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Sunday, June 05, 2011

The forty convoyers of 1648

After the peace treaty in 1648 that ended both the Thirty Years War and the Dutch war of independence, funding was voted to provide for forty ship, which were characterized as convoyers. I have not seen the original list of ships. All I have are several competing lists from late 1652. One of those lists, dated 28 November 1652 shows the ships as follows:
Adm  Ship                  Commander                             Guns
R    Gorcum                Capt. Willem Adriaensen Warmont       30
R    Rotterdam             Capt. Jan Aertsen Verhaeff            30
R    Schiedam              Capt. Dirck Juijnbol                  30
 (or Gelderland)
R    Gelderland            Capt. Aert Jansen van Nes             24
R    Maeght Dordrecht      Capt. Sier de Liefde                  26
R    Nimmegen              Capt. Paulus van Kerckhoff            26
A    Vrijheid              Capt. Augustinnus Balck               46
A    Aertsengel Michael    Capt. Willem Nieuhoff                 40
A    Utrecht               Capt. Jan Roeteringh                  30
A    Campen                Capt. Joris van Zaan                  40
A    Zeelandia             Lt.-Capt. Claes Marrevelt             34
A    Hollandia             Capt. Evert Anthonissen               32
A    Zutphen               Capt. Ewout Jeroensen,                28
                             Lt. Joris Jansen Block
A    Phesant               Capt. Jan Jansz Lapper                28
A    Bommel                Capt. Pieter van Brakel               30
A    Groningen             Capt. Abraham van der Hulst           40
A    Graaf Willem          Capt. Jan Gideonsz Verburgh           40
A    Brack, jacht          Capt. Pieter van Zalingen             18
A    Engel                 Capt. Maerten Schaeff                 26
A    Omlandia              Capt. Jacob Troncquois,               30
                             Capt. Boetius Schaeff
A    Middelburg            Capt. Jeroen Adelaer                  26
Z    Zeeuwsche Leeuw       Capt. Cornelis Evertsen de Oude       27
Z    Westcappel            Capt. Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge      28
Z    Amsterdam             Capt. Adriaen Kempen                  32
Z    galias Middelburg     Capt. Claes Jansen Sanger             26
Z    galias Sandenburgh    Capt. Pieter Gorcum                   24
Z    Wapen van Zeeland     Capt. Joris Willemsz Blocq            34
Z    Hasewint              Capt. Jacob Verhelle                  28
Z    Jager, jacht          Capt. Adriaen Jansen Gloeijenden Oven 14
N    Hoorn                 Capt. Pieter Aldertsz                 32
N    Prins Maurits         Capt. Cornelis Taenman                28
N    Wapen van Monnikendam Capt. Arent Dircksen                  24
N   Casteel van Medemblick Capt. Gabriel Theunissen              26
N    Wapen van Alkmaar     Capt. Gerrit Nobel                    24
N    Sampson               Capt. Willem Ham                      26
We don't have a source that shows how the ships of the Admiralty of Friesland were divided between convoyers, cruiser, and ships of the Extraordinary Equipage. We can pretty easily guess the ships in the latter category, but not the first two.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Ships in Tromp's squadron on 15 September 1639

Dr. De Boer's book, Tromp en de Armada van 1639, gives Tromp's squadron. I have supplied the missing details:

Adm Ship Guns Crew Commander R Aemilia 57 240 Lt-Adm Tromp R Gelderland 34 120 Willem van Colster A Frederik Hendrik 36 120 Pieter Pietersz de Wint N Sampson 32 120 Claes Cornelisz Ham N Hollandsche Tuin 32 120 Lambert Ijsbrantsz Halffhoorn A Deventer 28 110 Robbert Post A Omlandia 28 80 Jan Gerbrandsz Z Veere 32 110 Cornelis Ringelsz WIC Salamander 40 110 Laurens Pietersz Bachuysen N Groote Christoffel 28 90 Frederik Pietersz F Gideon 24 100 Hendrik Jansz Camp Z Meerminne 28 105 Jan Paulusz on the ship of Jan Jacobsz Vlieger

