More about the Prinses Roijael Maria from Carl Stapel

Carl Stapel passed on the following additional information about the Prinses Roijael Maria (which I have slightly edited):

The ship [Prinses Roijael Maria] was taken in June 1652 in an English harbor. Its captain was Joost van Colster son of captain Willem Joosten van Colster. Joost van Colster commanded the Gelderland in the relief squadron to Brazil with Witte de With.

According to the notaries, Joost van Colster left the navy in July 1652 and became a merchant...!

The Prinses Roijael Maria

By the early 1640's, the Aemilia was out of service, due in part to hard service in battle in 1639 and damage from a storm while carrying Queen Henrietta Marie from England to the Netherlands in February 1643. Many people wanted to repair the Aemilia, due in part to her significant role in greatly damaging the Spanish Armada of 1639. Jan Salomonszoon, the shipbuilder, preferred to build a new ship in her place. This eventually resulted in the construction of the Brederode, which in May 1645 became Witte de With's flagship. In the Aemilia's place, Tromp moved his flag to the new, but much smaller ship, the Prinses Roijael Maria. Her dimensions, in Amsterdam feet were 124ft x 29.5ft x 13ft. Dr. Elias says that she carried 32 guns in 1643. She carried 34 guns, in 1652, prior to her capture in port, by the English. Her lower tier were mainly 12pdr, while the Aemilia carried 36pdr, 24pdr, and 18pdr on the lower tier (4-36pdr, 11-24pr,12-18pdr, 21-12pdr, and 9-6pdr, altogether). The Prinses Roijael Maria was taken by the English at the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War, which caught some Dutch warships in English ports, where they were seized. The Prinses Roijael Maria eventually served as the Princess Maria in the English service.

By 1664, Amsterdam had discarded their aversion to large ships

By the time that the new construction program, prior to the Second Anglo-Dutch War, had commenced in 1664, Amsterdam had accepted that larger ships were necessary to be able to effectively fight the English. Their ships were often still armed with a mixed armament on the lower deck, due to their not having solved their gun supply problem. Frank Fox says that by the time of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch had acquired sufficient guns to be able to more heavily arm their ships. I do not have much information about this issue, but I do know that Michiel De Ruyter's flagship, the Zeven Provinciën, carried a complete lower tier of 36pdrs in the Third War.

Many of the ships in Witte de With's squadron that went to Brazil were gone before 1652

Witte de With's squadron that went to Brazil in late 1647 and early 1648 were gone before 1652:

Adm Ship Name      Guns  Initial Commander       Fate
M   Brederode        49  Witte Cornelisz de With Sunk in 1658 at Battle of the Sound
M   Gelderland       40  Joost van Coulster      Not mentioned after 1659
M   Dolphijn         32  Job Forant              Last mentioned in 1657
A   Huis van Nassau  40  Govert Forens           Damaged on 28 Sept 1648
                                                  captured by Portuguese
A   Haarlem          36  Matthijs Gillissen      Last mentioned in 1666
A   Utrecht          32  Jacob Paulusz Cort      Exploded on 28 Sept 1648
A   (Groot)Zutphen   30  Cornelis Toelast        Last mentioned in 1665
A   Overijssel       28  Dirck Crijnen Verveen   Sold upon return
N   Eendracht        41  Paulus Coolen           Burnt in action in 1676
N   Wapen van Nassau 38  Lieven de Zeeuw         Gone before 1652
N   Witte Eenhoorn   30  Jan Gijzen              Last mentioned in 1655
N   Koning David     34* Willem Claesz Ham       Gone before 1652
A   Gewapende Ruyter 36  Boetius Schaeff         In June 1652, captured by English

Of 13 ships, including the Portuguese prize, 5 were lost or gone before 1652. Several had long service, such as the Noorderkwartier ship Eendracht.

