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Saturday, April 22, 2006

A "might have been ship" from Dr. Ballhausen

On page 558 of Dr. Ballhausen's book, Der Erste Englisch-Höllandische Seekrieg 1652-1654 (1923), he says that at the Two Days' Battle of Nieuwpoort, Adriaan Jansz. den Oven commanded a ship named Vrede (about 56 guns and a crew of about 200 men). In this battle, he was acting as De Ruyter's Vice-Admiral. However, we have a piece of contradictory information: in Note 3, on page 94, in Vol.V of Dr. Elias' book, Schetsen uit de geschiedenis van ons zeewezen (1928), there is a notation that Adriaan Jansz. den Oven commanded the ship Neptunus, which was lost in the battle. From here, we need to examine Dr. Ballhausen's sources. He gives two sources. One I have, an article in the Oud Holland volume from 1899. The other, Whitelocke's Memorials of the English Affairs, I don't have ready way to see this book. I had hoped that Google Book Search might have it, but they do not. However, the reference to page 41 of the the article about Willem van de Velde de Oude, is readily considered. This is my paraphrase, in English, of the text:

"The two day struggle is commonly known as the sea battle near Nieuport and has a pen drawing on canvas by W. van de Velde the Elder that he drew in 1654 that is found in the sea navigation training school in Amsterdam.

There, the wind is shown blowing from the left hand side, somewhere near the known position of what the fleet's West wind meant, if this represented an historical position relative to the subsequent struggle on the 13th. There is nothing that can be seen that would cause this to be characterized as an historical document. Two commander's ships are situated in the foreground, fighting. The English could be the James of Penn, however the other is the Gorinchem, not the Brederode. We can also see the ships of Vice-Admiral De With and of Commandeur De Ruijter approaching the fighting, although the English Vice-Admiral came to assist. The fleets lay, one by the other, one to the left, in a half circle, while they fought in pairs. Behind the ship of the English Vice-Admiral, we can see a Dutch ship in flames, however it is not the ship of Captain Schellinger [Stad Medemblik], because it is situated in the middle of English ships. Several Dutch ships are recognizable, the Fortuijn, the Vrede, the Star, the Dolfijn, the Maag van Enkhuizen, the Zeelandia, etc. However, not one is the known position at the indicated historical moment, and on the right we see in the foreground several English ships which left the battle. This would indicate the piece is an imaginary version, subsequently represented. In the oldest inventory of the training school, dated 1843, states--similarly, Mr. Beels also shared my opinion--about this piece mentioned as being the "Four Days sea battle", as it carried the date 1654. In the inventory report, where the giver is not mentioned, a search for the piece: "gift" of the Admiralty of Amsterdam from Willem van der Zaan, about 1669, had nothing to support it, while it is known that due to the lady, the widow Van Dam, great-granddaughter of Willem van der Zaan presented three golden chains to the training school.

From this, we can see the mention of a ship named Vrede, but there is nothing to associate the Vrede with Adriaan Jansz. den Oven. Perhaps there is something in Whitelocke, but I am skeptical. Typically, these sorts of works are very general and lack any useful detail.

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