I am convinced that ship Huis van Nassau lost in Brazil was built to the 128ft charter

The ship Huis van Nassau was a Noorderkwartier 40-gun ship that was heavily damaged in Brazil, in an action against two Portuguese ships, where one captain caused his ship to explode rather than be captured in 1648. The other Portuguese ship was taken, so the captain was correct in thinking that his ship would be captured. He actually destroyed the 32-gun ship Utrecht and so heavily damaged the Huis van Nassau, that Witte de With decided that the ship was a constructive total loss. He took the crew off and abandoned the Huis van Nassau. The problem was that the ship was not as heavily damaged as seemed to be the case, and the Huis van Nassau sailed itself into a Portuguese port. The Portuguese repaired the ship and used it against the Dutch. From Dr. Elias's book De Vlootbouw in Nederland, it appears that the Huis van Nassau was almost certainly built to the 128ft charter, not to the smaller 125ft charter. The charter's dimensions were about 128ft x 31-1/2ft x 12ft. Sources:

1. Johan E. Elias, De Vlootbouw in Nederland 1596-1655, 1933
2. W. J. van Hoboken, Witte de With in Brazilië, 1955

The small VOC shp Anna or Sinte Anna

The small VOC jacht Anna or Sinte Anna is one of the ships for which Ron van Maanen has dimensions and a gun list:

The jacht Sinte Anna of the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC
  in service in 1665

Dimensions: 108ft x 26-1/2ft x 11-3/4ft

30 guns: 6-8pdr, 12-6pdr, 6-4pdr, 2-steenstukken
Crew: 80 men

Sources:

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 Ron van Maanen, unpublished manuscript "Dutch Warships 1600-1800", undated but circa 1992

I am sorry to say that I probably deleted a good email caught in the Gmail spam filter

Only after it was too late to stop the deletion, I realized that an email that was being deleted was good, not spam. This happens to me all the time, sadly. I try hard not to delete good mail, but when it ends up in the Gmail spam filter bucket, it often happens. I saw a subject in a mail being deleted that mentioned Sir William Temple, and realized that I had deleted something I wanted to read. If you sent me the mail, please resend it to me, and I will be watching for it and rescue it, if it ends up in the spam filter.

The Amsterdam ship Bommel had a better armament

Many of the ship in service for the Dutch during the first Anglo-Dutch War had a small number of 12pdr or larger guns and then more 8pdr with some 6pdr and smaller. The Amsterdam ship Bommel was the exception. The Bommel had a more modern armament, with a complete lower tier of 12pdr guns. The quarterdeck was armed with 4pdrs. This was a more uniform armament. Many other ships had mixed guns on the lower deck. Many of the Admiralties of Zeeland and the Noorderkwartier seemed to have been armed with whatever guns they could find, as they had perhaps six different shot sizes, ranging from 2pdr on up to a maximum of 24pdr guns.

Another ship from 1693: the Alkmaar

Ron van Maanen has information about another ship built in 1693. This was the Noorderkwartier ship Alkmaar, probably built at Hoorn. The Alkmaar was built to the charter for 70 gun ships of 15 February 1680. The Alkmaar's dimensions were 156ft x 41ft x 15ft, with a height between decks of 7-1/2ft. Ron has the keel length, which he says was 133-1/2ft. The armament consisted of 26-18pdr, 24-12pdr, 16-6pdr, and 4-4pdr guns. He says that the Alkmaar was also called the Poort van Alkmaar, and that the ship was considered to be a 2nd Rate. Sources:

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

The Noorderkwartier ship Arnhem, built in 1693

Ron van Maanen has the details of the Noorderkwartier ship Arnhem, built in 1693 and in service until about 1721. THere are conflicting notes, one that says that the ship was built at Enkhuizen and another that says that the ship was built at Hoorn. The dimensions were 145ft x 39-3/4ft x 15ft, with a height between decks of 7-1/4ft. The ship was built to the establishment for 64 guns from 15 February 1680. The guns carried on 3 July 1702 were 24-18pdr, 22-12pdr, 10-6pdr, 4-4pdr, and 4-3pdr. Sources:

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

I am photographing materials to carry with me

I made a major effort, this afternoon, to photograph materials to carry with me on a flash drive. This week, the 2GB flash drive on sale at the local OfficeMax was a Memorex "travel drive". In preceding weeks, it was Verbatim drives. The current sale price was higher, by about $5.00.

