The Zeeland warship Hollandia in early 1653

The Zeeland ship Hollandia had served as Johan Evertsen's flagship in the First Anglo-Dutch War, apparently up to and including the Three Days Battle (the Battle of Portland). I had long thought that the Hollandia was one of the 100 ships of 1652, but in fact, it was one of the 36 cruisers funded in 1651. The Hollandia is usually listed as carrying 38 guns. I have a gun inventory for the Hollandia in late March 1653 and at that date, the largest guns carried were 24 pounders. The Hollandia apparently had 2-36pdr guns replacing two others in the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). In late March, the Hollandia had 4-24pdr guns that weighed between 4159 and 4386 lbs. It also had four very light French 18dr guns weighing between 2356 and 2460 lbs. They were described as French half-cartouwen shooting 18 pound iron shot. The Hollandia also carried two 15pdr iron guns weighing 2733 and 2750 lbs. The listing does not give the material, but they probably were bronze, not iron and I would expect that they were chambered.

Resources for the Dutch navy in the First Anglo-Dutch War

My latest thinking on resources for the Dutch navy in the First Anglo-Dutch War is that none of the current published works really are adequate. For English speakers who want information about the orders of battle, ships, and captains, the only choice is The First Dutch War, published by the Navy Records Society "a long time ago". Everything else only deals with generalities. Michael Baumber's book General-at-Sea has a bit of detail, but not Dutch fleet lists. For that matter, the most detailed Dutch source, also very old, is Dr. Johan E. Elias's work Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen. There is some detail there, but mostly the book is a source for references to the archives. There also Dr. Ballhausen's book, Der Erste Englisch-Höllandische Seekrieg 1652-1654, which is in German. His lists are filled with errors, but his book is still valuable. He has many references into obscure published sources, although they need to be checked, as they may not always support his conclusions. For Dutch ship information, the only option in the published literature is A. Vreugdenhil's Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702. It is both incomplete and has many errors, sadly. Frankly, the best sources are all unpublished, at this point. Most are in the Nationaal Archief in The Hague, as well as the various municipal archives, the Zeeuws Archief in Zeeland, the Westfries Archief in Hoorn, and a few others. There are also the maritime-related museums, such as the Scheepvaart, which is currently closed for renovation. We can only hope that some new published sources will appear soon, even if they are in Dutch, so that everyone does not have to try to find the unpublished information for themselves.

The ship Maaght van Enkhuijsen (Maagd van Enkhuizen)

Cornelis Tromp commanded the Amsterdam ship Maagd van Enkhuizen in the Mediterranean in 1652. The document that I am looking at calls the ship the Maaght van Enkhuijsen. The dimensions shown here differ from what appears in Vreugdenhil's list:

The ship named the Maaght van Enkhuijsen
  commanded by Captain Cornelis Tromp

Length:     125ft
Beam:        29ft
Hold:        12ft
Deck Height:  6-3/4ft

34 guns: 18-12pdr, 4-8pdr, and 12-6pdr
Crew: 110 sailors and soldiers
in service from July 1651

The Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1642

I had forgotten that I had a list titled "Staet van Oorloge te Water voor den Jaere 1642". The first ship listed is the "the frigate named Dordrecht", commanded by Captain Dierck Gerretsz Verberch. The Dordrecht was built in 1639 and was 130 lasts in size. The 130 lasts must be calculated with the dimensions in Maas feet (106ft x 25ft x 10ft) rather than in Amsterdam feet (116ft x 27ft x 11ft). I say that because the last factor for the Amsterdam feet is 265, which is too large. The factor for Maas feet is 203.85, which is very reasonable. The Dordrecht carried 2-bronze 12pdr, 2-bronze 4pdr, 10-iron 8pdr, 8-iron 6pdr, and 6-iron 4pdr guns.

Vreugdenhil's list and ships sold in 1649

Vreugdenhil's list, published in 1938, gives the names of a number of ships as having been sold or discarded in 1649. One of these was named Neptunus (or Neptunis). Since the ship used by Michael De Ruyter as his flagship in the summer of 1652 was the Neptunus, that suggests that some or all of the ships listed may have re-entered service. The Neptunus that was commanded by Jan Pouwelszoon in 1652 and Adriaen Jansz den Gloeyenden Oven in May and June 1653 was in service as one of the 36 cruisers funded in 1651. I now suspect that these 36 ships were probably ones that had been sold after the peace treaty in 1648 and were repurchased, rather than having been in reserve and simply reactivated.

The ship Gouden Leeuwinne on 23 June 1653

At first, I did not identify the Gouden Leeuwinne, on 23 June 1653, as the ship formerly commanded by Johannes Regermorter. The listing for the ship originally had Claes Jansz Sanger written as the captain. This had a line through it and above that was written the name Adriaen Vermeulen. The list of guns is unique, in that eight different size guns are listed: bronze 24pdr, iron 12pdr, bronze 18pdr, iron 18pdr, bronze 12pdr klokwijs (chambered), iron 8pdr, iron 6pdr, and iron 3pdr guns. There was 3,000 lbs of gunpowder remaining after the Battle of the Gabbard.

The eight Zeeland convoyers funded in 1648

At the peace treaty in 1648 that ended the war of independence with Spain (as well as the thirty years war), Zeeland was given funding to provide eight convoyers of the 40 convoyers that were required. One list dated 28 November 1652, lists the eight ships:

Adm  Ship            Guns Captain
Z    Zeeuwsche Leeuw   27 Cornelis Evertsen de Oude
Z    Westcappel        28 Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge (formerly Adriaen Banckert)
Z    Amsterdam         32 Adriaen Kempen
Z    Middelburg        26 Claes Jansz Sanger
Z    Sandenburgh       24 Pieter Gorcum
Z    Wapen van Zeeland 34 Joost Willemsz Block
Z    Hasewint          28 Jacob Verhelle
Z    Jaeger, jacht     14 Adriaen Jansz Gloeijenden Oven

Information from Ron van Maanen

Ron van Maanen sent me some information from the Generaliteitsrekenkamer 1586-1799 nr.957 rekening 1652 admiralty Zeeland that he said that I could use on the blogs. This is the information about five ships, four of which served in De Ruyter's fleet in the Battle of Plymouth (Eendracht, Faeme, Liefdde, and Wapen van Sweden):

Captain Andries Fortuijn's ship, the Eendracht, was hired from Willem Bollare for a rate of 212 pond Vlaams 10 schellingen.

Captain Cornelis Loncke's ship, the Faeme, was hired from John Chevael and other owners for a monthly rate of 233 pond Vlaams, 6 schellingen, 8 grote Vlaams.

Captain Frans Mangelaer's ship, the Liefde, was hired from Jacob van Pantegem for four months for 766 pond Vlaams, 13 schellingen, 4 grote Vlaams.

Captain Dingeman Cats' ship Dolphijn was hired from Johan Gruterius, a merchant at Middelburg, for a monthly rate of 200 pond Vlaams.

Captain Jacob Sichels' ship, the Wapen van Sweden, was hired from Chrijstoffel Wouters for a monthly rate of 233 pond Vlaams, 6 schellingen 8 grote Vlaams.

Printing page images

One of the frustrating things is that the images that I have processed are quite readable, but with my favorite graphics program and my current Canon mult-function box, I can't get a print of comparable quality. For example, in the image of the page with information about Dutch captain Jan Sichelssen's ship Wapen van Sweden, I can see that the ship is just 95ft long, but I can't read that in the printed sheet. The Wapen van Sweden was part of Michiel de Ruyter's fleet at the Battle of Plymouth on 26 August 1652. By late in the year, the Wapen van Sweden had been discarded by the Admiralty of Zeeland.

The 2007 Weblog Awards

Kevin Alyward has opened nominations for the 2007 Weblog Awards.

Kevin is proprietor and founder of the Wizbang! blog.

VOC shps in the First Anglo-Dutch War, in 1652

In 1652, the Dutch East Indies company (the VOC) made four ships available for service with the fleet. Two were from the Amsterdam Chamber and two were from the Middelburg (Zeeland) Chamber. The Amsterdam ships were the Vogelstruis and the Vrede while the Zeeland ships were the Prins Willem and the Henriette Louise. The Amsterdam ships are thought to have been smaller, perhaps 155ft long, while the Zeeland ships may have been 170ft long. The Henriette Louise may have been smaller. The dimensions are in dispute, generally, as the Prins Willem has been thought to have been as long as 181ft, but I think that Ab Hoving, the ship model maker, disagrees with that figure.