Ships needing repairs after the Battle of Portland in 1653

I have a number of documents dating from March 1653, following the Battle of Portland (or the Three Days' Battle, as the Dutch call it) that list ships that had been at the battle, had survived in the Dutch service, and now needed repairs. These are the ships mentioned:

Gidion
Elias
Burgh
Sint Maria
Lam

The ships named are all Directors' ships. They seem to have been ships hired by different Directors. The Lam reference could be one of two ships. One hired by the Middelburg Directors or one hired by the Amsterdam Directors. The Burgh is probably the Rotterdam Directors' ship. The three pages date from 11 March, 14 March, and 22 March 1653, and are from the Nationaal Archief. Rick van Velden found them for me in September 2003.

English Captain: John Blythe

John Blythe served in the Commonwealth navy. in 1654, he commanded the 5th Rate Recovery. In 1655, he commanded the prize Hound (36 guns). In 1656, he commanded the 6th Rate Martin (12 guns). From 1656 until 1657, he commanded the 4th Rate Dover (40 guns). Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964
2. R. C. Anderson, Lists of Men-of-War 1650-1700: Part I English Ships 1649-1702, 1966
3. William Laird Clowes, The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present, Vol.II, 1898

The list of ships at Vlissingen in July 1653: the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier

According to the list of ships at Vlissingen in July 1653, there were 10 ships in the service of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier at the Battle of the Gabbard. Number 65 was apparently Pieter Florissen's flagship, the Monnikendam (36 guns). Number 72 was captured by the English. This must be the Stad van Medemblick (26 guns, or perhaps 30 guns by 1653) commanded by Pieter Schellinger. This ship was one of the 36 cruisers funded in 1651 by the Staten Generaal.

East India Company ships from the Amsterdam Chamber in July 1653

The July 1653 list of ships includes three ships from the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC. One of them is listed as being unready. I believe that these are the ships in question:

Ship            Commander               Guns Crew Length  Beam Hold
Gerechtigheid   Evert Pietersz Swart
Mercurius       Pieter de Bitter        40   200  123ft   30ft 12ft
Huis van Nassau Jan Pietersz van Strijp

Another candidate is the Vrede (although she may have been purchased)

Vrede           Pieter Salomonszoon     40   200  131.5ft 32.5ft

I am not absolutely sure about the Huis van Nassau, so as usual, there is a great deal of uncertainty.

The Dolphijn in 1629 and in 1633

I have previously written about the Rotterdam ship Dolphijn in the year 1629. Four years later, she was still commanded by Willeboort Leendertszoon. In 1629, she carried the following guns:

2-brass half-cartouwen 24pdr
2-brass chambered 24pdr
2-brass 12pdr ("veltstucken")
8-iron 8pdr
4-iron 6pdr
2-iron 5pdr
2-iron 4pdr
5-steenstukken with 10 chambers

In 1633, she was armed with the following guns:

2-brass half-cartouwen 24pdr
2-brass chambered 24pdr
2-brass 12pdr
8-iron   8pdr
4-iron   6pdr
4-iron   5pdr
2-iorn   4pdr
5-steenstukken with 5 chambers

As you can see, the armament changed very little from 1629 to 1633. I had expected that there would be no change, but that is not the case. The 1633 information is from the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1633, while the 1629 information is from the Staet for 1629.

The mystery remains as to why Vreugdenhil missed so many ships from 1652 to 1653

I had only known that there were a large number of ships not mentioned in Vreugdenhil, from 1652 to 1653, from seeing the list translated and republished in The First Dutch War, Vol.I (from the Hollandsche Mercurius for 1652). From the published sources, there many ships for which I could not apply names. Only after Jan Glete sent me a copy of his notes and then Rick van Velden, at the Nationaal Archief found documents for me, was I able to give names to most of the ships in that list (from about June 1652). It is harder to understand, as Dr. Johan E. Elias, in Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen mentioned by name, and sometimes included the captain's name, for some of the ships in the service of the Amsterdam Directors. This was quite a bit before Vreugdenhil compiled his list. Dr. Ballhausen made no attempt, apparently, to use anything but published sources, so his book is even less useful, in that respect. Of course, Dr. Ballhausen did use some very obscure published sources, and he did supply names of ships and information not published elsewhere, except for the original source. Apparently, Vreugdenhil used Dr. Ballhausen's book for part of his list, although Vreugdenhil seems to have been savvier than Dr. Ballhausen.