The Amsterdam ship Gelderland, built in 1683

Ron van Maanen has data for the Amsterdam ship Gelderland that was built at Amsterdam in 1683 by Jan van Rheenen:

The ship Gelderland, built in 1683

Dimensions: 156ft x 40ft x 15ft

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

Crew: 375 to 400 men

Sources:

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

The Stad Groningen en Ommelanden and the Sevenhuijsen are in an early December 1652 list

I have pages that give the dimensions and lists of guns for Friesland and Groningen ships dating from very early December 1652. There is a page for the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden that names the ship, as well having the dimensions and list of guns carried. The Sevenhuijsen page (which shows in a number of lists) lacks the ship name. A list dating from 28 November 1652 had mentioned a 36 gun ship, but lacked a name for the ship. That was not Hendrick Jansz Camp's ship, the Wapen van Nassau, but some other ship. The detailed list, with dimensions and gun lists, explains that entry in the summary list. That 36 gun ship was apparently the Sevenhuijsen, but was not ready for service, yet, and had not been christened Sevenhuijsen. The dimensions are correct, however, for that ship.

Yet another template switch

I had to switch templates again for the usual reason: the "pre" tags with long information were too wide for a layout with the sidebar on the right. This layout is more limited than I would like: I like more color, but this is what works.

Was the jacht Jager the ship that went to Brazil?

Ron van Maanen has information about the Amsterdam jacht Jager. I wondered if this was the Jager that was in Brazil and returned in June 1652. Ron says that the Jager was built in 1650 and was last mentioned in 1655. The dimensions were 70ft x 22ft x 11ft. The armament varied between 8 and 12 guns and the crew consisted of 40 men (at least nominally).

I hope you don't mind my major look change

I was forced to switch to a new style Blogger template, as I had stopped being able to fix the template that Violet had made for me, in the style of KentishKnock.com. I was sorry to have to do that, but when things get totally mashed, the way they had ended up recently, I thought it time to make the change.

The Rotterdam ship Kalmar Sleutel was one of the 36 ships of 1651

I was surprised to see that the Rotterdam ship Kalmar Sleutel was one of the 36 ships of 1651. Something like 35, 36 (the usually quoted number), or 37 ships were funded for service in 1651, as the threat of war seemed imminent. Ron van Maanen's list "Oorlogsschepen" van de admiraliteit van de Maze in de zeventiende en achttiende eeuw says that the ship was 20 years old in 1652, and was engaged in fishery protection, which we knew. From the 28 November 1652, we know that the Kalmar Sleutel (or Calmer Sleutel) was one of the "Hundred Ships" of 1652. The Kalmar Sleutel was included in David de Wildt's list of ships that seemed suitable for hire in February 1652, with the same dimensions seen elsewhere (102ft x 25ft x 11ft, with a height between decks of 6ft). The Kalmar Sleutel had been commanded by Dirck Vijgh, on 22 July 1652, when the ship was sunk in action with English frigates, while protecting the Dutch fishing fleet. We also know the list of guns: 8-8pdr, 6-6pdr, 6-4pdr, and 4-3pdr guns (from a list of ships of the admiraliteit van Rotterdam, dated 27 September 1652).

