The Amsterdam ships Jaarsveld and Vrede

The information from 1652 to 1654 about the two large Amsterdam ships built in 1650 and 1651 seem to indicate that they were built to the same Charter. These were the Vrede, built in 1650, and the Jaarsveld, built in 1651. The Jaarsveld wrecked on an uncharted rock near Livorno in late January 1653. The published dimensions for the Vrede seem to be incorrect. Both ships apparently were 130ft long and carried 44 guns in 1653. Vrijheid, also built in 1651, was a considerably larger ship, being 134ft long. By May of 1653, the Vrijheid had its armament increased to 50 guns. All three of these ships still had a main battery of 12pdr guns with a few larger.

The ship Alkmaar

Dutch ships often had multiple versions of their names. The Alkmaar, commanded by Jan Warnaertsz Capelman, was apparently also called the Wapen van Alkmaar. That ship, commanded by that captain, apparently took part in the operation in 1645 to force a large fleet of merchant ships into the Sound without paying the toll to the Danes. That same ship was captured by the English in June 1652. I suspect that this was the ship built to the 116ft dimensions: 116ft x 26-1/2ft x 10ft x 6-1/4ft. The 26 guns might have included something like this: 4-12pdr, 14-8pdr, 4-6pdr, and 4-4pdr guns. I base that estimate on what was carried by a similar ship.

Wild speculation

Given that I don't have access to all the information that might be available, I think that until proven otherwise, information that might be correct can be useful. If you require proof that meets legal standards, with multiple sources as corroboration, then I will have nothing, as for much of what I have, I would never have that many sources or the concrete proof of all the facts. One case in point is where I seem to have dimensions for hired ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War. I am going back and printing ship data and lists that I have received since early in the year. I am doing that because I am not sure when I will be able to acquire new information and having hard copy is much more convenient than needing a computer to view image files. An example of dimensions for a hired ship is the Profeet Samuel. I have a list of ships from early 1653 that gives dimensions for a ship named Profeet Samuel. Is that the ship that Reijnst Cornelisz Sevenhuijsen commanded at the Battle of the Gabbard? I don't know, but it might be. Another ship names that are familiar and on the same page are the Jonas and the Engel Gabriel. I just happen to know that the dimensions given for those ships on the page match the dimensions for the ships that were hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam and served with the fleet in 1653. My working hypothesis is that the Profeet Samuel was the ship hired, as well, until I learn otherwise.

Campbell's Lives of the British Admirals

If you have not checked Google Books lately, you need to, as there is much more available, including some rare books. I just downloaded John Campbell's Lives of the British Admirals:: Containing a New and Accurate Naval History, from 1785. This is a classic work that Frank Fox had recommended to me.

The Three Days Battle

One thing that I really would like to have is a list of the Dutch ships and the fleet organization for the Three Days Battle (the Battle of Portland), from 28 February to 2 March 1653. I have an idea that there were quite a few different ships involved. I know for a fact that Jan Duijm's ship, the Salamander, was there, because the Salamander towed Michiel De Ruijter's ship, the Lam, for the last two days of the battle and until they returned to port. Right now, about all I can do is go through the published literature and write down captains' names and then supply the information that I know. You would think that some sort of list must have supplied, somewhere at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague.

The Grote Sint Lucas

I have wanted to dismiss the mention of the Grote Sint Lucas, in the Hollandsche Mercurius and the Onstelde-Zee, as a mistake. The problem is, everything else that I have been able to check, from the Onstelde-Zee, has been correct. That makes me want to take the Grote Sint Lucas seriously. Supposedly, the Grote Sint Lucas (28 guns), was the ship commanded by Sipke Fockes, in the Battle of Portland (or the Three Days Battle). The Grote Sint Lucas was supposed to have been an Amsterdam Directors' ship, presumably. The ship was taken by the English and taken into Portsmouth on 12 March 1653. Other ships taken into Portsmouth were the Swarte Reiger, commanded by Christoffel Juriaenszoon, the Vogelstruijs, and the Liefde. The Gulden Haan (36 guns) was taken into Dover.

Dutch warships in the mid-17th Century

Probably the most troubling feature of doing research about Dutch warships and the navy in the 1651 to 1654 period is that informaation is likely to be inexact and often wrong. What Tromp, other senior officers, such as Witte de With and Johan Evertsen, wrote is more likely to reflect commonly held beliefs, rather than accurate information. The problem is complicated by there being so many ships with the same names. Another issue is that some ships were referred to by alternate names, often nicknames or shorted versions of the name. In the 1654 book Onstelde-Zee, Abraham van Campen's Amsterdam Directors' ship is referred to as the Poort van Troijen. A letter from Johan Evertsen, in August 1652, also calls the ship Poort van Trojen, although every other source called the ship Arke Troijane (or some variation of that spelling, with a "c" and an "h"). I vary on how much evidence that I have before I reach a conclusion. At times, when I have something that is just an indication, I am strongly motivated to go with it, as it answers some open question. I suspect that even if we had a time machine and could go back and collect information, we would still have trouble sorting out truth, as the people back then operated differently than we do now, where we demand exact answers.

My book project

I just spoke with Frank Fox (author of Great Ships: the Battlefleet of King Charles II and A Distant Storm: the Four Days' Battle of 1666) about my book project. I have been doing research and some writing for a book about the Dutch fleet and warships in the First Anglo-Dutch Wars. Since I am a native English speaker, the book will be in English. Frank Fox has long been encouraging me to get an early publication of a book, not waiting until I and all the information that can be had. This would be independent of anything published in Dutch, which I hope will not be too long in the future. Everything in Dutch that covers the period of 1648 to 1654 seems to be high-level and does not include fleet lists and ship information. I like to think that I have more to offer than just publishing information, but have some insights to offer, as well.

The Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654

Vreugdenhil, when he compiled his list published in 1938, had clearly seen the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654. The curious thing about the list is just how poor and incomplete it is, compared to the information that we have seen in documents dating from 1652 to 1654. Some of the best information that we have is for Zeeland ships up to June 1653. Yet, the information for Zeeland ships in the Staet is sparse and incomplete at best. It was also the case that there were multiple versions of the Staet. I have copies of several versions, one of which is quite incomplete, up to the one which seems to have been most widely distributed, which seems to be the one which Vreugdenhil saw.

The ship hired by the Groningen Directors in 1652

I concede that the Friesland lists of ships with dimensions and gun lists would lead you to believe that the ship Graaf Hendrick, commanded by Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer in late 1652 and all of 1653 was a ship hired by the Admiralty of Friesland. However, there are some other, independent lists, that label that ship as a ship hired by the Groningen Directors.

In a list from 18 May 1652, Joost Bulter was listed as commanding a Groningen Directors' ship. My working theory, which seems more plausible now, is that Joost Bulter commanded the Graaf Hendrick up until July 1652 or so, when Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer was appointed in his place. Joost Bulter was nominated as the captain of a new ship purchased for the Admiralty of Friesland which was eventually named the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden.

I now have seen three unrelated lists that show that the Graaf Hendrick was employed by the Groningen Directors in November and December 1652. It remains to be seen if in fact Joost Bulter commanded the ship or if he was just listed as potentially commanding a ship. As for the Graaf Hendrick, the lists of dimensions and guns usually say that it was a ship of Groningen and leaves ambiguous whether it was employed by the Groningen Directors or by the Admiralty of Friesland. I expanded upon what I originally wrote after receiving some comments.

The Lastdrager

The Lastdrager seems to have been hired by the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier in late 1652. I have a gun list for the ship from mid-July 1653. I have an idea that this ship was rather large, such as 126ft x 32ft x 12ft x 7-1/4ft or even 130ft x 32ft x 12ft x 7-1/4ft. I could be wrong, but I had that impression. I am not sure what the initial armament was. It might have been something like 10-8pdr, 10-6pdr, 6-4pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. The crew was supposed to be 110 men, at least by July 1653. The Lastdrager was originally commanded by Volckert Schram, but was later commanded by Gerrit Munt.

