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Saturday, August 19, 2006

The 130ft Charter ships built in 1653 and 1654

The vast majority of ships built for the Dutch wartime building program initiated from late 1652 were of the 130ft charter. One standard set of dimensions was 130ft x 32ft x 13-1/2ft. The height between decks was 7 feet. As built, a few were armed with just 32 guns, at least in 1654, but the standard armament for much of the 1650's was 40 guns. Of the first 30 ships, 19 were to be built to this charter, although the actual number built was smaller. The Zeeland ships actually were built with a 34ft beam. The Noorderkwartier ships had a hold depth of only 12ft (for example, the Jupiter). The Zeeland ships, at least, had a keel length of 108ft. In July 1654, the Amsterdam ship Landman carried 44 guns: 4-brass 24pdr, 6-brass 12pdr, 18-iron 12pdr, 12-8pdr, and 4-brass 6pdr drakes. The Stavoren was one of the ships initially armed with only 32 guns, in July 1654: 4-brass 24pdr, 4-brass 12pdr, 16-iron 12pdr, 4-iron 9pdr, and 4-brass 6pdr drakes. Sources:
  1. Johan E. Elias, De Vlootbouw in Nederland 1596-1655, 1933
  2. Ron van Maanen, "De Dutch in Danish Waters", undated.
  3. Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654, 1654

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