Where was the 116ft ship Enkhuizen in 1652 and 1653?

Carl Stapel asked me if I knew what the 116ft ship Enkhuizen was doing from 1652 to 1653. The Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 lists the Enkhuizen with Dirk Gerritsz Pomp as captain. In the latter part of 1653, we think that he commanded a Noorderkwartier Directors' ship named Harderin, not the Enkhuizen. The 120ft Wapen van Enkhuizen had Gerrit Femssen as captain from 1652 to 1653. Ron van Maanen says that the Enkhuizen was also called the Maagd van Enkhuizen or Wapen van Enkhuizen and was lost in 1659, when the ship blew up in action. The problem is that all the sources are from 1654 and 1655. I don't know the answer.

Friesland ships

I continue to be interested in the way that Dutch ships were funded from 1648 and beyond. Nominally, there were 40 ships funded at the peace in 1648. By 1652, there are 36 ships listed on this one page that I have. For 1651, there are 37 ships listed, rather than the nominal 36 ships. Of these, for 1648, one was from the Admiralty of Friesland and two of the ships from 1651 were, as well. These ships must include the Breda, the Frisia, and the Westergo. I have not see which of these belongs to 1648 and which belong to 1651. I had long assumed that the Breda would have been funded in 1648, but that may not be correct.

Dr. Ballhausen's list for the Dutch at Dover on 29 May 1652

As you might expect, Dr. Ballhausen's list of Dutch captains at the Battle of Dover on 29 May 1652 has some errors. The surprise is that the list is in the "not that bad" category. He has listed most of the captains, although he has some, such as Reijnst Sevenhuijsen, who was not there. He omits other, such as Gijsbert Malcontent, who was there but is not included in Dr. Ballhausen's list in his book Der Erste Englisch-Höllandische Seekrieg 1652-1654, 1923. The text is better than the lists. R. C. Anderson, who criticized the English lists, praised Dr. Ballhausen's account of the First Anglo-Dutch War in the Mediterranean Sea.

Two very similar ships: the Hollandia and the Amsterdam

In 1652 and up to March 1653, Albert Claesz Graeff commanded the Amsterdam hired ship Hollandia. This was a ship with dimensions of 130ft x 29ft x 13ft. The ship carried 18-12pdr, 14-6pdr, and 2-4pdr guns in 1652. I realized the Sijmon van der Aeck's ship, the Amsterdam hired ship named Amsterdam was very similar. The dimensions were the same: 130ft x 29ft x 13ft. The Amsterdam was armed differently, however: 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 4-3pdr guns. The Hollandia seems to have been discarded after the Three Days Battle (the Battle of Portland). The Amsterdam served up to at least November 1653, although a different captain was in command after April 1653, Paulus Egbertsz Sonck. The Amsterdam was with Witte de With on the voyage to Norway from September to November 1653. These were originally both nominally 30 gun ships with a crew of 100 to 120 men.

As you can tell, writing has been impacted by other things

I have enough going on beyond my research and writing, that blogging has considerably slowed. I hope to be picking up the pace, eventually.

The fluit ship St. Jan Babtista

This Rotterdam list dated 7 March 1652 has a ship with a name spelled St. Jan Babtista. I would be surprised if this is the same ship that we see in the fishery protection squadron.

The fluit ship St. Jan Babtista (St. John the Baptist)

Dimensions in Maas feet:       113ft x     21-1/2ft x 11ft x 4-1/2ft
Dimensions in Amsterdam feet:  123ft-3in x 23ft-5in x 12ft x 4ft-10in

The Duintjes

On 24 August 1652, Witte de With had been anchored off the Duintjes in his flagship, the Prinses Louise (36 guns). He was called to a meeting with Lords and Councillors, where they had reviewed what ships might be available to be the nucleus of a new fleet under Witte de With's command. They decided that there were between 16 and 18 ships that might be quickly cleaned and readied where they lay. I was curious as to where the Duintjes were located. I found a nice map that shows that the Duintjes are across from Vlissingen (Flushing):

This area was used as a fleet anchorage during the Anglo-Dutch Wars.

The Wapen van Sweden

In one list, the captain of the Zeeland hired ship Wapen van Sweden is called Captain Jacob Zichels (I usually write his name as Sichelszoon or Sichelssen). This particular list seems to date from 13 November 1652.

This has been a bad week for blogging

Sadly, this week has been busy enough that I have had little time for blogging. I have some vague hopes that the situation will improve, at least eventually.

Many of the Dutch ships in service in mid-1653 were very ligthly armed

I have been studying the list of ships "at Vlissingen" after the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort) and I continued to be amazed at how many ships were lightly armed. Many ships were armed with 22 to 26 guns, and of those, only a few of 8 and 12pdr. For the Roskam (spelled Roscam in the document), there 4-12pdr and 2-8pdr, and the rest of the 24 guns were smaller. The Roscam was the ship commanded by Corstiaen Eldertszoon for most of the war. CORRECTION: I had thought that this was one of the ships wrecked or foundered in the storm off the Texel, but Carl Stapel points out that was not the case. Also, by September 1653, Jan Fransz Blom commanded the Roskam, not Corstiaen Eldertszoon. The Roskam arrived at the port of Rotterdam on 19 December 1653. By 8 January 1654, the Roskam was discarded and was transferred to the owners in Rotterdam. I believe that Corstiaen Eldertszoon was eventually appointed to command the Gorcum (or Gorinchem) after Willem Ariaensz Warmont was killed at the Battle of Scheveningen.

Lambert Bartelszoon's ship in 1652 and 1653

Lambert Bartelszoon commanded a ship named Eendracht that had been hired by the Admiralty of Zeeland in 1652. He spent much of the First Anglo-Dutch War with the main Dutch battlefleet, except for period during mid-1653, when he was engaged in warfare against English commerce. For a long time, when I saw the listing for his ship, with 18 guns and a crew of 100 men, I assumed that the 18 was a typographical error for 28. But no, that was not the case. He did command a lightly-armed frigate that would have been suitable as a scout. His ship was one of the 100 ships to be hired by the admiralties in 1652.

The hired ship Jonas in June 1653

One inventory that I have from 22 June 1653 is for the hired ship Jonas, commanded by Joris de Caullerij (made famous by a painting by Rembrandt van Rijn). The inventory is noteworthy for having a list of guns and their weights:

That inventory has gun weights (there are only 25 guns listed):

12pdr  3015 lbs
12pdr  2930 lbs

 8pdr  2320 lbs
 8pdr  2300 lbs
 8pdr  2220 lbs
 8pdr  2210 lbs

 6pdr  2560 lbs
 6pdr  2520 lbs
 6pdr  2400 lbs
 6pdr  2260 lbs
 6pdr  2240 lbs
 6pdr  2220 lbs
 6pdr  2190 lbs
 6pdr  2190 lbs
 6pdr  2140 lbs
 6pdr  2000 lbs
 6pdr  1900 lbs

 5pdr  1420 lbs
 5pdr  1410 lbs
 5pdr  1395 lbs
 5pdr  1385 lbs
 5pdr  1385 lbs
 5pdr  1365 lbs

 3pdr   730 lbs
 3pdr   720 lbs

The fireship Graaf Sonderlandt

The Graaf Sonderlandt was one of the fireships in service in 1652:

Admiralty of Amsterdam  

fireship Graf Sonderlandt  1652

Dimensions:  107ft x 23ft x 11ft x 5ft

1652  fireship  schipper Herries Janszoon
      crew: 18 men

The Noorderkwartier ship Roode Leeuw

In the summer and fall of 1652, Rens Sevenhuijsen commanded the Noorderkwartier hired ship Roode Leeuw (24 guns and a crew of about 85 men). David de Wildt's list of ships, dated 22 February 1652 gives the dimensions for a ship named Roode Leeuw: 126-1/2ft x 26-1/2ft x 13ft x 6-1/2ft. Some of the dimensions given in this list are either identical or very close to known dimensions for the ships mentioned, while in other cases, they are different. Because of that, we do not know if this is correct or not. I assume that the dimensions are at least plausible. We need to find the document for hiring the Roode Leeuw, and we may learn more. The Roode Leeuw was discarded by 4 November 1653. Perhaps this was one of the ships that received enough damage in the Battle of the Kentish Knock to be not worth repairing.

Are the Sint Michiel and the Engel Michiel the same ship?