The ship Campen, from 23 June 1653

The list dated 23 June 1653 has some rather extraordinary dimensions for the 40 gun ship Campen. The Campen was employed by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. At this date, Willem van der Zaan had replaced his late brother Joris as captain. The dimensions listed are 133ft x 32ft x ? x 7ft. What I believe to be the "real dimensions" are somewhat different: 128ft x 32ft x 13ft x 7ft. The ship had a lower tier armed with 12pdr guns and an upper tier armed with 6pdr guns. The lower tier also had 4-bronze 18pdr guns.

Laurens Degelcamp

One thing that I learned was that Laurens Degelcamp's full name was Laurens Hermanszoon Degelcamp. The First Dutch War, Vol.VI, page 157, lists his ship as the Gelderland, but we think that he actually commanded the Groninger Nicolaes (also called the Groningen Sint Nicolaes, or some variation of that name). One cause for concern is that Brandt's biography, on page 26, mentions Captain Degelcamp and a ship named Gelderland. If that is in fact an independent source, we have two sources for Laurens Degelcamp commanding a ship named Gelderland (spelled Gelderlandt in 17th Century Dutch).

The Stad Groningen en Ommelanden

I started looking again at what references that I had for the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden, the ship commanded by Joost Bulter that was sunk by gunfire at the Battle of the Gabbard. The list of 23 June 1653 just says that the captain was Joost Bulter and was a ship of the Stad en Lande. A list dated 20 May 1653 includes the ship and says that the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden carried 38 guns and had a crew of 110 men. A list of 26 May says that the captain was Joost Bulter and that the ship was a private ship of Groningen.

An alternative theory about Joost Bulter

Let us suppose that both the list dated 16 May 1652 and 28 November 1652 are correct. The 16 May list says that Joost Bulter commanded a ship hired by the Groningen Directors (Directors of Stad en Lande). The 28 November list says that the ship Prins Hendrick was a Directors ship from Friesland or Groningen. The other two ships listed were definitely hired by the Directors at Harlingen in Friesland, so that would mean that the Prins Hendrick was hired by the Groningen Directors. By August 1652, Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer commanded the Prins Hendrick. Suppose that in July, the Prins Hendrick was one of the ships which were assigned new captains. That could allow Joost Bulter to have commanded the ship in May. By December 1652, he was listed as captain the ship Stad Groningen en Ommelanden. To go even further in theorizing, suppose that the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden was originally named Kameel as a merchant ship and was renamed on being purchased by the Admiralty of Friesland. That could mean that the picture on the tafferel was still a camel. My theory about the origin of the name in the published literature is that there is a drawing by Willem van de Velde de Oude that mentions the Kameel as the name of Joost Bulter's ship and that the origin was the picture on the tafferel. I just wanted a plausible story that might explain the evidence that we have. I don't particularly think that my explanation is the answer, but I thought that I would add it to the discussion.

The ship of the Directors of the Stad en Lande

The lists that define the fifty Directors' ships show that there were two ships to be hired by the Harlingen Directors in Friesland. The lists also say that the Directors of Groningen or the Stad en Lande should hire one ship in 1652. The list of captains from 16 May 1652 gives Joost Bulter as the captain of the ship hired by the Stad en Lande. A list from late 1652 gives the three ships of the Friesland and Groningen Directors as the Vergulde Pelicaen, the Sint Vincent, and the Prins Hendrick. The accuracy of these lists is in dispute, so you would have to form your own opinion on the subject. If Witte de With's mention of a kapitein Belevelt in September 1652 actually refers to Joost Bulter, then that is a further complication. Witte de With's journal dated 17 September 1652 lists kapitein Belevelt with the ships of the Admiralty of Friesland. We also know that kapitein Wagenaer commanded the Prins Hendrick with De Ruyter's fleet in the Channel in August and September 1652. Sadly, we just need to find more information or the right source to unravel the mystery.

A mystery to me that I just realized that I had

I was reading a document today from May 1652 that said that Joost Bulter commanded a Directors' ship of the Stad en Lande (Groningen). All the lists say that there was one ship hired by them among the fifty Directors's ships hired in 1652. The question is which ship that was as far back as May 1652. Was it the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden with what seems to have been the original 28 guns or was it a different ship?

Amsterdam small ships in September 1652

I have one list, dating from 21 September 1652, of Amsterdam ships that includes small ships, including those that the English call "Watt Convoyers". The name actually refers to the small ships that were convoyers in the Wadden Zee, the protected Dutch coastal waters. These are the ships listed (for some reason, I am having trouble reading the men's names, so I am likely to have them wrong):

Ship               Commander         Guns Crew
Orangeboom         Bomven Goet        8   34
Princes            Adriaen van Veede 12   24
Adelaer            Arent Warnaerdtsz 12   24

Ylst               Willem de Veer    10   26
Valck              Roelof de Veer    10   18
Huijs te Raephorst Bitter van Reede  10   18
Prins Willem       Roelof Schut      10   13

Odd 12pdr guns

Two of the guns carried by the 38-gun Zeeland ship Hollandia in late March 1653 were abnormally light bronze 12pdr guns. There is no indication that they were chambered, but perhaps they were, as they weighed only 634 and 651 pounds.

The Three Days Battle references

I was looking in Vol.IV of Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen for references to the Three Days Battle. I had hoped to see references to the Lias Admiraliteiten or something else that would be recognizable. Almost all the references are to The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, or to the Hollandsche Mercurius for 1653. There were no references prefixed by "L.A.", which is Dr. Elias's notation for references to the Lias Admiraliteiten. There are a few references to "Brandt" and to the "Hare Hoog Mogenden", with dates. I also know that the Onstelde-Zee has a description of the battle with some accurate names of ships that are not otherwise published. For example, the names of Johannes Regermorter's ship (Leeuwinne) and to Jacob Cleijdijck's ship (Meerman).

Slangers and halve slangers

In one Dutch document from 1665, the 12pdr guns are referred to as "slangers" and the 6pdrs are "halve slangers". I had thought that they might be slings, but I am not sure that is correct. Iron guns are often described as "gotelingen" and large bronze guns as cartouwen (24pdr) and halve cartouwen (18pdr). Often, they are just called "pieces" (stukken).

No. 40 in the list of ships at Vlissingen on 23 June 1653

I have consulted with Carl Stapel on the subject of ship number 40 in the list of ships at Vlissingen on 23 June 1653. The ship is described as being hired by the Amsterdam Directors and having 30 guns and a crew of 120 men. The captain is listed as "Bartold Simonssen" and the ship is described as being missing. Ship number 41 in the list is the Gulden Pelicaen, commanded by Captain "Baert Timons Soudaen" and is missing. We think that the ship listed as 40 is a mistake and a duplicate for number 41. The only ships hired by the Amsterdam Directors that are not listed here were lying in the Texel. Perhaps there should be some other ship listed at 40, but I don't believe that the listing is correct.