A ship named Hollandia, hired in 1642

The ship Hollandia, hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam, was one of the larger ships. Carl Stapel had sent me copies of pages with the data on these ships. These are the details for the Hollandia. This is one of the few ships that I know how the guns were arranged:

The ship Hollandia, hired in 1642

Length from stem to sternpost: 122ft
Beam:                           28-1/2ft
Hold:                           11-1/4ft
Height between decks:            6-1/2ft

28 guns: 
Lower tier: 2-bronze 12pdr, 14-iron 8pdr, 2-24pdr,
            2-iron 12pdr
Upper tier: 2-12pdr, 2-bronze 8pdr, 2-iron 3pdr

Digital cameras and copies of handwritten documents

I am in the process of photographing all the copies that I have from documents and papers from Jan Glete, the Nationaal Archief, Carl Stapel, and Eric Ruijssenaars (from the Nationaal Archief). One that that I have found is that copies are generally high resolution and contain information that is not visible when looking at the paper. I have a 6.2 megapixel camera, and photographs of copies have some interesting properties. I have copies of handwritten notes from Jan Glete that were done in pencil. I found that when I have a high resolution image that I can enhance the picture digitally, so that the missing pieces are visible. They were not totally missing, but were very light on the copy. There are also copies that I received from Carl Stapel that have dark spots on them. In this case, I can adjust the image so that I can read the writing obscured by the dark spot. The trick in both cases is to adjust both brightness and contrast. If I were using a different graphics editor, I would be able to adjust intensity, as well. For the copies of pencil notes, I reduce brightness and contrast.

The Sevenwolden-handwritten

I have a very poor copy of a document that seems to date from later in June 1652. The document is the one that is very similar to an English intelligence report published in The First Dutch War, Vol.V, from Thurloe. I took the captain's name and the ship name for the Zevenwolden. The spelling in 1652 was Sevenwolden. Frederick Stellingwerff was apparently a "commandeur" of the sort who was a luitenant in command of a ship. This is the image:

The ship is described as "The Seven Wolden"

The mysterious captain Belevelt

A list that I received yesterday, in the photographs that arrived by email, shows again a captain named Belevelt, among the captains of the Admiralty of Friesland. The list has the following information:

Admiralty ships from Friesland
                            Crew Guns
Captain Belevelt             
Captain Wichelma            108  29
Captain Degelcam             77  28 
Captain Adriaen Bruijnsvelt 103  28   

Witte de With's journal, dating from 17 September 1652 has the same figures as these. Carl Stapel wondered if Captain "Belevelt" might be some corruption of Joost Bulter's name, although I am less sure. The other ships are the Frisia, possibly the Gelderland, and the Breda.

A 31 gun armament for the ship Sint Maria

The classic armament listed for the Amsterdam Directors' ship Sint Maria, the ship commanded by Sipke Fockes in 1652, was 4-brass 12pdr of the state, 8-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 6-6pdr, and 2-3pdr. The 31 gun list adds 1 6pdr to reach five, some 4pdrs, and more 3pdrs to reach 31 guns. The crew in this entry was 102 men.

Jan Pouwelszoon's ship Neptunis in 1652

Jan Pouwelszoon commanded the ship Neptunis, of the Admiralty of Zeeland. I have a list that indicates that the Neptunis was one of the 36 ships funded for service in 1651, as tensions were increasing with England over trade. I had thought that I had seen in some published source that the Neptunis (or Neptunus) was a ship 120ft long, but I have a document that shows that the ship was just 110ft long and at one point had 26 guns. The guns included 2-18pdr and 4-12pdr, and then the rest were 6, 8, and 9pdrs. The broadside weight was quite light. This was Michiel De Ruyter's flagship at the Battle of Plymouth, in 1652.

Ron van Maanen's entry for Pieter Gorcum's ship Sandenburgh

I have a page that has good data for Pieter Gorcum's ship that I have seen called the Sandenburgh. The page that I have calls his ship a "Galias", as in the "Galias Sanderburgh". Ron van Maanen's entry for that ship calls it the "Zandberg". The "Zandberg" was said to have been in service from 1653 to 1654 and was captured by the English. The length is stated to be 100ft, which I know to be accurate. The "Zandberg" is described as being part of the "fishery patrol". In 1653, the "Zandberg" was 9 years old (so the ship would have been built in 1644). In a list that I have dated 28 November 1652, the Sanderburgh is described as one of the convoyers funded for service at the peace in 1648. Zeeland had eight ships that had been funded for service as convoyers, at least one of which were no longer in service by 28 November 1652 (the Hasewint, 28 guns).