I have some notes about what I have assumed is the same ship. In one case, Frederick Bogaart's ship is called the Engel Michiel and in another case, it is called the Sint Michiel. Is it, in fact, the same ship or two ships? These are my notes, so far:

A-Dir  Engel Michiel or Sint Michiel  1652

Dimensions:
22/02/1652  120ft x 27-1/2ft x 13ft x 6-1/2ft
27/03/1652  120ft x 27-3/4ft x 13ft x 6-3/4ft

Guns:
20/01/1653  10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, 2-3pdr

28/04/1652  The ship the Engel Michiel, of the Greenland trade, 
            arrived in the Texel
20/01/1653  The ship the St. Michiel, of the Greenland Company, was hired
31/05/1653  kapitein Frederick Bogaart, under Tromp's flag near Zeeland
20/06/1653  kapitein Frederick Bogaart, 
            Engel Michiel, with 28 guns and a crew of 110 men
            list of ships in service between 8 May and 20 June 1653

So, where did the Friesland ship Groningen come from?

The bottom line is that I have no definite information about the origins of the Frisian ship Groningen which fought in the Battle of the Sound in 1658 and that was captured by the English in 1665. Clearly, Dr. Weber and Vice-Admiral van Foreest thought that very likely, the Groningen was the ship listed in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 as having been purchased (in 1652?). Dr. Weber used the dimensions of that ship for those of the Groningen in the book about the Four Days' Battle. The Groenewald was a mystery ship, as there is no sign of the ship having served in the First Anglo-Dutch War, despite what Vreugdenhil wrote in his list. The ship Groenewold was ship number 122 in Vreugdenhil's list. The Groenewold is described as entering service in 1652 and last being mentioned in 1655. He gives the dimensions as 132-1/2ft x 31ft x 13ft and says that the Groenewold carried 44 guns. Vreugdenhil shows the Groningen as first appearing in 1658, in time for the Battle of the Sound.

The Middelburg Directors' ship Sint Laurens

The English captured the Middelburg Directors' ship Sint Laurens (30 guns) on 29 May 1652, the initial battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War. The Sint Laurens was commanded by kapitein Bastiaan Tuynemans. He and his luitenant were taken prisoner, along with the rest of the crew. I have not seen any solid information about the Sint Laurens, in what I have received from archives in the Netherlands. I assume, based on minimal informaition, that the Sint Laurens was similar to the Leeuwinne, Johannes van Regermorter's ship, which carried 30 guns and had a crew of 105 men. The Leeuwinne was also a Middelburg Directors' ship. The Leeuwinne was 120ft long, and I would guess that the Sint Laurens was, as well. I also assume that the Sint Laurens also had a crew of 105 men.

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Prinses Roijaal

When I saw the Prinses Roijaal in a list, with data, I couldn't think which ship it was. Then I remembered that this was the Amsterdam Directors' ship commanded by Maarten de Graaf. The Prinses Roijaal actually arrived in the Texel roads on 8 April 1652 and joined the fleet, under the flag of Maarten Tromp, on 16 May 1652. He fought in the Battle of Dover on 29 May 1652 that opened the First Anglo-Dutch War. He was in the van squadron, under the command of temporary Vice-Admiral Jan Thijssen. The Prinses Roijaal was one of at least six ships lost in the storm off the Shetlands in early August 1652. That incident temporarily cost Maarten Tromp his command of the fleet. He was commonly held responsible for the disaster. If you are not familiar with the Prinses Roijaal, the dimensions of the ship were 127ft x 27ft x 12-1/2ft x 6-3/4ft. The armament consisted of 12-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 6-6pdr, and 2-3pdr guns.

We owe a great debt to Ron van Maanen and his work

I have not said this enough, in the past. We owe a great debt to Ron van Maanen for his pioneering research about Dutch warships in the archives in the Netherlands. As I have pointed out previously, this is a page about his current work on a different topic. I had heard about Ron van Maanen's work in Jan Glete's book Navies and Nations. Ron had focused more on the ships themselves, which has been very useful and interesting to see. We have gone off in a different direction that depends on knowing about orders of battle, naval officers, and the naval administration, as well as the ships.

My information about the Amsterdam ship Utrecht in 1652 and 1653

This is still a work in progress, but perhaps what I have would be useful. This is what I have right now for the Amsterdam ship Utrecht, built in 1633 for the years 1652 and 1653. The Utrecht was in the Mediterranean Sea until after the Battle of Livorno in March 1653:

A  Utrecht or Uijtrecht  1633

Dimensions:
      1652  120ft x 28-3/4ft x 11-3/4ft x 6-3/4ft
27/03/1653  120ft x 27-1/2ft x 12ft x 6-3/4ft

Guns:
19/11/1652  18-12pdr, 12-6pdr
27/03/1653  18-12pdr, 12-6pdr, 2-4pdr

19/11/1652  the ship Uijtrecht, kapitein Roeteringh, 
            with 30 guns and a crew of 110 men
27/03/1653  the ship Uijtrecht, commanded by kapitein Jan Roeteringh, 
            armed with 32 guns and with a crew of 110 men and 20 musketeers

Sorry, I am binging on processing photographs

Once I figured out how to process photographs so that I could print them and so that they look more like the actual document, that has been addictive. I have been spending all my time doing that. I use 602Photo to do image adjustment and RGB color tuning. I also sometimes adjust the brightness and contrast. Then, I am using Paint to add the date that I received the photographs and the original file name. When there were two pages in one photograph, I create "a" and "b" copies, one for the left page and one for the right page. I use 602Photo to print on my Canon "all-in-one" box.

Image tuning photographs of documents

I have been pleasantly surprised at how effective image processing can be for making photographs of documents more readable. The best program in the 602Software suite, in my opinion, is 602Photo. I am using that to process copies of photographs from the Nationaal Archief, in The Hague. Right now, I am processing photographs of handwritten documents from 1652, all relating to the Dutch navy, fleet, ships, and naval officers. The photographs all have a green tinge, for some reason. I am cropping the black background, making them easier to print, doing "image tuning", and adjusting brightness and contrast. One new thing that I am doing is adjusting "color channels". I can make the pages in the image look more like the actual document. I have been helped by my visit to the Nationaal Archief, back on 8 May 2007 with Carl Stapel, where I was able to see and handle some of the actual pages.

Nico Brinck's Swedish 12pdr gun

One of the drawings that Nico Brinck sent me several years ago shows an iron Swedish 12pdr gun manufactured by Finspong. The gun had been purchased by the Admiraliteit van Friesland. The inside bore of the gun was 12cm or 4.7244 English inches. An Amsterdam inch is 283mm/ft divided into inches of 25.73mm. That is larger than the English inch of 25.4mm, so the bore in Amsterdam inches is 4.664in. The gun is 260cm long or 9ft-2in in Amsterdam feet. The length in English inches is 102.36 inches or 8ft-6.36 inches. The weight is 3208 lbs, compared to the 3480 lbs for the bronze 18pdr gun from 1632.

More ships from the list of 22 June 1653

These are more ships from the status list of ships, dated 22 June 1653:

No.83 Goes            kapitein Cornelis Cuiper              97 men  26 guns
No.84 Sint Joris      kapitein Jacob Wolfersen             100 men  23 guns
No.85 West Cappel     kapitein Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge   95 men  28 guns
No.86 Zee Ridder      kapitein Gillis Janssen              114 men  28 guns
No.87 Neptunus        kapitein Adriaen de Oven  taken by the English
No.88 Zeeuwsche Leeuw commandeur Cornelis Evertsen de Oude 127 men  28 guns

The ship Westfriesland on 22 June 1653

Hendrick Huyskens commanded the Amsterdam ship Westfriesland at the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. From the status list dated about 22 June 1653, we have some details about the ship (useful for wargamers and researchers):

No.10 (in the list) Westfriesland  kapitein Huijskens       110 men 28 guns

Length: 122ft      103 men actually on board
Beam:    28ft
Hold:    12ft
Above:    6-1/2ft

28 guns: 4-bronze 12pdr, 14-iron 8pdr, 4-bronze 6pdr, 
         2-iron 6pdr, 2-bronze 4pdr klokwijs (chambered),
         2-iron 3pdr guns

The Campen on 22 June 1653

The ship Campen fought in the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. We have some details about the ship from the status list compiled on 22 June:

No.21  Campen   Willem van Sanen (van der Zaan)  158 men   40 guns

Length: 133ft
Beam:    32ft
Above:    7ft

40 guns:  4 bronze 18pdr, 2-bronze 12pdr
          14 iron 12pdr  16 iron 6pdr, 
          4 bronze 6pdr klokwijs guns (chambered)

The Leiden on 22 June 1653

Hendrick Kroeger commanded the Amsterdam ship Leiden in the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. I have a page from the status list dating from 22 June that gives some details about the Leiden:

The ship Leiden, kapitein Hendrick Kroeger

Length: 118ft   Beam: 28-1/2ft  Height above hold: 6-1/2ft

The Leiden nominally had a crew of 107 men, but on 22 June
had 96 sailors and 14 soldiers

30 Guns:  
 6-12pdr 100 12pdr shot
18-8pdr  130  8pdr shot
 6-6pdr   no  6pdr shot

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Samson on 22 June 1653

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Samson, commanded by Cornelis de Groot, fought in the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. The status report on 22 June gave some details of the ship. The dimensions listed were 119ft x 28ft x 13ft x 6ft. The desired crew consisted of 110 men, but only 97 were on board on 22 June. the Samson carried 28 guns: 10-12pdr, 10-8pdr, 6-6pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. The ship had 2700 lbs of gunpowder on board.