Monday, July 19, 2010

The Sao Bartholomeu, captured by the Dutch

Does anyone have the dimensions for the ship Sao Bartholomeu, captured by the Dutch in Brazil? There is a question about the fate of this ship after being intercepted by the English while returning from Brazil in 1652.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The Noorderkwartier ship Sampson

The Noorderkwartier ship Sampson was one of the ships captured by the English on 22 July 1652. The Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1629 said that the Sampson was 220 lasts, but then it also said the the Eenhoorn was 220 lasts. Since we know the exact dimensions for the Eenhoorn, built in 1623 or 1625, we know that the ship was actually 200 lasts. Perhaps the Sampson was also a ship of dimensions 125ft x 29ft x 11-1/2ft x 6-3/4ft, which were the Eenhoorn's dimensions.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

The Dutch navy in the First Anglo-Dutch War: what we know and sources

When we look at the period of the First Anglo-Dutch War, we can divide up war into segments of time, based on our knowledge and sources. We can characterize the sources as being from the Nationaal Archief, in The Hague, from Notary Archives from the cities, and more obscure sources such as the Riksarkivet in Stockholm. From February 1652 until August 1652, our knowledge is very incomplete. We have fairly good information from this period about ships hired by the Directors of Amsterdam. We also have good information about ships of the Admiralty of Rotterdam (or the Maze). We have some lists, but little actual ship data from this period. From September 1652 until December 1652, we have better ship data for the Admiralty of Amsterdam, the Admiralty of Zeeland, and the Admiralty of Friesland. We have poor information from this period about the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier and the various directors other than Amsterdam. We also do not have much information about the VOC ships employed from July to October 1652. Given that the Vogelstruis served from at least July to February 28, 1653, we have very little information (which seems rather surprising). The period of January 1653 to April 1653 is the least documented period of the war. While we have some information from this period, we really do not have the fundamentals: fleet lists and ship data for the majority of the navy. From April until November 1653, we have much more complete information, although still with gaps. It will take some revelations about obscure sources and privately held papers to change the situation. We can speculate that there is more (and we know this to be true) that is known but is being closely held for now. I would be happy to buy other authors' books, if I can find out the sources that they used. I like having photographs of the original documents, not just information about what was found.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Guns from October 1639

One page that I received recently has a gun inventory for one ship and some other gun weights:
Bronze guns

5pdr   1780 lbs
5pdr   1787 lbs
7pdr   2700 lbs
7pdr   2400 lbs

Spanish guns
7pdr   2521 lbs
7pdr   2545 lbs
7pdr   2687 lbs
7pdr   2520 lbs
5pdr   1868 lbs
5pdr   1810 lbs

Iron Gotelingen

6pdr   2040 lbs
6pdr   1980 lbs
6pdr   2220 lbs
6pdr   2270 lbs
6pdr   2910 lbs
4pdr   1770 lbs

These date from early October 1639

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Continued Vreugdenhil commentary: 28-31

This is a continuation of what I started on the other blog:
    Name                  Guns   Adty.       Date   Length   Beam     Depth
28. Griffioen             26*    Z           1620   112*     27*      10.5*
                             the ship commanded by Cornelis Loncke in 1649.
                             Note that these are all estimates (*)

29. Groningen             40-48  A           1641   125      31       12 
                          the Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654
                            gives larger dimensions

30. Haarlem               36-44  A           1644   128      31-1/2   12

    Name                  Guns   Adty.       Date   Length   Beam     Depth
31. Hollandsche Tuin      32-36  N           1632   128*     29*      11-1/4*
                  This was the ship commanded by Lambert Ysbrantsz Halffhoorn in 1639
                    and Jan Adriaansz Backer in 1652

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