The Amsterdam ship Zutphen

I have this very elegantly written document from 1653 that is another list of Amsterdam ships during the First Anglo-Dutch War. The ship Zutphen (also called the Groot Zutphen ) is in the list with some rather different data:

The ship named Zutphen, commanded by Captain Jan Pietersz Uijttenhout
Length:     125ft
Beam:        30ft
Hold:        13ft
Deck Height:  7ft

Guns: 20-12pdr, 12-6pdr, and 4-4pdr
Crew: 130 men
In service from July 1651

The list of Amsterdam ships in service in the year1642

One page that I have shows the first part of a list of Amsterdam ships in service in the year 1642. Many ships and captains are familiar names:

Ship              Captain                        Guns Crew
Gelderlandt       Liedekercken                   30   90
Der Goes          Cornelis van Braeckel          30   90
Graeff Willem     Magnus Marcus                  30   90
Groeningen        Aucke Balck                    30   90
Edam              Jan Jansz De Lapper            30   90
Gouda             Hendrick Schrevels             30   90
Bommel            Sijbrant Barents Waterdrincker 28   80
Omlandia          Jan Gerbrants Eijdijck         28   80
Hollandia         Cornelis Gerrits Hasevelt      28   80
Utrecht           Willem van Niehoff             28   80
Westvrieslandt    Ewout Jeroensz de Moije        24   80
Overijssel        Jacob Troncquoij               26   85
Vrieslandt        Evert Anthonisz                24   85
Amsterdam         Pieter Luijte Koppelsack       28   85
Aemilia           Sijmon Thijsz Caddeus          24   85
Prins Willem      Jan van Galen                  28   85
Zutphen           Anthonis van Salingen          24   85
Zeelandt          Jacob Huijrluijt               26   85
Middelburch       Jan Pietersz Uijttenhouwt      24   85
't Waeckende Hert Elias van de Base              16   85
 ('t Wakende Hart)
Leijden           Jacob Anthonisen               24   70
Swol              Davidt Jansen Bondt            20   70

The Maecht van Dordrecht from the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1633

One of the most interesting pages in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1633 is for the ship Maecht van Dordrecht. The page says that the ship was built in 1632 was 300 lasts in size. 300 lasts sounds a bit like an approximate number, rounded off, rather than exact. A lot depends on what your constant is, but the dimensions could be 136ft x 34ft x 14ft, with a constant of 217 (300 lasts = 136 x 34 x 14 / 217). The page gives the crew as only being 90 men, which seems small for such a large ship. The armament is listed, as well: 2-chambered bronze 36pdr, 2-bronze 24pdr half-cartouwen, 2-bronze chambered 24pdr, 2-bronze 18pdr half-cartouwen, 4-bronze 12pdr slings, 10-bronze chambered 12pdr, and 2-copper (composite) 5pdr steenstukken, 13-iron 18pdr, and 6-iron 12pdr guns. As I understand Nico Brinck, he says that the so-called copper guns were not cast but were beaten metal, a composite of copper, lead, and iron.

The Zeeland ship Milde Maarten

I really would like to know the dimensions for the Zeeland hired ship Milde Maarten. Captain Claes Jansz Sanger commanded the Milde Maarten at the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort) on 12 and 13 June 1653. He was moved to the Westcappel, which was sunk at the Battle of Scheveningen (or Terheide) on 10 August 1653. Jan Matthijszoon commanded the Milde Maarten at Scheveningen and on the voyage to Norway and back from September to November 1653. We know the armament of the Milde Maarten on 23 June 1653. Like the Liefde, the armament was almost all 6pdr guns. There were 4-12pdr bronze guns, 2-6pdr bronze, and 20-iron 6pdr guns. The crew was nominally 100 men. In late May 1653, Vice-Admiral Johan Evertsen had been on board the Milde Maarten.

The Sint Jan and Sint Joris

The Zeeland hired ships Sint Jan and Sint Joris were both armed to a similar plan. The Sint Jan was the ship commanded by kapitein Laurens Lispensier and the Sint Joris was a Scots frigate commanded by Jacob Wolphertszoon. They both had 2-9pdr guns and a main battery of 6pdr guns. They both also had 4-4pdr and 2 or 4-3pdr guns. By my standards, they were both lightly armed. The Sint Jan was assigned to Michiel De Ruyter's fleet in the summer of 1652 and fought in the Battle of Plymouth. The Sint Joris operated with Tromp's fleet and made the voyage to the Shetlands in July and August. I was amazed to see just how many Dutch ships in 1652 and 1653 relied primarily on a lower tier of 6pdr guns. From the published literature, I would have thought that they all had a lower tier of 12pdr guns, which was still lighter than the typical English ship, which was said to have at least some 18pdr culverins on the lower tier.

Some information about Zeeland ships and captains in 1652 from Ron van Maanen

Ron van Maanen sent me some information from the Generaliteitsrekenkamer 1586-1799 nr.957 rekening 1652 admiralty Zeeland that he said that I could use on the blogs. This is my interpretation of what Ron wrote, and if need be, I can correct it as needed:

The fishing boat den Otter was hired from Adriaen Laurenssen, a merchant at Zierikzee. One month hire cost: 66 pond Vlaams 13 schellingen 4 grote Vlaams. Vlaams = Flemish, pond=pound.

The Rode hart was hired from Rochus Jobssen, a merchant at Zierikzee for 125 pond Vlaams for one month.

Jacob van Hoorn, "bookholder" of the St. Johan (or St. Jan), commanding officer Laurens Lispensier, was paid 85 pond Vlaams, 16 schelling for damage in the the fight. The St. Jan had been hired from Jacob van Hoorn for a monthly rent of 220 pond Vlaams 16 schellingen 8 grote Vlaams. The St. Jan had been with Michiel De Ruyter's fleet at the Battle of Plymouth.

The squadron arrangements in Tromp's fleet on 31 May 1652

Dr. Ballhausen had made a gallant attempt at the composition and organization of Tromp's fleet in the opening battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War on 29 May 1652. He made some mistakes, but they were understandable. You might well assume that all the Zeeland ships were in Jan Thijssen's van squadron and all the Noorderkwartier ships were in Pieter Florissen's rear squadron, but you would be mistaken. In fact, on 31 May 1652, the van had four Zeeland ships, five Amsterdam Directors' ships, and two Noorderkwartier Directors' ships. The rear had nine Noorderkwartier and Noorderkwartier Directors' ships, but also had two Amsterdam Directors' ships. Tromp's center squadron had the fleet flagship Brederode and the Rotterdam Directors' ship commanded by Ruth Jacobsz Buijs, four Noorderkwartier and Noorderkwartier Directors' ships, and the rest were Amsterdam Directors' ships. The primary reason that the fleet was as strong as it was, was because the Directors had promptly hired their ships and had them ready for sea.

The 2007 Weblog Awards

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One Noorderkwartier armament plan for 116ft ships in 1654

Many of the Noorderkwartier ships that served in the First Anglo-Dutch War carried an odd assortment of guns. They seemed to have whatever was available at the time that they were armed. At least two 116ft long ships, the Hoorn and the Enkhuizen, had main batteries of 8pdr guns, supplemented by a smaller number of 12pdr guns. They also had some guns of lesser calibers, from 6pdr down to 3pdr guns. Many of the Rotterdam hired ships were armed on a similar pattern.

Allert Jansz Tamessen and his two sons

Carl Stapel has been telling me more about a Noorderkwartier captain Allert Jansz Tamessen and his two sons, Pieter Allertszoon and Claes Allertszoon. I can't give away details, but I already know a good bit about the men. The First Dutch War confuses Allert Jansz Tamessen, of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier and Allert Janszoon, captain of the Vlissingen Directors' ship Arend. Pieter Allertszoon, son of Allert Jansz Tamessen, commanded the ship Hoorn at the Battle of Dover on 29 May 1652 up to the Three Days Battle in early 1653, when he was killed. Claes Allertszoon, his brother, had commanded the Nieuw Casteel (14 guns) in 1652. He was appointed to command the Hoorn, after his brother's death. He appears in Witte de With's journal as captain of the Hoorn from May 1653 up to the voyage to Norway from September to November 1653. An oddity is that the old spelling of Hoorn was Hooren. The journal and a document from February 1653 spell the name that way.