Comparing the Prinses Louise and Leeuwarden

If you were really picky, you might want to haggle over some of the specifics of this analysis, but I think that overall, this comparison between the Prinses Louise, Witte de With's flagship from 1651 to 1652 and the Leewarden, his flagship in mid-1653, is reasonable. I compare dimensions, estimated displacement, estimated armament weight, and broadside weight:

                Prinses Louise      Leeuwarden
                Adm of Rotterdam    Adm of Amsterdam
                1646                1645

Crew            121 sailors         120 sailors
                41 soldiers         20 soldiers

Length          120ft               120ft
Beam            28ft-4in            29-3/4ft
Hold            12ft-6in            11-3/4ft
Ht betw decks   7ft-1in             6-3/4ft

Mean draft      12ft-4in            11ft-7in
(English feet)  

English Burden  365-17/29 tons      398 tons

Lasts           200 lasts           200 lasts

Displacement    523 tons            511 tons

Jan Glete's
Displacement    496.36 tons         487.61 tons

Broadside wt    214 lbs             182 lbs

Armament wt     44.34 tons (8.48%)  35.94 tons (7.03%)

The Prinses Louise was more heavily armed than the Leewarden, although I may overstate the armament weight, as at least some of Prinses Louise's guns were drakes or chambered.

Rif Winfield's book, The 50-Gun Ship is one of my favorite books

I wish that Rif Winfield was able to write more about ships dating from the 1640's and 1650's, as his book, The 50-Gun Ship, is excellent. The book is now about ten years old. He told me that no one writes about English ships prior to 1660, because no one knows where to look for the good information. Still, he has compiled some for ships from this period for his book. For example, he has the construction history and dimensions for the "early frigates" from 1635 to 1647. I am interested in the English ship history (not just the Dutch) from about 1487 up to about 1730. I have done a great deal of research in the past on this period, mostly from published sources, some modestly obscure. For example, I have my own copy of Charles Derrick's book Memoire of the Rise and Progress of the Royal Navy (London, 1806).

The Amsterdam ship Leeuwarden

Only after I received Witte de With's journals did I realize that he had used the Leeuwarden as his flagship in April and May 1653, including for the raid on Scarborough. The Leeuwarden was a 120ft ship, probably built in 1645. The Leeuwarden must have been a pretty good ship, as she was in service from 1645 until 1667. From 1666 to 1667, the Leeuwarden was charted to Denmark. By then, a ship of the Leeuwarden's size was less important in the Dutch service, as they were hurriedly building much larger ships. Govert Reael commanded the Leeuwarden through the First Anglo-Dutch War for the Admiralty of Amstedam. By June 1653, the crew nominally 158 men. The Leeuwarden was armed with equal numbers of 12pdr and 6pdr guns, with several 8pdr and 4-18pdr guns.

A page dated 28 July 1653 with notes at the bottom

A letter signed by "M.Harperts Tromp", dated 28 July 1653, has some interesting notes at the bottom. The notes titled "Of Zeeland" caught my eye:

Vice-Adm. Jan Evertsz.
the English prize captured (perhaps the Bonaventura)
van der Veer (perhaps the Wapen van der Veere)
the ship Nieuw Vlissingen
the Salamander

These were all ships that fought in the Battle of Scheveningen (or Ter Heide) on 10 August 1653.

Adriaan van den Bosch's ship in 1653

Adriaan van den Bosch (or Bos) commanded the Amsterdam hired ship Engel Gabriel in July and August 1653. Given that the armament was the same as that for the ship hired on 19 June 1652, I would say that this was the same ship (6-12pdr, 12-6pdr, 8-4pdr, and 2-3pdr). The Engel Gabriel was a 120ft ship.

The Engel Gabriel hired ship in July 1653

We think that the hired ship Engel Gabriel was in service in 1652, perhaps known as just the "Engel". I have seen the inventory made when the Engel Gabriel was hired in Amsterdam. Captain van den Bos (or Bosch) was commander of the Engel Gabriel in July 1653 and commanded the Engel Gabriel at the Battle of Scheveningen, as well. The Engel Gabriel had a nominal crew of 110 men, and these seem to have been actually on board. The armament consisted of 28 guns: 6-12pdr, 12-6pdr, 8-4pdr, and 2-3pdr guns.

A PhD thesis topic

When I had proposed this project, three or four years ago, Jan Glete and Frank Fox both encouraged me to pursue it. The idea sounds more like a PhD thesis topic than something suitable for a popular work. The idea is to do quantitative comparisons of the Dutch and English ships (and in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the French, as well) at each battle in the First, Second, and Third Anglo-Dutch War to see if there is a correlation between the winners of battle and having the aggregate greatest displacement of ships and the heaviest broadsides. I am also interested in the weight of guns carried versus the displacement of the ships, as a percentage. You actually need to estimate displacement, as "gross tonnage", as measured by the Dutch last or the English burden calculation is not a useful figure. You actually need to have some real indication of the size of a ship, in tons of 2,240 lbs. Since we have more information available about gun weights and guns carried for the Dutch, we are better able to do some of the these calculations. The English information for the First Anglo-Dutch War will have to be mostly estimated, but we can do better for the other two wars.

Noorderkwartier ships

I assume that Willem Ham's ship Sampson, a Noorderkwartier landsschip, was a 116ft ship. I could be wrong, but it seems likely. The Sampson was captured by the English on 22 July 1652, and was a sufficiently good ship that the English placed the Sampson in service in their navy under the same name and also carrying 26 guns. The Sampson served under the English flag until being sunk by gunfire at the Three Days Battle. The Sampson was the only English ship lost in the fight, being sunk on the first day.

I am less sure about Jan Warnaertsz Capelman's ship, the Alkmaar. The Alkmaar also was armed with 26 guns and was captured by the English in the Channel in Jun 1652. The Alkmaar was one of the 36 ships activated for service in late summer of 1651. This group of ships was intended for service in the Mediterranean against the North African pirates as well as increasing the Dutch readiness for a possible war with the English. The Alkmaar may have well been a 120ft ship, but could have also been a 116ft. All Noorderkwartier landschepen seem to have been either 116ft or 120ft long. The only exception was the 130ft Eendracht, armed with 40 or 41 guns which served in the Mediterranean Sea until after the Battle of Livorno in 1653.

Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier from late July 1652

This is the list of Noorderkwartier commanders and their ships from a list of ships with Tromp's fleet in late July 1652:

Admiralty ships of the Noorderkwartier

Captain                         Ship                  Guns
Schout-bij-Nacht Pieter Florisz Monnikendam           32
Pieter Allertsz                 Hoorn                 24
Cornelis Pietersz Taenman       Prins Maurits         28
Arent Dircksz                   Wapen van Monnikendam 24
Pieter Schellinger              Stad Medemblick       26
Gerrit Femmsz                   Wapen van Enkhuijsen  30
Gerrit Nobel                    Wapen van Alckmaer    28
Thijs Tijmensz Peerboom         Peereboom             24
Gerrit Munth                    Huijs van Nassau      28

The Amsterdam Directors' ships with Tromp's fleet in July 1652

The list of Amsterdam Directors' captains with Tromp's fleet in late July 1652 that I just received is mainly interesting for the spelling of captains' names, which I have reproduced exactly:

Captain                    Ship             Guns
Jan Meijkes                Alexander        28
Dirck Pater                Blauwe Arent     28
Mattheus Cornelisz         Sint Salvador    34
Jacob Swart                Faem             28
Abraham van Campen         Arke Troijane    28
Cornelis Jansz Poort       Croon Imperiael  34
Cornelis Jansz Brouwer     Valck            28
Marten de Graef            Prinses Roijael  28
Gerrit van Limmen          Neptunis         34
Cornelis Naeuoogh          Sint Matheeus    34
Nicolaes de With           Mauritius        34
Gerrit Schuijt             Rooseboom        28
Bastiaen Bardoel           Engel Gabriel    28
Cornelis van Houten        Witte Lam        28
Hector Bardesius           Gideon           34
Stoffel Juriaensz          Sint Francisco   28
Claes Bastieansz Jaersvelt Davidt en Goliat 34
Jacob Sijbertsz Spanheijm  Elias            34
Lambert Pietersz           Nassouw          34
Hendrick de Raedt          Swarte Leeuw     28
Sipke Fockes               Sint Maria       28 lying mastless in the Texel
Bruijn van Seelst          Groote Liefde    38
Fredrick de Coninck        Groote Vergulde Fortuijn  35
Fredrick Bogaert           Engel Michiel    28

Somewhat off topic: the harbor at Amsterdam in early May 2007

I was looking at my photographs from my trip to the Netherlands in early May 2007. This is a representative picture of the harbor, with a vessel under way.