More Directors' ships

This is somewhat redundant, but I have firmed up in my mind those who employed the ship Kameel, commanded by Joost Bulter. I will also list the Harlingen (Friesland) Directors' ships. One was apparently retired after the Battle of the Gabbard, and captains were changed.

Adm      Ship Name         Guns Crew  Commander
Gro-Dir  Kameel            42         Joost Bulter
Ha-Dir   Vergulde Pelicaen 28   100   Adriaan Heeres Cleyntien
Ha-Dir   Sint Vincent      28   105   Andries Douweszoon Pascaert

After the Battle of the Gabbard, Andries Douwesz Pascaert was dismissed from the service. Adriaan Heeres Cleyntien commanded the Sint Vincent until her loss in the storm in early November 1653. Joost Bulter's ship, of course, was sunk at the Battle of the Gabbard, by gunfire. Joost Bulter was killed in the battle. The July 1653 list of ships at Vlissingen (and Goeree and the Texel) indicates that the Kameel was a ship in the service of the Admiralty of Friesland, but that seems to be not the case. Also note that most sources don't list the guns or armament of the Sint Vincent. The Vergulde Pelicaen is not mentioned by name in any published source. A handwritten list from September 1652 supplies the names and captains of both Harlingen Directors' ships. Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet supplies the guns and crew information. We were able to confirm Dr. Ballhausen's giving 42 guns as the Kameel's armament, as I have Richard Badiley's biography, where that information is listed.

New construction in Zeeland between 1653 and July 1654

As part of the new construction program initiated during the First Anglo-Dutch War, seven new ships had come into service with the Admiralty of Zeeland between 1653 and July 1654. I have based this list upon the appendix in Vol.I of J. C. De Jonge's book, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen. This is the list, with ship names applied, based on the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654:

Ship name            Guns Crew Length Beam Hold  Commander
Zeelandia              50  95  136    34   13.75 Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge
Utrecht                40  95  134    33   13.5 
Vlissingen             40  95  130    34   13.5  Frans Mangelaer
Middelburg             40  90  130    34   13.5  Cornelis Evertsen de Oude
Kampveere              40  90  130    34   13.5  Pieter Gorcum
Dordrecht              40  90  130    34   13.5

Sources:

1. H.A. van Foreest and R.E.J. Weber, De Vierdaagse Zeeslag 11-14 Juni 1666, 1984
2. J. C. De Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, Vol.I, 1858
3. Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654, 1654
4. A. Vreugdenhil, Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702, 1938

English Captain: Daniel Baker

Daniel Baker served in the Commonwealth navy. In 1656, he commanded the Hopewell pink (20 guns). From 1656 until 1657, he commanded the Lizard (20 guns), a Royalist prize. Sadly, neither the ships nor Daniel Baker are otherwise mentioned in sources available to me. Sources:

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

I appears that I have solved the cross browser issues in this blog

I have been particularly unhappy with how this blog appeared in Internet Explorer. Even in Firefox, there were "issues". I seem to have solved them. The only question is how the blog would appear on a lower resolution display. I was forced to do some "absolute positioning" with CSS to get an acceptable appearance.

The Noorderkwartier ships from the July 1654 list

De Jonge has a list in an appendix to Vol.I of his six volume work that lists Dutch ships in service in 1654. This list seems closely aligned with the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654, dated in July 1654. There is some additional information in De Jonge's list, as he supplies lengths for some Zeeland ships beyond what I found in my copies of the Staet. I thought it must be useful to try and fill in parts of the list with actual names (De Jonge omitted ship names). Here is my attempt for the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier:

Jozua                  50  95  136 34   14 
Gelderland             50  95  136 34   14

Drie Helden Davids     46  90  130 34   13.5
Caleb                  46  90  130 32.5 12.5
Jupiter                46  90  130 32   12 