The Noorderkwartier convoyers funded in 1648

This list may be disputed, but according to this list from 28 November 1652, the convoyers funded in 1648 for the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier were:

Hoorn, 32 guns                 kapitein Pieter Allertszoon
Prins Maurits, 28 guns         kapitein Cornelis Taenman
Wapen van Monnikendam  24 guns kapitein Arent Dirckszoon
Kasteel van Medemblick 26 guns kapitein Gabriel Theuniszoon
Wapen van Alkmaar      24 guns kapitein Gerrit Nobel
Sampson                26 guns kapitein Willem Ham

The 42nd ship in the Dutch fleet on 29 May 1652

I assume that the entire list of 40 captains, with their ships, with Tromp's fleet on 31 May 1652 were present at the battle on 29 May. As I have mentioned, they were in three squadrons, with the van commanded by Jan Thijssen, the center by Lt-Admiraal Tromp, and the rear by Schout-bij-Nacht Pieter Florissen. I have a photograph of the 31 May list, which I took at the Nationaal Archief on 8 May 2007. The 41st ship would have been the Middelburg Directors' ship Sint Laurens (30 guns), commanded by Bastiaan Tuynemans. The Sint Laurens was taken by the English on 29 May. Since Joris van der Zaan, who commanded the ship Groningen (38 guns), is included in the 40 names, I would imagine that the 42nd captain was Jacob Huyrluyt, who commanded the Zeelandia (36 guns), which was one of the two convoyers who were escorting seven Straatsvaarders, when the encountered Anthony Young's small squadron off the Start on 12 May. Since Joris van der Zaan joined the fleet, I would imagine that Jacob Huyrluyt had, as well. That is only my estimate, however.

The ship Stad Groningen en Ommelanden

I have an older page showing information about the Friesland ship Stad Groningen en Ommelanden that gives the armament as only 28 guns and the crew as 110 men. The ship was still commanded by Joost Bulter and has the same dimensions as later. Later in 1653, the ship carried 38 guns and was sunk by gunfire at the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). Perhaps the ship in its earlier guise was with the fleet at the Battle of the Kentish Knock, where one list gives the captain as being named "Belevelt" in Witte de With's journal.

The Noorderkwartier ships that were convoyers funded in 1648

The list of ships that were funded at the peace in 1648 for the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier surprised me. I had always assumed that Cornelis Pietersz Taenman's ship, the Prins Maurits, was one of the 100 ships hired in 1652. According to this one list, the accuracy of which could be disputed, says that the Prins Maurits was one of the convoyers funded at the peace with Spain in 1648. The Dutch rebellion against Spain ended concurrently with the end of the Thirty Years War. The list of Noorderkwartier ships that were in this category might be of interest:

Adm   Ship                   Guns  Commander
N     Hoorn                  32    Pieter Allertszoon
N     Prins Maurits          28    Cornelis Pietersz Taenman
N     Wapen van Monnikendam  24    Arent Dirckszoon
N     Casteel van Medemblick 26    Gabriel Theuniszoon
N     Wapen van Alkmaar      28    Gerrit Nobel
N     Sampson                26    Willem Ham

Familiar ship names

The list of ships employed by the Admiralty of Rotterdam, dated 7 March 1652, still interests me. The portion of the list that includes fluits and pinnaces is particularly fascinating. I am not sure if the ships named are those of which I have heard, but maybe some are:

The fluit ship, the Coninck Davidt
Dimensions in Maas feet:       90ft x     21ft x      9-1/2ft x  4ft  18 guns
Dimensions in Amsterdam feet:  98ft-2in x 22ft-10in x 10ft-4in x 4ft-4in

The fluit ship St. Jacob
Dimensions in Maas feet:       92ft x     20ft x      8ft x      3-1/2ft  16 guns
Dimensions in Amsterdam feet: 100ft-4in x 21ft-9in x  8ft-8in x  3ft-9in

The fluit ship Graaf Sonderlandt
Dimensions in Maas feet:       96-1/2ft x 20-1/2ft x  10-1/4ft x 4ft      20 guns
Dimensions in Amsterdam feet: 105ft-3in x 22ft-4in x  11ft-2in x 4ft-4in

Captain "Belevelt" revisited

The only place that I have seen the name of a Friesland captain named "Belevelt" is in Witte de With's lists from September 1652. In this one list, from 25 September, which has the section labeled "Admiralty Ships of Friesland", there are the following entries:

                          Crew   Guns Weeks of Victuals
Capn. Belevelt
Capn. Wickelma             108   29   13
Capn. Degelcam              77   28   11
Capn. Adriaen Bruijnsvelt  103   28   13

Our working hypothesis is that "Belevelt" is a corruption of Bulter, Joost Bulter's last name. I find that explanation pretty unsatisfying, however.

The Jonas

The ship Jonas, hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam in 1653 was quite unusual, in may ways. The ship had length and width of about 136ft x 27ft. The crew on board in late June 1653 was 106 men. The Jonas carried just 26 guns: 3-12pdr, 4-8pdr, 11-6pdr, 6-5pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. There was 4000 lbs of gunpowder. On the list of 22 June 1653, the captain's name was spelled "Joris Coleri" (Joris de Caullerij).

The listing for Johannes Michielszoon's ship always seemed strange to me

In the list of ships, which just has captains' names, guns and crew figures, published in The First Dutch War, Vol.I, the listing for Johannes Michielszoon shows a Zeeland ship with 20 guns and a crew of 100 men. There are no names for ships except for some fireships. The list is almost identical to the list published in Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet that listed the fleet that went to the Shetlands in July and August 1652. I had long wondered at the name of the ship, described in one place as "a fast-sailing storeship". I know now that his ship was the fluit Haes, hired by the Admiralty of Zeeland, but I had wondered if this was the ship captured by the English and which served as a storeship for a while under the name St. Augustine. I had not read The First Dutch War, Vol.IV carefully enough, since the ship survived the Three Days Battle, despite Johannes Michielszoon being killed. His ship continued in service with Jan van Hoessen as captain, with 20 guns and a crew of 90 men.

Jonas en de Walvisch

Dr. Ballhausen had parroted the ship name "Jonas en de Walvisch" (Jonas and the Whale) from the Oud-Holland Vol.17 article about Willem van de Velde de Oude in the First Anglo-Dutch War. There is apparently a notation to that effect on a van de Velde drawing. The note has to refer to two ships: the Jonas (26 guns and a crew of 110 men), a ship hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam, and the Walvisch (30 guns and a crew of 104 men), a ship hired by the Amsterdam Directors. These figures are from Witte de With's journal from late May 1653.

Noorderkwartier ships in the Mediterranean Sea in 1652

The Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier contributed three ships to the fleet sent to the Mediterranean Sea in 1652. The original purpose was to protect Dutch shipping against the North African pirates. Very quickly, at the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War, the primary purpose became fleet action against the English squadron. The Dutch very much believe in Mahan's principles: that defeating the enemy's fleet was the primary goal naval operations. Once you did that, you simplified the process of protecting your merchant shipping. The three Noorderkwartier ships are well known: the Prinses Roijaal (36 guns), the Eendracht (41 guns), and the Jong Prins (28 guns). The Battle of Monte Christo was fought on 27/08/1652. Captain Albert Cornelisz 't Hoen, captain of the Prinses Roijaal, was killed in the fight. Cornelis Barentsz Slordt, captain of the Jonge Prins, survived both the Battle of Monte Christo and the Battle of Livorno, on 14 March 1653. This a large van de Velde drawing of the Battle of Livorno from the Rijksmuseum.

Cornelis Loncke's ship the Faam

Cornelis Loncke commanded a ship hired by the Admiralty of Zeeland in 1652 and up to the Three Days Battle in 1653. The Faam was a 115ft-long ship that seems to have been extremely lightly armed. While the Faam carried 30 guns, only four were 12pdr. The rest were 6pdr, 4pdr, and a pair of 3pdr guns. The Faam was with Michiel De Ruyter's fleet from July 1652 up to September. They were assigned to convoy ships up and down the Channel. In August, they fought a battle with Sir George Ayscue's fleet which was intended for both commerce protection and to attack Dutch shipping. The Faam is one of a group of Zeeland ships that had a main battery of 6pdr guns. While many published sources credit Dutch ships with a lower tier, or main battery, of 12pdr guns, that was not uniformly the case with hired ships. The 12pdr guns were mentioned as not comparing well with the widespread use of culverins (18pdr) by the English.