More about the Hollandsche Tuin, thanks to Carl Stapel

Carl Stapel kindly supplied more information about the Noorderkwartier ship Hollandsche Tuin. He says that the Hollandsche Tuin was built in 1631 and was sold on 28 May 1654 at Enkhuizen. That differs from what Vreugdenhil said. Ron van Maanen apparently used Vreugdenhil's dates, given that he had not seen anything else.

The Hollandsche Tuin

Ron van Maanen says that the Noorderkwartier ship Hollandsche Tuin was actually built in 1632, but was mentioned for the first time in lists that we have in 1636. He says that the Hollandsche Tuin carried between 32 and 36 guns and had a crew of between 97 and 110 men. We know that Jan Adriaensz Backer commanded the Hollandsche Tuin from 2 March 1650 up to 9 June 1652, when the ship was unfit for service.

List of ammunition for the Admiralty of Rotterdam in early 1654

Another photograph that arrived today showed the ammunition available for the Admiralty of Rotterdam in early 1654:

70,000 lbs of gunpowder

  600 36 lb shot
 3000 24 lb shot
 4000 18 lb shot
  400 15 lb shot
12000 12 lb shot
 4000  8 lb shot
 6000  6 lb shot
 2000  5 lb shot
 2000  4 lb shot
 6000  1 lb shot

I believe that they fired a number of one pound shot from larger caliber guns, either for anti-personnel or anti-masts and rigging shooting.

New Friesland ships: the Westergo

On the 8th, I received a document that dates from early 1654 with dimensions of the new Friesland ships. Another of the entries is for the new ship Westergo, which was not as large as the biggest, the Oostergo:

the ship Westergo

Length:  134ft
Beam:     34ft
Hold:     14ft
Height 
between decks: 7-1/2ft

Crew: 170 sailors: 28 officers and 142 men
       30 land soldiers

I frequently get confused with what Ron van Maanen has

Ron van Maanen usually does not mention captains. Generally, all he has are listing for ships by name and admiralty (possibly Directors). I often see instances where, given that I cannot tell what the captain is meant to be, that he seems to have combined two or more ships into one entry. I would have said, from one notation in his Eenhoorn entry in the largest list, that he had seen the list that I just received of Noorderkwartier ships. He has the dimensions for the ship of 1625 (125ft length) that are in this list, and which I have seen no where else. He mentions a date, 20 February 1654, which seems plausible for this list. However, reducing my confidence in what he has, he includes the dimensions and completion date for the ship called Hoorn in this list I have (a 120ft ship).

The Rotterdam ship Dolphijn on 28 July 1652

The Dolphijn is another Rotterdam ship that is mentioned with differing dimensions at different times. I have this document dated 28 July 1652 that gives the dimensions in Maas feet as: 110ft x 25-1/2ft x 12-1/2ft and the armament as 28 guns. These differ from the dimensions published in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 and in Vreugdenhil's list. Since we are usually just interested in seeing dimensions in Amsterdam feet, let us convert (yet again) the dimensions: 120ft x 27ft-9in x 13ft-7in. The Dolphijn is unusual in having a larger hold depth than is normal for a Dutch warship of this size.

Some captains from a list in 1652

I find that lists are interesting for the little bits of information that can be gleaned, such as middle names or variations on men's names. For example, from a list dated 4 November 1652:

Captain                          Adm   Ship
Hendrick Jansz de Munnick        R     Holland      30 guns
Leendert Haexwandt               R     Utrecht      22 guns
Dirck Juijnbol                   R     Schiedam     30 guns
Dirck Vijgh                      R     Overijssel   22 guns
Ernestus de Barterij             R     Hollandia    24 guns
Corstiaen Eldertszoon            R     Roscam       26 guns
Marinus de Clercq                R     Sphera Mundi 26 guns
Corstiaen Corstiaensz de Munnick R-Dir Prins        38 guns

The Bataviawerf page on Michiel de Ruyter and the Zeven Provincien

The Bataviawerf site has a page about Michiel de Ruyter and the Zeven Provincien, his flagship during the critical battles during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars. There is an English version of the site that is less complete. They have a picture of Herbert Tomesen's model of the Zeven Provincien.

The Vrede and Vogelstruijs could have had the same dimensions

I was looking at the dimensions of the VOC ship Vrede that fought in the Battle of the Kentish Knock, commanded by Pieter Salomonszoon, and decided that I should check them against the dimensions of the Estrich (the name given to the Vogelstruijs by the English). I used my system for converting between Dutch and English dimensions:

Dutch     English

          Measured                    Calculated
Length    Length on keel              Length on keel

155ft     116ft                       116.54ft  (Dutch/1.33)

Beam      Beam outside the planking

38ft      36ft-3in                     33.63ft  (Dutch/1.13)

Hold      Depth in hold

19ft      17ft                         16.814ft (Dutch/1.13)

I believe that the answer is "yes". The beam issue just means that The planking on the Vogelstruijs was thinner than my system assumes. Herbert Tomesen, of Artitec expressed the opinion that the Vogelstruijs had the dimesions 160ft x 38ft x 18ft, as there was a charter like that for Amsterdam ships that had to get over the bar to enter Amsterdam.

The original plan for the 30 ships

The original plan for building 30 ships in 1652-1653 would have been much better than what was actually built. Inter-province politics eventually resulted in a much weaker building program. The original plan would have included:

Charters:  
150ft x 38ft x 15ft x 8ft 
140ft x 36ft x 14-1/2ft x 7-1/2ft
134ft x 34ft x 14ft x 7ft

   Charters:   150ft    140ft    134ft
Admiralty:

Rotterdam       1 ship   2 ships  2 ships

Amsterdam       2 ships  4 ships  4 ships

Zeeland         1 ship   2 ships  2 ships

Noorderkwartier 1 ship   2 ships  2 ships

Friesland       1 ship   2 ships  2 ships

Totals:         6 ships  12 ships 12 ships

This would have given the Dutch the equivalent of 6 English 2nd Rates, 12 English 3rd Rates, and 12 English 4th Rates. Eventually, they only built on 150ft ship among the first 30 ships.

I keep rethinking these issues, so I keep writing about them

My focus is on building a complete narrative of the ships, officers, and fleet in various operations in the First Anglo-Dutch War. My attention is constantly drawn to unresolved issues, so I keep rehashing them, hoping to gain fresh insights in the process. We are also looking for new information that may answer the questions. I don't care to kick back and wait for Carl Stapel or whomever to publish what they have. I want to know now, not later, and not from reading some book.

The Amsterdam ship Star or Morgenstar

We had seen a ship named Morgenstar mentioned as being in the Mediterranean Sea prior to the First Anglo-Dutch War. This seems to be the same ship called Star in 1652 and early 1653 and which was commanded by Jacob Pauwelsz Cort. This same ship, also called Morgenstar was commanded from May 1653 by Albert Claesz Graeff. He commanded the Morgenstar in the Battle of Scheveningen. One possibility is that they were different ships, but we think that they were the same ship. For one thing, you don't see the two ships in service with the fleet concurrently. Jacob Pauwelsz Cort eventually became Michiel De Ruyter's flag captain in the new ship Huis te Cruiningen, which had been purchased from Genoa while under construction.

