More about Dirk Vijch (or Vijgh) and 22 July 1652

Carl Stapel says that Dirk Vijch commanded the ship Kalmar Sleutel (22 guns and a crew of 80 men) with the squadron protecting the Enkhuizen herring buses on 22 July 1652. The Kalmar Sleutel was a ship hired by the Admiralty of the Maze. His ship was taken by the English and he was taken prisoner. I had known that he had been taken prisoner at some point, and that he was released in September, as that was noted in Vol.II of Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen. The biography of Cornelis Tromp is not particularly reliable, but it gives the names of two more captains from the fishery protection squadron, as I have previously written:

• Gerrit Janszoon Schuimer
• Captain Luitje

There are three ships for which we do not know captains:

• Arke Noach
• Sint Jan Baptist
• Zwaan

Dr. Elias actually seems to indicate that there were 15 ships in the fishery protection squadron, so there may be more ships and captains yet to be discovered.