Google AdSense

Amazon Ad

Friday, September 22, 2006

There is no evidence of the Achilles of 1644 in the First Anglo-Dutch War

As of now, there is no evidence that the ship listed as number 2 in Vreugdenhil's list, a ship named Achilles, built in 1644, participated in the First Anglo-Dutch War. I had assumed that Dirk Schey's ship was the Achilles of 1644, but the list of Amsterdam ships from the Wrangell Collection dispelled that mistaken idea. What was clear is that Dirk Schey's ship was the ship listed as number 1 in Vreugdenhil's list and which has a minor appearance in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654. Dirk Schey's ship is hardly recognizable, as the Staet was probably Vreugdenhil's source for ship number 1, and that listing says the armament was 32 to 40 guns. The actual listings for the First Anglo-Dutch War all attribute an armament of 28 guns to Dirk Schey's ship. I can only positively identify Dirk Schey's ship in the list in The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, circa page 310. While there are lists that mention the Achilles, built in 1644, as late as 1655 (in an appendix to De Vlootbouw in Nederland), no other document can be shown to mention the ship. The other Achilles seems to be disappear after March 1653. Sources:
  1. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, 1910
  2. Johan E. Elias, De Vlootbouw in Nederland 1596-1655, 1933
  3. A. Vreugdenhil, Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702, 1938
  4. Witte de With, journals from 1652 to 1658, Archive E8812 from the Riksarkivet, Stockholm
  5. list of Amsterdam hired ships from the Wrangell Collection, Riksarkivet, Stockholm

No comments:

Amazon Context Links