Dutch arming plans from late 1653

One of the documents that I received yesterday, dating from late 1653, consists of arming plans for new ships:

Ship of dimensions 150ft x 39ft x 15ft with 58 guns:

Lower Deck:
 6-bronze 24pdr
20-iron 18pdr

Upper Deck:
10-bronze 12pdr
12-iron 12pdr
10-bronze 6pdr drakes

Ship of dimensions 140ft x 36ft x 14ft with 52 guns:

Lower Deck:
 4-bronze 24pdr
10-iron 18pdr
 8-bronze 12pdr

Upper Deck:
 6-bronze 12pdr
14-iron 12pdr
10-bronze 6pdr drakes

The definitive word on the Amsterdam Directors' ships lost off the Shetlands in early August 1652

Carl Stapel had told me about a letter that Gerrit Munt wrote, complaining about Tromp's leadership of the fleet, after the storm in the Shetlands in early August 1652. In that letter, he told of seeing some large Amsterdam Directors' ships capsize in the storm, if I understand correctly. In any case, in this one document telling the status of the original 24 Amsterdam Directors' ships, the four ships lost are mentioned:

Adm    Ship               Guns Crew Captain
A-Dir  Neptunis           36   125  Gerrit van Lummen (or Limmen)
A-Dir  Princes Roijael    28   110  Marten de Graeff
A-Dir  Sint Salvador      34   120  Mathijs Corneliszoon
A-Dir  Alexander          28   100  Jan Meijckes

The status document does not have the gun and crew figures. I supplied those from Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet.

Dutch Gun Weights

I am interested in comparing armament weights for different 120ft Dutch warships. The first step is to find what the representative gun weights were. In some cases, I may actually have the weights for interesting ships. This is a short list that I just compiled:

Gun Weights

12pdr guns

3850 lbs  iron
3220 lbs  iron
3200 lbs  iron
3160 lbs  iron
3120 lbs  iron
3015 lbs  iron
3005 lbs  iron
2980 lbs  iron
2940 lbs  iron
2930 lbs  iron
2920 lbs  iron
2909 lbs  iron

8pdr guns

2500 lbs  iron
2320 lbs  iron
2310 lbs  iron

6pdr guns

2560 lbs  iron
2520 lbs  iron
2400 lbs  iron
2300 lbs  iron
2260 lbs  iron
2240 lbs  iron
2220 lbs  iron
2210 lbs  iron
2200 lbs  iron
2190 lbs  iron
2140 lbs  iron
2100 lbs  iron
2000 lbs  iron
1930 lbs  iron
1900 lbs  iron
1820 lbs  iron
1590 lbs  iron
1550 lbs  iron
1525 lbs  iron
1515 lbs  iron
1490 lbs  iron
1485 lbs  iron

5pdr guns

1500 lbs  iron
1420 lbs  iron
1410 lbs  iron
1395 lbs  iron
1385 lbs  iron
1365 lbs  iron

4pdr guns

1295 lbs  iron
  840 lbs  bronze

3pdr guns

  965 lbs  iron
  950 lbs  iron
  895 lbs  iron
  730 lbs  iron
  720 lbs  iron

"The Sun and the Moon"

I received another Amsterdam ship list, this one dating from 15 November 1653. The arming schemes for the two ships, the Maen (Moon) and the Son (Sun) are interesting. The two ships have the same dimensions: 125ft x 31ft x 13ft x 7ft. The armaments are different. The Son has 22-12pdr and 10-8pdr guns while the Maen has 16-12pdr and 16-8pdr guns. The Son also has 4-6pdr guns, while the Maen has 4-4pdr guns. They both are also equipped with 4-18pdr guns.

The Rotterdam ship Klein Hollandia

The Rotterdam ship Klein Hollandia was sunk the opening action of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, when Robert Holmes attacked teh Smyrna convoy with a strong squadron. The real dimensions of the Klein Hollandia, according to Ron van Maanen, were somewhat different from the nominal dimensions published in Vreugdenhil's list: 133ft-10in x 32ft-5in x 13ft-3in x 6ft-9in. The armament at some point consisted of 3-24pdr, 21-18pdr, 8-12pdr, 4-8pdr, and 8-6pdr guns. The crew varied between 234 and 300 men. This is partly drawn from Ron van Maanen's document: "'Oorlogsschepen' van de admiraliteit van de Maze in de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw" (undated).

The Noorderkwartier ship Eenhoorn of 1625

I have learned that the hold depth for the Noorderkwartier ship Eenhoorn, built in 1625, was 11ft, not something greater. That means that for a size in lasts of 200 lasts, we have: 200 lasts = (125ft x 29ft x 11ft)/K. Solving for the factor K, we have K=199.375. That reinforces the case for the factor for the Brederode being 190.08, where we calculated using Maas feet of 308mm. The Eenhoorn, of course, has dimensions in Amsterdam feet of 283mm.

The frigate Overijssel in 1642

The Rotterdam frigate Overijssel was built in 1636, according to the page I reveinved recently. In 1642, the captain was Jan Jacobsz de Jonge Boer. The ship is stated to be 90 lasts. As I have written on 17th Century Naval Wargaming blog, I believe that is calculated from the dimensions in Maas feet (100ft x 23ft x 8ft) of 308mm. The armament in 1642 consisted of 22 guns: 2-12pdr, 6-8pdr, 4-6pdr, and 10-4pdr guns. For comparison, the armament in 1652 consisted of 22 guns: 4-24pdr, 2-12pdr, 4-8pdr, and 12-6pdr, a much heavier broadside weight.

The Rotterdam ship Dordrecht in 1642

The Rotterdam ship Dordrecht, which was captured by the English at the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War, was built in 1639. I have a page about the ship dating from 1642, when the Dordrecht was about 3 years old. In June 1652, the Dordrecht was commanded by Sier de Lieffde. The ship was about 115ft-7in x 27ft-3in x 10ft-10in. In 1652, the Dordrecht carried 6-bronze 12pdr, 12-iron 8pdr, and 8-iron 6pdr guns. In 1642, the ship was said to be of 130 lasts. if we do the lasts calculation that would mean: 130 lasts = (115.64 x 27.27 x 10.91) / K where K=264.65. The Dordrecht carried 28 guns in 1642: 2-bronze 12pdr, 10-iron 8pdr, 8-iron 6pdr, 2-bronze 4pdr, and 6-iron 4pdr guns. In 1652, the broadside weight was 128 lbs. In 1642, the broadside weight was 92 lbs.

An inventory for the Amsterdam Directors' ship Walvis

One document that I received yesterday was an inventory of the Amsterdam Directors' ship Walvis (or Walvisch) dating from 19 June 1653. This was soon after the Battle of the Gabbard (or the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort), which was fought on 12 and 13 June. These are some interesting (to me) bits from the inventory:

The ship Walvis

Guns:
10-iron 12pdr
 8-iron  8pdr
10-iron  6pdr
 2-iron  3pdr

2400 lbs of gunpowder on board

65 12 lbs shot
80  8 pdr shot
98  6pdr  shot

I am still puzzled by a 1653 Brak

Ron van Maanen, as I have mentioned, lists a yacht Brak, of the Admiralty of Amsterdam, with a date of 1653 that has somewhat different dimensions than the yacht that we know. The captain, on 1 April 1653, was Dirck Pietersse Berthiens. The dimensions that Ron gives are 115ft x 25ft x 9ft x 6ft. The armament is familiar: 4-8pdr, 12-4pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. The crew was anywhere from 70 to 90 men. The usual dimensions for the Brak are 115ft x 23ft x 10-1/2ft x 6ft. Ron also lists a set of dimensions for a Brak on 31 March 1665 of 116ft x 24ft.

Open issues about the Dutch in the First Anglo-Dutch War

Perhaps, if I had complete access to the information, I would not have these issues. But given what I actually have to study, there are some open issues about the Dutch navy in the First Anglo-Dutch War that I would like to resolve. Some things would disappear from my list, if I just had complete information that is known to exist. For example, any information about the Rotterdam Directors' ship Erasmus, lost in June 1652. The dimensions of the other Rotterdam Directors' ships (the two ships named St. Pieter, the Prins, the Hollandia, the Meerman, and the Jonas). I also lack information about most of the hired ships of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier and the Admiralty of Rotterdam. I lack information about the later ships hired by the Noorderkwartier Directors in 1653. All that should be largely resolvable. Other nagging issues are actual details about Abraham van der Hulsts' ship in 1652, up to August. His ship was named Overijssel, but we don't really know the dimensions and guns, for sure. Then there is "Captain Belevelt", mentioned in lists in September 1653. He was said to be a captain of the Admiralty of Friesland. Carl Stapel suggested that Belevelt was a corruption of Bulter, that it was actually Joost Bulter. Was his ship, the Stad Groeningen en Ommelanden actually in service as early as September 1652? If so, it was with 28 guns, not the later 36 or 38 guns.