Witte de With's squadron in 1652

I really wish that I could fill in more detail about Witte de With's squadron in 1652. Admittedly, I have a good bit of information, but I have very little about the Rotterdam ship Hollandia and the Noorderkwartier ship Vergulde Schel, in particular. I do not have much about their operations prior to August 1652:

The Squadron of Vice-Admiral de With 

of Rotterdam

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                Sources
Vice-Admiral       Witte Cornelisz de With          R        36   150  Prinses Louise      raedt, 1DW2
kapitein           Jan de Haes                      R        24    91  Gulden Beer         raedt, vloot

of Amsterdam

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                Sources
commandeur         Auke Balck                       A        46   150  Vrijheid            raedt, 1DW2, 1DW4
kapitein           Jan Jansz Boermans               A        28   100  Prins Willem        raedt, 1DW1, 1DW4
kapitein           Albert de Graeff                 A        32   110  Hollandia           raedt, 1DW1, 1DW2, 1DW4
kapitein           Gillis Matthijsz Campen          A        24    80  Goude Leeuw         raedt, 1DW1, 1DW4
kapitein           Barent Cramer                    A        28   100  Edam                raedt, 1DW1, 1DW2, 1DW4

of Zeeland

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                Sources
kapitein           Pieter Gorcum                    Z        24    85  Sandenburgh         raedt, cs, jonge1, staet54

others

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                Sources
kapitein           Teunis Vechterszoon              NQ       24    80  Vergulde Schel      raedt, 1DW4. ball
kapitein           Hendrik Ernestus de Bertrij      R        24    97  Hollandia           raedt, vloot, schet2, schet4

This is the key to my notes:

Key:

Sources:

1DW1 = The First Dutch War, Vol.I
1DW2 = The First Dutch War, Vol.II
1DW3 = The First Dutch War, Vol.III
1DW4 = The First Dutch War, Vol.IV
1DW5 = The First Dutch War, Vol.V
1DW6 = The First Dutch War, Vol.VI
ball    = Dr. Ballhausen’s book
rdhb  = Rotterdamsche Historiebladen
schet2 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.II
schet3 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.III
schet4 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.IV
schet5 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.V
schet6 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.VI
vloot = De Vlootbouw in Nederland
vreug = A. Vreugdenhil, Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702
glete = Jan Glete’s notes on Directors’ ships 
dir    = Director’s ship documents from the Nationaal Archief from 1652 and 1653
     1-undated but from March 1652 or later with a table
     2-12 March 1652
     3-27 March 1652
     4-30 March 1652
     5-8 November 1652
     6-10 January 1653
     7-27 January 1653
     8-28 January 1653
     9-30 January 1653
     10-8 February 1653
     11-18 March 1653
     12-undated but from early 1653
     13-4 April 1653
 
Sources (Continued):

ont = Onstelde-Zee
raedt = Pamphlet of Hendrik de Raedt (about the voyage to the Shetlands)
26Feb52 = Admiralty of Rotterdam, 26 February 1652
zdir = Zeeland Directors ships pages from the Zeeuws Archief
fleet1 = list of the fleet 15/24 July 1652 from the Nationaal Archief
fleet2 = list of the fleet 19/20 September 1652 from the Nationaal Archief
staet54 = Staet van Oorlog te Water for 1654
paintings = Michael Robinson, Van de Velde Paintings
cs = communication from Carl Stapel
salt = Francis Vere, Salt in their Blood: The Lives of the Famous Dutch Admirals, 1955.
jonge1 = J. C. De Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, Vol.I

Admiralty/Directors:

A         = Admiralty of Amsterdam
A-Dir   =  Amsterdam Directors
Ed-Dir =  Edam Directors
En-Dir  = Enkhuizen Directors
F          = Admiralty of Friesland
HA-Dir = Harlingen Directors
Ho-Dir  = Hoorn Directors
Mi-Dir  = Middelburg Directors
Mo-Dir = Monnikendam Directors
NQ   = Noorderkwartier (Noorder-Quartier)
R      = Admiralty of the Maze (or Rotterdam)
R-Dir = Rotterdam Directors (includes Delfshaven)
Ve-Dir  = Veere Directors
Vli-Dir  = Vlissingen Directors
Z          = Admiralty of Zeeland
Zi-Dir  = Zierikzee Directors

Hendrick Jansz Camp's ship

At De Sneuper, the author listed Hendrick Jansz Camp's ship, in 1652 and into 1653 as the Groningen. That seemed very plausible to me. Sadly, as we collected more information from the Nationaal Archief in The Hague, we found out that Hendrick Jansz Camp commanded a 36 gun hired ship named Wapen van Nassau. The Wapen van Nassau was 130ft long. The Wapen van Nassau seems to have been discarded sometime after the Three Days Battle in 1653, where Hendrick Jansz Camp was apparently killed. The Wapen van Nassau seems to have had a lower tier of 12pdr guns and an upper tier of 8pdr guns. The quarterdeck was probably armed with 6pdr guns and there were also 2-3pdr guns for sniping.

The Brederode in the Battle of Dungeness

I continue to be interested in the story of the Brederode (54 guns) and the Battle of Dungeness. In the initial contact, Tromp had made for Blake's ship, the 2nd Rate Triumph and board, but was intercepted by the 3rd Rate Garland (this type was reduced to a 4th Rate by the 1660's) (44 guns). The Garland had a lower tier of culverins (18pdr guns). We don't know her exact armament, but we believe that the upper tier was armed with 9pdr demi-culverins and her upperworks had either demi-culverins, or more likely, 5-1/4pdr sakers. Tromp went alongside the Garland and started fighting. When the 36-gun Anthony Bonaventure came along and grappled the other side of the Brederode, Tromp was in trouble. This fight took place southeast of Dungeness Point, with the wind blowing from the west-northwest. The English were winning the fight until Johan Evertsen brought his ship, the Hollandia (38 guns) alongside the Anthony Bonaventure and boarded. The Dutch were able to capture the Anthony Bonaventure and then combined against the Garland, and took her, as well. In the fight, the Garland lost her rudder, which complicated taking her back to the Netherlands. The English ships and the Brederode suffered a great deal of damage. Both English captains were killed in the process. The Brederode was a heavily armed ship, almost a small 2nd Rate. She may have had almost a complete lower tier of 24pdr guns by this date. The upper tier was 12pdr guns, with 10-6pdr guns on the quarterdeck. The Hollandia had a very mixed armament. By June 1653, she had 2-36pdr guns, along with some 24pdr, 18pdr, and 14-12pdr guns. The guns in 1652 included 24pdr, 18pdr, 15pdr, 12pdr, 10pdr, and 6pdr guns. This was probably due to the shortage of guns available to the Admiralty of Zeeland. We can only speculate about the armament of the Anthony Bonaventure. I would hazard a guess the armament had a mixed lower tier of 18pdr and 9pdr guns, an upper tier, with an unarmed waist of 9pdr, and sakers on the quarterdeck. But that is just an estimate.

The Wapen van Rotterdam became the English Falmouth

The Wapen van Rotterdam was the ship commanded by Jacob van Boshuijsen. The Wapen van Rotterdam was taken in an English port at the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War and was put into English service as the Falmouth. The Wapen van Rotterdam was one of the ships built to the dimensions that were approximately 116ft x 27ft x 11ft in Amsterdam feet. The Wapen van Rotterdam carried 26 guns: 2-bronze 24pdr, 1-bronze 12pdr, 3-iron 12pdr, 12-iron 8pdr, 4-bronze 6pdr, and 4-iron 6pdr guns. In the Dutch service, the Wapen van Rotterdam had a crew of 70 sailors and 20 soldiers.

