded the Haes. The Haes only carried 20 guns, and these were primarily 6pdr guns. There were a few 8pdr guns and the rest were 4pdrs. After the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort), the Haes had 2500 lbs of gunpowder on board. Her crew included 75 sailors and 22 land soldiers.

The Friesland ship Sint Nicolaes

The Friesland ship Sint Nicolaes was sunk in a collision, during the summer of 1652. This was a 116ft ship with a main battery of 8pdr guns, with some additional 6pdr, 4pdr, and 3pdr guns, as well. The crew consisted of 90 men. Captain Bouckhorst did not survive the collision, along with the ship.

Gijsbert Malcontent's ship, the Maeght van Enkhuijsen

I was just looking at the list of guns carried by Gijsbert Malcontent's Hoorn Directors' ship, the Maeght van Enkhuisen (Maagd van Enkhuizen). This was a 120ft ship that carried 28 guns. The main battery, at the time of the Three Days Battle, consisted of 12pdr guns. The rest were 8pdr and slightly fewer 4pdr guns. The crew was 110 men. The Maeght van Enkhuijsen was lost on the first day of the Three Days Battle (called the Battle of Portland by the English).

My current list of the Amsterdam ships with Tromp's fleet in the Shetlands

In Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet, with the list of the Dutch ships with the fleet on the voyage to the Shetlands, the ships in Witte de With's squadron are listed separately. Of those listed with the main fleet, I recently have made some revisions, based my analysis of the latest information:

Admiralty’s ships of Amsterdam

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                
commandeur         Gideon de Wildt                  A        42   160  Vrede               
kapitein           Abraham van der Hulst            A        26   100  Overijssel          
kapitein           Gerbrandt Schatter               A        26    95  Dolphijn            
kapitein           Jacob Paulusz Cort               A        28    95  Star                
kapitein           Govert Reael                     A        36   140  Leeuwarden          

Joris de Colerij’s ship is to be deducted from the hundred.
kapitein           Joris de Colerij                 A        28   100  Hoop                

kapitein           Joris van der Zaan               A        38   130  Groningenn          
commandeur         Nicolaes Marrevelt               A        36   120  Zeelandia           
kapitein           Barent Pieterszoon Dorrevelt     A        34   125  Amsterdam           
kapitein           Cornelis Hola                    A        28   105  Leiden              

Jan ter Stege’s ship is to be deducted from the hundred
kapitein           Jan ter Stege                    A        26   100  Keijser             

Forty gun ships

As I have written before, the strongest Dutch 40 gun ships in 1652 to 1653 were 128ft long. The striking thing, for me, was to see just how many 40 gun ships, built by Amsterdam, were only 125ft long. One page that I received yesterday shows the the Zon and the Maan were of this length. The Zon (or Son) carried more 12pdr guns than the Maan and fewer 8pdrs. They both carried a few 18pdr guns to give them more punch, in the 16th Century style. I have wondered if the larger guns were carried on the broadside, or if they were "in chase". Frank Fox had indicated to me that the Dutch style was to have the larger guns at the ends of the lower tier, so that they could be turned to fire through extra, more forward, lower ports, or through the stern ports. The Elizabethans actually mounted the larger guns to fire forward, as they would fight "end on". They were constantly firing and turning. Only later did ships fight so that they sailed in line and fired broadsides.

Dingeman Cats' ship the Liefde

I happen to have an inventory of the guns carried on Dingeman Cats' ship, the Liefde (23 guns), dating from June 1653. The Liefde was a ship of the Admiralty of Zeeland. Captain Cats moved to the Liefde from the Dolphijn following the storm in the Shetlands in early August 1652. The Liefde carried a rather modest armament but must have been a good ship, as the Liefde served until at least the end of 1653. The main battery of the Liefde consisted of 8pdr guns of about 2150 pounds. Presumably, these were iron guns. There were a small number of 3pdr guns of 714 or 744 pounds. The rest were 4pdr guns. There was one very light 4pdr of 413 pounds. Several more were of 1155-1175 pounds. The remainder were of about 1530 pounds.

The ship Sint Willeboort of the Hoorn Chamber of the VOC

One of the photographs that I have received this month is an inventory for the ship Sint Willeboort, a ship of the Hoorn Chamber of the VOC. The inventory is from about 21 June 1653, after the Battle of the Gabbard (or the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). The list of shot carried seems rather small in number:

100 18pdr shot
100 12pdr shot
 80  8pdr shot
 70  6pdr shot
100  4pdr shot
 40  3pdr shot

The Sint Willeboort carried 27 guns, ranging from 3pdr to 18pdr.

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.