The list of the crew for the ship Faem

One of the documents that I just received is a list of the crew, including sailors, soldiers, and boys (jongens) for the Amsterdam Directors' ship Faem, commanded by Jacob Cornelisz Swart. There were 89 sailors, 29 soldiers, and 6 boys. The soldiers were a particularly diverse lot: one from St. Malo, one from Finland, one from Hannover, one from Danzig, as well as men from more pedestrian places, such as serveral from Swol (Zwolle).

Ship characteristics in the Dutch building program in 1653

I was looking, again, at this page (22 February 1653) that gives some details of the ship designs for the 1653 building program:

130ft long, 32ft wide with 130 sailors and 20 soldiers
136ft long, 34ft wide with 145 sailors and 20 soldiers
140ft long, 36ft wide with 150 sailors and 25 soldiers
150ft long, 38ft wide with 200 sailors and 50 soldiers

There were nominally only three designs, but some 140ft long ships were built. They included the Amsterdam ship Amsterdam, except with a 34ft beam, and the Oosterwijk with a 35ft beam, and the Friesland ship Oostergoo, seemingly with a 40ft beam.

Carl Stapel on the 12 ships in Brazil

Carl Stapel says that because the Portuguese were stronger, the West Indies Company asked for more help. The Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier and the Admiralty of Zeeland both sent additional ships, bringing the total to 12 ships. Too bad that I can't name them and the captains. Carl says that two captains, Philips Schooneman of the Rotterdam Dolphijn and Floris van Oyen were buried at Recife in August 1651.

My best information on the ships in Brazil in 1651-1652

Carl Stapel says that there were 12 Dutch warships in Brazil from 1651 to 1652, but my best information says that there were ten. Until I have access to other information which explains the 12 figure, the ten still forms the basis for my list:

Ships in Brazil:

2 ships of the Admiralty of Rotterdam
4 ships of the Admiralty of Amsterdam
1 ship of the Admiralty of Zeeland
1 ship of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier
2 ships of the Admiralty of Friesland

The Dutch ships in Brazil in early 1652 (UPDATED)

We have the outline of Dutch ships that were in Brazil in early 1652. The question is, again, how many names we can supply (Carl Stapel corrected me on some of these, although I don't have it totally right, yet):

Rotterdam:
Nimwegen, 26 guns (kapitein Paulus van den Kerckhoff)
Dolphijn, 32 guns (kapitein Marinus de Clercq)

Amsterdam:
Gewapende Ruiter, 36 guns (kapitein Boetius Schaeff)
Aemilia, 28 guns (kapitein Floris van Oy)
Graaf Willem, 40 guns (kapitein Tas)
Westfriesland, 28 guns (kapitein Boonacker)

Zeeland:
a ship
Faam, 30 guns (?) (kapitein Cornelis Loncke)

Noorderkwartier:
Eenhoorn, 28 guns (kapitein Allert Jansz Tameszoon)
a second ship

Friesland:
Frisia, 28 guns (kapitein Tjaert de Groot)
Breda, 28

The captain of the Faem in 1652

I have a letter that confirms again that the captain of the Amsterdam Directors' ship Faem was Jacob Cornelisz Swart. He signed the letter with his middle name on "15 X 1652", where the "X" stood for the 10th month, October.

The "Oude Prins" (Prins Willem) shot carried on 22 June 1653

I happen to the the list of guns and the shot carried for the Amsterdam ship "Oude Prins" (the Prins Willem) on 22 June 1653:

12 lb shot    25 per gun
 8 lb shot    21 per gun
 6 lb shot    13 per gun
 5 lb shot    25 per gun
 3 lb shot    12 per gun

A little bit of trivia that wargamers might be able to use, if not historians.

So, what were the dimensions of the Beer?

The Rotterdam ship Beer, or Vergulde Beer, was hired at Amsterdam in 1652. The Beer was one of the 100 ships to be hired as part of the Extraordinary Equipage. There are at least two candidates in the list compiled by David de Wildt in February 1652. Carl Stapel reputedly knows the answer, but my guess is that the Beer was 120ft x 25-1/2ft x 11-1/2ft x 6ft. The Beer was very lightly armed, with 24 guns, consisting of 8pdr, 6pdr, 4pdr, and 3pdr guns. The Beer served until about May 1652. Her first commander, Jan de Haes, left to command the English prize, originally named Rosencrans and then renamed as Koning Karel, apparently.

David de Wildt's list from February 1652

Sadly, my impression is that David de Wildt's list, from February 1652, often has inaccurate dimensions for ships. This is a list of ships at Amsterdam that were thought to be candidates to hire for service in the impending war with England. Given my limited access to information from the Nationaal Archief, I often have to use the dimensions given in this list, despite the fact that they are not that reliable. Still, they are useful, when nothing else is available. The dimensions the list gives for the ship Sint Matheeus, subsequently hired for service by the Amsterdam Directors are 144ft x 36ft x 15ft x 7ft. The dimensions measured by the English were: 108ft long on the keel, 32ft wide outside the planking, and 15ft depth in hold, measured at the center, English-style. Let us look, again, at my estimation system, where the Dutch dimensions are in Amsterdam feet, divided into 11 inches:

LK * 1.33 = Dutch length overall
B * 1.13  = Dutch beam inside the planking
D * 1.13  = Dutch hold at deck side

108ft x 1.33 = 144ft (exactly right)
32ft x 1.13 =   36ft (exactly right)
15ft x 1.13 =   17ft (should be 15ft)

I would argue that the 144ft x 36ft dimensions are more plausible than the 140ft x 34ft usually listed in the Amsterdam Directors' lists.

English ships, estimated: ships named Defiance

I have this spreadsheet of English ships that is almost too wide to put on a single line per ship. I will try a different display strategy for ships named Defiance:

Ship: Defiance  LGD:  138ft LK*B*D:        471 tons   Built: Deptford DY
Date: 1590      LK:    92ft LK*B*D*4/3     628 tons   Fate: rebuilt in 1614
Guns: 45        Beam:  32ft (LK*B*B/2)/94  501 tons
                Depth: 16ft

Ship: Defiance  LGD:  121.25ft LK*B*D:        656 tons   Built: Woolwich DY
Date: 1615 RB   LK:    97ft    LK*B*D*4/3     875 tons   Fate:  sold in 1650
Guns: 40        Beam:  37ft    (LK*B*B/2)/94  706 tons
                Depth: 18.28ft

Guns for five new ships for the Admiralty of Zeeland

I have this page that totals up the guns required to arm five new ships for the Admiralty of Zeeland (being built in early 1653):

Bronze guns:
20 bronze German half cartouwen shooting 24 lbs shot
 4 bronze French half cartouwen shooting 18 lbs shot
26 bronze short half serpants shooting   12 lbs shot
 6 bronze half serpants shooting          6 lbs shot
24 bronze drakes shooting                 6 lbs shot

Iron guns:
42 iron half cartouwen shooting          18 lbs shot
72 iron sakers shooting                  12 lbs shot
 6 iron half sakers shooting              6 lbs shot

90 bronze guns and 120 iron guns

Jan Glete's approximation for displacement works pretty well

Jan Glete created an approximation for doing displacement calculations for sailing ships when he had little information. My assessment is that his formula works pretty well. Compare the results for the ship Den Briel. My calculations assume a block coefficient and use an estimated mean draft, beam outside the planking, and waterline length. I calculated a displacement of 669.1 tons for the Den Briel, completed in 1655. Jan Glete's approximation, also implemented by me, gives 639.1 tons. Given the uncertainties involved, that is pretty close agreement. His formula is metric, so I have a conversion factor. He uses the "lasts" figure in his calculation. This is my rendering of formula, for English dimensions:

   Displacement = Lasts x 2.5 x (39.37/12)^3/35

I use the figure 39.37 inches per meter. I divide that by 12 inches to the foot to get cubic feet. A ton of seawater is 35 cubic feet.