The little frigate Gelderland

From Vreugdenhil's list, you would think that Aert van Nes's ship, the frigate Gelderland, was a 116ft ship. This Gelderland must be the ship at number 23 in the list. That entry gives the dimensions as 106ft x 25ft x 9-1/2ft. The list treats those as if they were in Amsterdam feet, but they are Maas feet. This is the information from the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654, but that seems to be wrong. As far back as the list of 26 February 1652, the Gelderland is stated to have dimensions of 100ft x 23ft x 8ft and to carry 20 guns. This is the same general sort of ship as the Utrecht and Overissel, entries 60 and 49 in Vreugdenhil's list. From what I have seen from the Nationaal Archief, dating from 1652 and 1653, the 100ft size seems to be correct, as that is always given as the length of Aert van Nes's ship. That corresponds to dimensions in Amsterdam feet of 109ft-1in x 25ft-1in x 8ft-8in. The Gelderland carried 24 guns, consisting of 4-bronze chambered 12pdr, 2-bronze 8pdr, 8-iron 8pdr, 6-iron 6-pdr, and 4-iron 4pdr guns in 1652 and 1653. The Gelderland was actively employed through the First Anglo-Dutch War, and still showed up in a list dated April 1655. The Gelderland had been one of the forty convoyers funded at the peace with Spain in 1648.

Henry Cruzado's page with the list of galleys at Lepanto

I had not thought that such a thing would exist, but Henry Cruzado contacted me today and pointed out his list of galleys at the Battle of Lepanto, the great victory of the Christian Europeans against Turkey in 1571. I would think that would be extremely useful for anyone wanting to study the battle and, perhaps, do some wargaming.

The list of ships of the Admiralty of Rotterdam, dated 13 June 1652

I have this list of ships belonging to the Admiralty of Rotterdam that is dated 28 July 1652. The list includes both landsschepen and hired ships. The list says that the kapitein Ernestus de Bertrij's ship Hollandia (24 or 26 guns, according to the list) and the Beer (commanded by Jan de Haes) were destined for a convoy of East Indiamen. The ship Sphera Mundi, commanded by kapitein Veenhuijsen (written very hastily, and with large curls) was by the fishery fleet. This captain's name is usually written Venhuijsen, as it might be a shortened form of Sevenhuijsen.

Joris Caulerij's ship the Hoop was very lightly armed

For a 28-gun ship, Joris Caulerij's hired Amsterdam ship Hoop, was very lightly armed. The Hoop had a crew of 90 men and carried 4-10pdr, 4-8pdr, 12-6pdr, 6-3pdr, and 2-2pdr guns. The largest guns were not even 12pdr, but the non-standard 10pdr. The standard guns followed the grouping of 36pdr, 24pdr, 18pdr, 12pdr, 8pdr, 6-pdr, 4-pdr and 3pdr guns. There was one alternate series that included 20pdr, 15pdr, 10pdr, and 5pdr guns. There were also stray 16pdr, 14pdr, 9pdr, 7pdr, and 2pdr guns in use. The 7pdr may have been a Spanish caliber.

Dirck Scheij's ship the Achilles

I have a page that actually spells the name of Dirck Scheij's ship as Achilles, not Achillis. The page says that the ship carried 28 guns and had a crew of 102 men, sometime in later 1652. The armament is listed as 4-12pdr, 12-8pdr, 10-4pdr, and 2-2pdr guns. The Achilles was hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. This may have been a case of a ship that was sold in 1648, at the peace treaty with Spain and then rehired by the admiralty. Some of these ships were eventually repurchased, it seems.

The Bronze 18pdr from 1632

Several years ago, Nico Brinck, the Dutch 17th Century gun expert and marine archaeologist (and sea captain) sent me several of his drawings. One drawing shows a bronze 18pdr manufactured in 1632 for the "Admiraliteit van West-Frislant", as the inscription says. The gun has a weight marking of 3480 lbs. The inside bore measures 13.8cm (5.433 inches). The gun has a length of 265cm from the ring at the rear of the barrel (with a 23cm part extending back) to the muzzle. That makes the gun 104-1/3 inches or 8ft-8-1/3in in English feet. The length in Amsterdam feet is 9ft-4in.

No.40 in the list of 22 June 1653

I still have not decided which ship is meant by the entry at no.40 in the status list dating from 22 June 1653. This was a ship with 30 guns and a crew of 120 men. The captain was named Bartold Simonssen. This was an Amsterdam Directors' ship that was missing at the time that the list was compiled. This would not have been a ship that was actually lost at the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). The next ship in the list, No.41, was the Gulden Pelicaen, commanded by Barent Timonsz Soudaen, which was lost in the battle. the ship before, no.39, was the ship Burg (or Nassouw van den Burgh), commanded at this point by Lt-Commandeur Hendrick Adriaensz. Glas. The Burg now carried 38 guns and had a crew of 125 men. These were all Amsterdam Directors' ships.

The klein Zutphen on 22 June 1653

There were two ships named Zutphen that were owned by the Admiralty of Amsterdam in during the First Anglo-Dutch War. They were sometimes known as the Groot Zutphen and the Klein Zutphen. Hillebrandt Jeroenszoon de Moy commanded the smaller Zutphen in the Battle of the Gabbard (or Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). The Zutphen carried 26 guns and had a nominal crew of 120 men. The 26 guns consisted of 8-12pdr, 10-8pdr, 4-6pdr, 2-4pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. We are using the figures in the status list from 22 June 1653.

The Amsterdam ship Hollandsche Tuin on 22 June 1653

Joris Block commanded the Amsterdam ship Hollandsche Tuin at the Battle of the Gabbard (and at Scheveningen). This Hollandsche Tuin was a hired ship that carried just 24 guns, and these were small. The status document compiled on 22 June 1653 has some details:

No.18  Hollantsche Thuijn  Joris Block  97 men  24 guns
Length 116ft
Beam    25-1/2ft      79 men actually on board
Hold    12ft
Above    5-3/4ft

24 guns:  6-8pdr, 8-6pdr, 4-4pdr, 2-3pdr, 4-2pdr

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Sint Pieter from 22 June 1653

Gerrit Schuyt commanded the Amsterdam Directors' ship Sint Pieter in 1653. He fought in the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June. I have this status document from 22 June that has some details of his ship:

Sint Pieter    kapitein Gerrit Schuyt

Length: 128ft  Beam: 28ft

Planned crew: 109 men  Actually on board: 96 men

Guns: 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-3pdr

Of these, five 12pdr were unusable, as were four 8pdr guns.
Two of the 12pdr were burst as was one 8pdr gun.

The Sint Pieter had 2700 lbs of gunpowder.

The David en Goliat on 22 June 1653

These figures differ somewhat from what is usual. Perhaps they not exactly right, but the gun list is likely to be what the Amsterdam Directors' ship David en Goliat actually carried on 22 June 1653, and at the Battle of the Gabbard (Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). The dimensions are listed as a length of 136ft, a beam of 32ft, and a height above hold of 6-1/4ft. The crew was intended to be 125 men, but we do not know how many were actually on board. The David en Goliat had 34 guns: 18-12pdr (3 damaged), 4-8pdr, 10-6pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. This information is from the status report after the battle.

