Google AdSense

Amazon Ad

Thursday, May 18, 2006

The Directors' ships from the cities of the Noorderkwartier

The list of ships hired by the Directors from the cities in the Noorderkwartier brings up some issue. There were seven ships hired. From the list from about June 1652 in the Hollandsche Mercurius (reprinted in The First Dutch War, Vol.I) and Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet, we seem to have a complete listing:
Rank     Commander                    Adm    Ship name      Guns Crew
kapitein Jacob Pietersz Houck         Ho-Dir Sampson          30 110
kapitein Pieter Adriaensz van Blocker Ho-Dir ?                28 105
kapitein Gijsbert Malcontent          En-Dir ?                28 110The
kapitein Jacob Claesz Duijm           En-Dir Vergulde Zon     28 108
kapitein Jan Pietersz Deught          Me-Dir Sint Jeronimus   30 110
kapitein Jan Fredricksz Houcboot      Ed-Dir Vergulde Meerman 30 110
kapitein Jacob Claesz Boot (or Boet)  Mo-Dir Zwarte Beer      32 115
The only problem is that we have other information from Vreugdenhil. He assigns the Sampson van Hoorn (24 guns) to the Hoorn Directors and the Sampson van Enkhuizen (28 guns) to the Enkhuizen Directors. He would also assign Teunis Vechterszoon's ship, the Scheletje (24 guns and a crew of 70 men) to the Enkhuizen Directors. Of course, Hendrick de Raedt's list and the list from the Hollandsche Mercurius indicate that he was associated with Medemblick. In any case, the 50 Directors ship plan only allocated 7 ships to the cities of the Noorderkwartier, and these seem to be those that I list above. So why does Vreugdenhil assign the other ships to these same Directors, as well? This same list from June 1652 leaves open the possibility that Teunis Vechterszoon also commanded a Directors' ship, as Vreugdenhil indicated (just one from Medemblick, not Enkhuizen). All indications, other than Vreugdenhil, indicate that Willem Ham's ship, the Sampson van Hoorn, was a ship hired by the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier (in fact, one of the 100 ships of 1652). There is no evidence in The First Dutch War, or any other published source, other than Vreugdenhil, regarding the Sampson van Enkhuizen. Sources:
  1. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, 1910
  2. Dr. S.R. Gardiner, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.I, 1898
  3. Hendrik de Raedt, Lyste van de schepen van Oorloge onder het beleyt Admirael Marten Harpersz. Tromp, 1652
  4. Carl Stapel, unpublished manuscript "Schepen voor aanvang van Eerste Engelse Oorlog", 2006
  5. A. Vreugdenhil, Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702, 1938

No comments:

Amazon Context Links