The Rotterdam ship Den Briel, calculated

The Rotterdam ship Den Briel was apparently completed in 1655, but not commissioned at the time, if I understand correctly. The ship was eventually placed in service, but the last we hear of Den Briel was in 1665. This is another ship where I have the dimensions in Maas feet and I have calculated the rest:

The ship Den Briel
Length in Maas feet:      117ft
Beam in Maas feet:         29-3/4ft
Hold in Maas feet:         12-1/6ft
Length in Amsterdam feet: 127ft-7in
Beam in Amsterdam feet:    32ft-5in
Hold in Amsterdam feet:    13ft-3in
Displacement:             669.1 tons
Broadside Wt (Est):       226 lbs
Armament (Est):  12-18pdr, 12-12pdr, 4-8pdr, 10-6pdr guns
Length on Waterline (English):   114ft-2in
Beam outside of planking (Engl):  31ft-5in
Mean draft (English):             13ft-1in
Size in Lasten:                  254 lasts
Displacement (Jan Glete's approximation): 639.1 tons
English length on keel:          96ft
English burden:                 503.3 tons

The ship Dordrecht in 1652, calculated

The Rotterdam ship Dordrecht was commanded by Sier de Lieffde in early 1652. The Dordrecht was in an English port at the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War and was made a prize by the English. I have done the calculations for the Dordrecht, which had a specification in Maas feet of 12 inches to the foot. These are the results:

The ship Dordrecht
commander: Sier de Lieffde

Length in Amsterdam feet:  115ft-7in
Beam in Amsterdam feet:     27ft-3in
Hold in Amsterdam feet:     10ft-10in
Est height between decks:    6ft-6in
Displacement:              421.5 tons
Broadside weight:          108 lbs
Guns:            6-12pdr, 12-8pdr, 8-6pdr
Length on waterline (English):      103ft-5in
Beam outside of planking (English):  26ft-6in
Mean Draft:                          10ft-9in
Size in Lasten:                     160 lasts
Jan Glete's approx. tonnage:        400 tons
English burden:                     325 tons

The Rotterdam ship Prinses Roijael Marie "calculated"

I thought it would be interesting to use my new spreadsheet to do the calculations for the Rotterdam ship Prinses Roijael Marie, built in 1643 and captured by the English in 1652. The ship served as the Princess Marie in the English navy, so the English dimensions might be of interest:

Prinses Roijael Marie
Built: 1643
Commander: Joost van Coulster

Length (Amsterdam feet): 124ft-4in
Beam (Amsterdam feet):    29ft-5in
Hold (Amsterdam feet):    13ft-1in
Est ht between decks:      6ft-6in
Displacement:            585.8 tons
Broadside weight:        184 lbs
Armament: 2-24pdr, 4-18pdr, 4-12pdr, 22-8pdr, 4-6pdr
Length on waterline(Engl ft):   111ft-2in
Length on waterline (Amst ft):  119ft-9in
Beam outside planking (Amst ft): 30ft-9in
Beam outside planking (Engl ft): 28ft-7in
Mean draft (English feet):        12ft-11in
Size in lasten (Dutch gross tonnage):  220.98 lasts
English burden (tons):                 406.83 tons
Jan Glete's approximation:             557.42 tons

A different list of Rotterdam ships in the Extraordinary Equipage

I have a document, a letter dated 28 July 1652 from Witte de With, that I received in early February 2007 that lists the Rotterdam ships that were funded by the 100 Ships of 1652 (the Extraordinary Equipage). This is interesting, because it is another list to compare to what we have seen from December 1652:

Adm Ship              Gun  Commander
R   Overijssel        22   Cornelis Engelen Silvergieter
R   Utrecht           22   Leendert Haexwant
R   Hollandia     24 or 26 Ernestus de Bertrij
R   Beer              24   Jan de Haes
R   Sphera Mundi      26   Reijnout Venhuijsen
R   Calmer Sleutel    24   Dirck Vijch
R   Maria             24   Quirijn van den Kerckhoff
R   Roscam            26   Christiaen Eldertszoon

Mike Kelley pointed out this site about the French frigate Hermione

Mike Kelley, on the AgeOfSail Yahoo Group, pointed out this site about a reconstruction of the French frigate Hermione: www.Hermione.com. A slight drawback is that the site is in French.

Names

There was a tendency in 1652 and 1653 to use the first and middle names, usually something like Hendrickszoon or Jacobszoon. One example was Corstiaen Corstiaenszoon, whose whole name was actually Corstiaen Corstiaensz de Munnick. In one letter that I received today, Abraham van Campen was called Abraham Hendricksz (his middle name, abbreviated the usual way). Another twist is that the captain of the Amsterdam Directors' ship Sint Matheeus in June 1653 was Cornelis Laurenszoon. I had thought that might have been Cornelis Naeuoogh's middle name, but that was apparently Jacobszoon.

"Good Lists" of Dutch ships

I was thinking that there were two good lists of Dutch ships from 1652 and 1653, but there are really more than that. The ones that I was thinking of were this really extraordinary list of Zeeland ships from December 1652 and then the list of ships from about June 23 1653, after the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort) from 12 to 13 June 1653. There are actually more than that. The list of Amsterdam ships that Jan Glete had sent me in August 2006 is really good, as it lists all ships hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam during early 1652. The list dates from September 1652, as best as I can tell. There are also other Amsterdam lists that have only gun lists, in some cases, and at least one other that has dimensions. There are many lists of Friesland ships that cover the Admiralty of Friesland and ships hired by Groningen that are usually considered as serving under the Admiralty of Friesland. The only Friesland ships not well covered in what I have are the two Harlingen Directors' ships, the Vergulde Pelicaen and the Sint Vincent. I actually may have the dimensions of the Sint Vincent. If I have the dimensions of the Pelicaen, I cannot tell, as there were too many ships named Pelicaen. We have pretty good coverage for the ships built for the Admiralty of Rotterdam (or the Maze), but the hired ships generally only have gun lists. We are lucky to have the gun lists for many of the Noorderkwartier ships, as they are the least well documented, at least the hired ships. We do have dimensions for many ships built as warships for the Noorderkwartier. In any case, there is a great deal more information available than has been published. I am not going to get into print any time soon, but there should be something soon in Dutch that represents the leading edge of research into Dutch ships and the fleet in 1652 to 1654.

A theory about names

I have a theory that the Wapen van der Veere (38 guns) and the Wapen van Zierickzee (34 guns) were not real ship names, but simply reflected the fact that the ships had been hired by the Directors of these places. They would not likely to have been the names of the ships before they had been hired in 1652. These two ships seem to be unique, as the other Directors' ships seem to have continued to use their names from before they were hired.

Rotterdam ships in 1652 and 1653

I have a good deal of information about ships hired by the Admiralty of Rotterdam and the Rotterdam Directors, but I only have partial information. I understand that complete information exists, but I don't know where it is, as it is "top secret, compartmented information", given that one or more publications are planned with that, and the author does not want to be "scooped" on the Internet. I am particularly interested in the Directors' ships and the Erasmus in particular. The Erasmus was commanded by Sijmon Cornelisz van der Meer and was sunk in the opening weeks of the war. I am not privy to any more information than that. I do have gun lists for most other ships, but lack dimensions for any of the hired ships.

A 415 pound drake from the Scottish wreck

This is a BBC article with photographs showing a 4pdr iron drake raised by Dr. Colin Martin and being preserved. The 415 pound gun was found in the wreck of a small ship, possibly named the Swan, off Duart Point in Scotland.

The 2004 and 2005 Reports are less definite about the Swan identification

Given my concerns, I was glad to see that the identification of the Scotland wreck from 1653 in the 2004 and 2005 reports was less definite. The report (this has the usual large PDF problems with loading, so you may not want to click on it) now says that the wreck is either the Swan or Speedwell, which really doesn't resolve my concerns. I am pretty uncertain that the Swan should be a candidate, given what I have seen. Hopefully, I just have not seen the right sources. I have to say that Colonel Lilburne's letter at least places some ship Swan off Duart Point and that the Swan mentioned there was stated to have been lost.

I am interested to see that the identification is understood to be an estimate, and that the wreck could be that of another ships. I shudder to think how many times I have made an estimate, based on analysis, which was later found to be wrong, once I learned more or was told information that invalidated my estimate. I rely upon the published literature to a great extent, more than can be justified.

The name Swan in the list of English captains from 1642 to 1660

The obvious next step in considering a ship named Swan that was lost in 1653 is to look in Anderson's booklet List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660. He lists the Royalist prize that was in service from 1645 to 1654. He also lists a fireship named Swan from 1643. There was also a Swan pinnace in service in 1643. In 1644, there was a hired merchant ship named Swan. None of these fit the profile of the ship wrecked in Scotland in 1653. The principals involved with investigating this wreck obviously have access to information beyond what I have seen. For example, the construction date of 1641 is no where to be seen in my sources.

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.