I wondered one thing about Witte de With in 1652 and 1653

When Witte de With was restored to the service by 1651, he was given the Rotterdam ship Prinses Louise (36 guns) to use as his flagship. Except for the Battle of the Kentish Knock, when he temporarily used the big East Indiaman Prins Willem (56 guns) as his flagship, he continued to use the Prinses Louise. From 1645 until he returned from Brazil after the failed mission to restore the WIC control over Brazil, he had commanded the big Rotterdam ship Brederode (54 guns). From right before the Battle of Dungeness until after the Three Days Battle in 1653, he was ashore, sick, or at least emotionally drained. He was back by April 1653, but for the rest of 1653, he flew his flag on Amsterdam ships. He was originally using an admiralty jacht with 6pdr guns as the largest gun. But he moved to using the larger ship Leeuwarden (34 guns) as his flagship through April and into May 1653. The Leeuwarden was his flagship for the raid on Scarborough. He eventually moved to the much larger ship Vrijheid. He had also started to fit out and prepare the very large ship Huis te Swieten for use as his flagship, but was not ready by the Battle of Scheveningen, so he was in the Vrijheid. By September, he had the Huis te Swieten and used it for the rest of the year. By the spring of 1654, he was back in the Brederode, the Rotterdam ship. So why was he using Amsterdam ships for this period in 1653?

The retourschip Prins Willem, built in 1649

As I have written before, Herbert Tomessen, model maker extraordinaire with Artitec, believes that the VOC retourschip Prins Willem, built in 1649, was the same approximate size as the retourschip Oranje, which fought the Duke of York at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665. He thinks that the ships were about 170ft long and had a beam of 38ft. The famous model of the Prins Willem is in storage at the depot on the military base next to the Scheepvaart Museum. That is where Ab Hoving, the other great model maker and ship expert showed it to me. It was wrapped in plastic for protection while it was being stored. Apparently, there is some source that gives the length of the Prins Willem as being 181ft. Witte de With's journal gives the armament as 56 guns in September 1652. The Prins Willem was given back to the VOC in 1653 and went back into service making voyages to the Far East, and was eventually wrecked in 1662. The Prins Willem was a poor sailer and was difficult to steer, all of which made the ship a poor warship.

Odd names for the Dutch service

Today, I received photographs of documents of which I previously had only poor photocopies. The documents date from 1658. One document listed the six transport fluits that were taking soldiers to reinforce Copenhagen, which was under siege by Sweden. For the fluit Fruijtboom, two names appear: James Schot (Scott) and Captain Kirckpatrick (Kirkpatrick). These men appear to be Britons, serving in the Dutch army, each commanding a company of soldiers. James Schot is interesting, as Charles II's eldest son was named James Scott, later the Duke of Monmouth. He was Charles' and Lucy Walter's son, born in 1649. She died before the Restoration. James was not in the line of succession, although he thought that he should be. He was executed after the unsuccessful Monmouth Rebellion. The painting of James Scott looks something like Charles II.

Lt-Commandeur Hessel Franszoon

I have this document that I received yesterday from late July 1653. This list ships, captains, and crews, including how many men short they were. For the Friesland ship Graaf Willem, the captain is listed as being Lt-Commandeur Hessel Franszoon. I had thought that he was commander of another Friesland ship, the Sara, in place of Captain Hans Carelssen Beecke (or some such spelling). The hired Friesland ship Postpaert is also listed as being commanded by a Lt-Commandeur, in this case "t'jaert Douwes", as the document seems to say.

YouTube videos of Privateers Bounty 17th Century battles?

I am going to investigate how I might capture the video from using Privateers Bounty to run my Anglo-Dutch Wars and other 17th Century scenarios. I would run the scenarios from both sides (Dutch-English, Swedish-Dutch) and put the video on YouTube. I would demonstrate the various tactics that I employ. Privateers Bounty is a long way from being ideal, but it is the only thing that I have seen that will allow me to run these scenarios on my desktop computer.

The Windhondt and Brack in July 1653

Even though the two three-masted jachts, the Windhondt and the Brack were similar, in July 1653, there some subtle differences:

Windhondt             Brack
Capn. Heertjes        Capn. Jan Admirael

73 men, 12 men short  62 sailors and 15 soldiers

18 guns               18 guns
4-8pdr, 10-4pdr,      4-8pdr, 8-4pdr, 
2-3pdr, 2-2pdr        4-3pdr, 2-3pdr clockwijs

The list of captains from 14 June 1653

I just received a document that has a letter from Lt-Admiral Tromp and then has a list of captains in his fleet during the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort (the Battle of the Gabbard) on 12 and 13 June 1653. This was written just a day after the battle. After some of the captain's names is written the work "genomen" (captured). This list has the error that Jacob Claesz Duijm is named "Jan Duijm", as I have seen in The First Dutch War, Vol.V. As his name has the word "genomen", as well, it is clearly meant to be the captain of the Edam Directors' ship Vergulde Sonne (or Schellinkhout).

Names: on 20 December 1652

Here is a list of names at the bottom of a letter signed by Dutch naval officers, dated 20 December 1652, with my expansion and corrections:

Written:                        Full Name:
M:Harperts Tromp                Maerten Harpertszoon Tromp
Johan Evertsz.                   Johan Evertsen or Evertszoon
Michiel Adr.de Ruijter          Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruijter
Augustijnus Balck               Aucke or Augustijn Balck (the more usual spelling)
G: de Wildt                     Gideon de Wildt
Cornelis Evertsen               Cornelis Evertsen de Oude
Capn. Gabriel Teunisz.          Gabriel Teuniszoon
Jan de Liefde                   Jan or Johan Evertszoon de Liefde
Gillis Jansz.                   Gillis Janszoon
Jacob Pouwelsz.                 Jacob Pauwelszoon Cort
Willem Nijhoff                  Willem van Nieuhoff
Cornelis Jansz. Poort           Cornelis Janszoon Poort
Jacob Pensen                    Jacob Adriaenszoon Pensen or Penssen
Hendrick de Munnick             Hendrick Janszoon de Munnick
Corstiaen Corstiaensz.          Corstiaen Corstiaenszoon de Munnick
Joris van der Saenen            Joris van der Zaan

Zeeland ships with Tromp's fleet in late July 1652

We continue to mine our latest photographs of documents. We now look at the list of captains, and their ships with Tromp's fleet in late July 1652, for Zeeland:

Admiralty ships of Zeeland

Captain                               Ship             Guns
vice-admirael Jan Evertsen            Hollandia        38
kapitein Gillis Jansz                 Zeeridder        28
commandeur Cornelis Evertsen de Oude  Zeeuwsche Leeuw  30
Adriaen Bancker                       Westcappel       26
Adriaen Kempen                        Amsterdam        30

Admiralty ships to be deducted from the Hundred

Captain                               Ship               Guns
kapitein Lambert Bartelsz             Eendracht          18
Johannes Michielsz                    Haes               20
Jacob Wolfertsz                       Sint Joris         23
Daniel Cornelisz Brachman             Abrahams Offerande 24
Dingman Cats                          Dolphijn           24

Directors' ships of Zeeland

Middelburch

Captain                               Ship             Guns
Jan la Sage                           Gulden Haan      30
Jacob Pensen                          Gouden Leeuw     30
Johannes Regermorter                  Leeuwinne        30

Vlissingen

Captain                               Ship             Guns
Jan Thijssen                          Lam              32
Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge            Vlissingen       26
Allert Jansz                          Dubbele Arent    28

Directors of Zierickzee

Captain                               Ship                 Guns
kapitein Cornelis Rocusz Fincen       Wapen van Zierickzee 34

Directors of Veere

Captain                               Ship               Guns
kapitein Jan Oliviersz                Wapen van der Vere 38

More ships from the late July 1652 fleet list

These are more ships from the late July 1652 fleet list. The list has only the captain's names, so I have supplied ship names and guns:

Directors' ships of Hoorn

Captain                    Ship           Guns
Jacob Pietersz Houck       Sampson        30
Pieter Ariens van Blocker  Liefde         28

Directors' ships of Enckhuijsen

Captain                    Ship                   Guns
Gijsbert Malcontent        Maeght van Enckhuijsen 28
Jacob Claesz Duijm         Vergulde Sonne         28

Directors of Medemblick

Captain                    Ship           Guns
Jan Pietesz Een-arm        Sint Jeronimus 30

Directors of Edam

Captain                    Ship                Guns
Jan Freddricksz Houckhoot  Vergulde Halve Maen 30