Eendracht              41  90  130 32   12

Monnikendam            38  80  120 28.5 11 

Alckmaer               32  90  130 32   12   Reynst Cornelisz Sevenhuysen

Wapen van Enkhuijsen   34  80              
Eenhoorn               30  80  125 29        Jan Jansz Heck
Enkhuijsen             30  80  116 26.5 10   Claes Backer

Casteel van Medemblick 28  80  120 27   11   Adriaan Houttuijn
Enkhuijsen             28  80  116 26.5 10   Dirck Gerritsz Pomp
Jonge Prins            28  80  120 28   11.5 Cornelis Barendsz Slordt
Wapen van Monnikendam  28  75  116 26.5 10   Arent Dirckszoon
Prinses Roijael        26  75  125 30   11.5 Captain (Willem?) Ham
Hoorn                  26  75  116 26.5 10 

Sources:

1. James C. Bender, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Ships 1600-1700", 2005
2. J. C. De Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, Vol.I, 1858
3. Staet van Oorlogh te Water for the year 1654, 1654

Cafe Press has the canvas bags in stock

I have been waiting for this: Cafe Press has the canvas bags in stock. My wife likes the Brederode "photo", in particular:

The nine Zeeland Directors' ships

Zeeland as allocated nine ships from the 50 Directors' ships funded in 1652. Again, we have a list of nine ships from the Hollandsche Mercurius list, reprinted in The First Dutch War, Vol.I and also from Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet. This is the list:

kapitein Jan le Sage                Mi-Dir Vergulde Haan   30 105
kapitein Jacob Adriaansz Penssen    Mi-Dir Gouden Leeuw    30 110
kapitein Johannes van Regermorter   Mi-Dir ?               30 105
kapitein Bastiaan Tuynemans         Mi-Dir Sint Laurens    30 105*
kapitein Jan Thyssen                Vl-Dir Witte Lam       32 110
kapitein Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge Vl-Dir Vlissingen      26 110
kapitein Allert Janszoon            Vl-Dir Dubbele Arend   28 110
kapitein Cornelis Rocusensz Fincen  Zi-Dir Liefde          34 110
kapitein Jan Olivierszoon           Ve-Dir Wapen ter Veere 38 125

The Sint Laurens was captured by the English on 29 May 1652, in the opening battle of the war, near Dover and the Downs. The issues again revolve around the existence of at least one other ship that was known to be Zeeland Directors' ships. By July 1652, Leendert den Haen commanded the Haes in 't Veld (30 guns and a crew of 108 ships). This ship seems to have been the one later commanded by Bastiaan Centsen. The exact timing is unclear, but by the Battle of Dungeness, Bastiaan Centsen was captain of the Haes in 't Veld. He took the English ship Hercules after the battle.

Carl Stapel has a really good list of Dutch ships in service before the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War

Carl Stapel shared with me his list of Dutch ships in service before the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War. Right now, the list primarily covers Directors' ships. His list for the Rotterdam or Maze Directors is quite good:

Adm   Ship name    Guns Crew Commander
M-Dir Burcht         28 105  Adriaen de Zeeuw 
M-Dir Jonas          36 125  Johan de Lieffde  
M-Dir Meerman        30 120  Jacob Cleijdijck 
M-Dir Prins                  Symon Cornelisz van der Meer 
M-Dir Prins te Paard 38 110  Corstiaen Corstiaenszoon   
M-Dir Sint Andries   26 105  Ruth Jacobsz Buys    
M-Dir Sint Pieter    29 110  Isaac de Jongh

I thought that his information for Adriaen de Zeeuw makes a good deal of sense. I suspect that his name for Ruth Jacobsz Buys' ship is derived from me, and that I had just made an estimate, so I would like to find more information to have more confidence in the name of his ship. In any case, I am going forward with the information from Carl's list as my "current working assumption".

Known war losses from the first 24 Amsterdam Directors' ships

Of the first 24 ships hired by the Amsterdam Directors in early March 1652, none were lost during 1652, except for the Prins Maurits. That changed in 1653. These are the ships that were lost and their fate. I have only listed the original captain:

Captain                 Ship           Guns Fate
Abraham van Kampen      Arke Troijnane  28  Sunk at the Battle of Portland
Cornelis Jansz Poort    Kroon Imperiael 34  Sunk at the Battle of Portland
Nicolaes de With        Prins Maurits   34  Wrecked in November 1652
Bartholmeus Rietbeeck   Rooseboom       28  Captured at the Battle of the Gabbard
Stoffel Juriaenszoon    Sint Francisco  28  Captured at the Battle of Portland
Jacob Syverstz Spanheym Elias           34  Captured at the Battle of the Gabbard
Bruyn van Seelst        Groote Liefde   38  Captured at the Battle of Portland

Several of the captured ships saw long service in the English navy, such as the Groote Liefde, which was recaptured by the Dutch at the Battle of Lowestoft, in June 1665.

Amsterdam hired ships in March 1653

From my list of ships in service with the Dutch fleet in March 1653, there are the Amsterdam hired ships:

Hired ships

Rank      Name                    Adm/Dir guns Sailors Soldiers Ship
kapitein  Willem van Nieuhoff     A       40   130     20       Aertsengel Michiel
kapitein  Lucas Albertssen?       A       36   130     20       Drie Coningen
kapitein  Adriaan van den Bosch   A       36   130     20       Engel Gabriel
kapitein  Evert Anthonissen       A       32   130     20       Hollandia
kapitein  Albert Claesz de Graeff A       32   100     20       Hollandia            
kapitein  Jacob Troncquois        A       30   100     20       Omlandia             
kapitein  Sijmon van der Aeck?    A       30   100     20       Amsterdam            
kapitein  Jacob Schellinger       A       28   100     20       Venetia              
kapitein  Jacob Janssen Roocher   A       28   100     20       Julius Caesar        
kapitein  Cornelis Janszoon       A       28   100     20       Jupiter              
kapitein  Hendrick Govertszoon    A       28   100     20       Star                 
kapitein  Pieter Tuenisz Bontebotter A    28   100     20       Zwarten Arend        
kapitein  Pieter van Breen        A       28   100     20       Sint Pieter          
kapitein  Sijbrant Jansz Mol      A       28   100     20       Witte Olifant        
kapitein  Meijndert Theunisz OosterwoutA  28   100     20       Salomons Ordeel      
kapitein  Adriaan Rodenhaes       A       28   100     20       Rodenhaes            
kapitein  Pieter Jansz de Vries   A       28   100     20       Suzanna              
kapitein  Harman Sonne            A       28   100     20       Madonna della Vigna  
kapitein  Jan Boermans            A       28   100     20       Prins Willem         
kapitein  Cornelis van Velsen     A       28   100     20       Gelderland           
kapitein  Adriaan van Loenen      A       28   100     20       Goude Reael          
kapitein  Jan ter Stegen          A       28   100     20       Prinses Aemilia      
?         ?                       A       28   100     20       Hoop                 
?         ?                       A       28   100     20       Engel                
kapitein  Hendrik Adriaanszoon    A       26    90     20       Sampson              
?         ?                       A       24    80     20       Goude Leeuw          
?         ?                       A       24    80     20       Patientia            
?         ?                       A       24    80     20       Keyser               
?         ?                       A       24    80     20       Hoop                 
kapitein  Hillebrant Jeroenszoon  A       24    80     20       Hollandsche Tuin     
kapitein  Dirk Pietersz Heertjens A       18    70     15       Windhond             

The ships with unknown captains were paid off sometime before this, or around this time and their captains were reassigned to replace captains who were dismissed from the service. A feature of this list is that there seems to be no room for a mystery ship, such as that commanded by Abraham van der Hulst in 1652 (a ship of 26 guns). That was why it seemed that he might have commanded the Sampson (26 guns), later commanded by Hendrick Adriaanszoon. Another question is if the Hoop (28 guns) listed here was the ship commanded by Boëtius Schaeff at the Battle of the Gabbard, when he was killed.