Directors of Monnikendam

Captain                    Ship           Guns
Jacob Claesz Boot          Swarte Beer    32

Some ships with Tromp's fleet on 24 July 1652

Today, I received a list of ships that were with Tromp's fleet on 24 July 1652. Here area some of those ships (the list only has the captains, so I have added the rest):

Admiralty ships of Rotterdam

Ship      Guns Crew Commander
Brederode   54 270  Lt-Admiraal Tromp
Overijssel  22  94  kapitein Cornelis Engelen Silvergieter
Gorcum      30 130  kapitein Jan van Nes Oude Boer Jaep
Utrecht     22  90  kapitein Leendert Ariens Haexwant
Schiedam    30 131  kapitein Dirck Juijnbol
Holland     30  95  kapitein Hendrick de Munnick

Admiralty hired ships to be deducted from the hundred

Ship      Guns Crew Commander
Roscam      26  105 kapitein Corstiaen Eldertsz
Maria       26  110 kapitein Quirijn van den Kerckhoff

Directors' ships of Rotterdam

Ship      Guns Crew Commander
Hollandia   26 105  kapitein Ruth Jacobsz Buijs
Jonas       36 125  kapitein Jan de Liefde
Meerman     30 120  kapitein Jacob Cleijdijck
Sint Pieter 29 110  kapitein Isaac de Jongh
Prins       38 110  kapitein Corstiaen Corstiaensz

Admiralty ships of Amsterdam

Ship      Guns Crew Commander
Vrede       42 160  commandeur Gideon de Wildt
Overijssel  26 100  kapitein Abraham van der Hulst
Dolphijn    26  95  kapitein Gerrebrant Schatter
Star        28  95  kapitein Jacob Paulussen Cort
Leeuwarden  36 140  kapitein Govert Reael
Hoop        28 100  kapitein Joris Colerij  to be deducted from the hundred
Groningen   38 130  kapitein Joris van der Zaan
Zeelandia   36 120  lt-commandeur Nicolaes Marrevelt
Keijser     26 100  kapitein Jan ter Stege  a hired fluijt
Amsterdam   34 125  kapitein Barent Pietersz Dorrevelt
Leiden      28 105  kapitein Cornelis Hola

I continue to be perplexed about Abraham van der Hulst's ship in early 1652

Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet says that Abraham van der Hulst commanded a Landsschip that was armed with 26 guns and had a crew of 100 men. He was with Tromp's fleet on the voyage to the Shetlands in July and August 1652. By September, Abraham van der Hulst took command of the 40-gun ship Groningen, formerly commanded by Joris van der Zaan. A letter from Johan Evertsen to the Admiralty of Zeeland, later in August 1652 gives the name of Abraham van der Hulst's ship as Overijssel. We also think that we know that Jan van Campen was busy, in early August 1652, fitting out the ship Overijssel that was built in 1650. That means that if Abraham van der Hulst commanded a ship Overissel, it was not the ship built in 1650. The only problem is that the only other obvious candidate was the ship Overijssel that Dr. Elias says was sold in about March 1652, if I have the date right.

Two Noorderkwartier ships sent to Brazil

From documents that I received today, I see that Allert Jansz Tamessen, commanding the Hoorn (or Eenhoorn) and Jan Adriaensz Backer, commanding the Hollandsche Tuin, had been in Brazil immediately prior to the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War. According to Vreugdenhil's list, the Hollandsche Tuin was built in 1636 and carried 36 guns. This may have been a 250 last ship (about 128ft x 31-1/2ft x 12ft). In 1636, the Hollandsche Tuin carried 32 guns and had a crew of 90 sailors and 20 soldiers.

The Amsterdam ships on 1 May 1654

One photograph that I received today shows a list of Dutch warships in the service of the Admiralty of Amsterdam on 1 May 1654:

Ship                      Captain                       Crew  Guns
't Huijs te Swieten       Vice-Admiraal De Ruijter      200   60
't Huijs te Cruijningen   Schout-bij-Nacht Tromp        180   54
't Huijs te Oosterwijck   Commandeur de Wildt           180   56
Amsterdam                 Capitein Verburgh             170   50
Stadt en Landen           Capitein Brakel               170   48
de Vrijheijt              Capitein Van der Hulst        170   46
de Vreede                 Capitein Ijsack Sweers        140   44
Campen                    Capitein Van der Zaen         140   42
Jeunieerde Provintien     Capitein Schaef               140   40
Staveren                  Capitein Evert Anthonisz      140   40
de Landtman               Capitein Verveen              140   40
Jaersveldt                Capitein Jan van Campen       140   40
Suijderhuijs              Capitein Dirck Scheij         140   40
de Maen                   Capitein Hendrick Huijskens   140   40
Groeningen                Capitein Gilles Thijsz Campen 140   40
Phesandt                  Capitein Lapper               110   32
Leeuwaerden               Capitein Ooms                 110   34

Sailed for Brazil

de Maeght van Enckhuijsen Capitein Roeteringh           125   34
Bommel                    Capitein Swart                125   34
de Windthondt             Capitein Jan Admirael         100   18

New Friesland ships: the Oostergo

On the 8th, I received a document with dimensions of the new Friesland ships. The document dates from early 1654. One of the entries is for the new ship Oostergo:

the ship Oostergo

Length:  140ft
Beam:     36ft
Hold:     14-1/2ft
Height 
between decks: 7-1/2ft

Crew: 200 sailors: 28 officers and 172 men
       50 land soldiers

Ships named Harder

Based on what I see, the ship named Harder (116ft long) that served the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier in 1653 and 1654 was a different ship from any Harder that served the Admiralty of Amsterdam. Ron van Maanen mentions an Amsterdam Directors' ship named Harder, of 114ft, that served in 1653-1661. He gives the same dimensions for a ship named Harder that served the Admiralty of Amsterdam from 1658-1666 and that was named Klein Harder (ultimately burned in action in 1666). At least, how I would usually interpret Ron van Maanen's entries is that when he says "Board Amsterdam" or "Board Hoorn", he means the Directors.

Tromp's flagship Brederode on 28 July 1652

This one document that I received back in early February 2007 lists Rotterdam ships and has dimensions and gun numbers. The entry for the Brederode is interesting for the dimensions. They are similar to those in the 26 February 1652 list of Rotterdam ships, and differ from those which have been widely published and which are in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654. The dimensions are in Maas feet: 132ft x 32ft-4in x 13ft. The Brederode is stated to have 53 guns on board, but no specifics. As we are usually interested in Amsterdam feet rather than Maas feet, we convert the dimensions: 144ft x 35ft-3in x 14ft-2in. The Brederode is the size of a small English 3rd Rate from the 1650's.

Rotterdam Directors' ships in 1652

I have this general problem in that I have very little information about Rotterdam Directors' ships in service in 1652. For one ship, the Erasmus, all I have is the name, and that the captain was Sijmon Cornelsz van der Meer. The Erasmus was sunk in June 1652. For the ship Sint Pieter, commanded by Isaac de Jongh, I have the guns (29) and the crew (110) and that is all. This Sint Pieter foundered during the storm off the Shetlands in early August 1652. The other Sint Pieter was originally commanded by Adriaen de Zeeuw, but from what I have heard from Carl Stapel, he must have been wounded in the action where the Erasmus was sunk and later died. Sijmon Cornelisz van der Meer was appointed to command that ship named Sint Pieter. This Sint Pieter carried 28 guns, but they were quite light, with just a few 12pdr guns and the rest were smaller. Ruth Jacobsz Buy's ship, the Hollandia, was also lightly armed. The Hollandia carried 26 guns and had a crew of 105 men. The Hollandia was armed similarly to the Sint Pieter. Jacob Cleijdijck's ship, the Meerman, was more heavily armed, as among the 32 guns, the Meerman carried 4-24pdr. Corstiaen Corstiaenszoon's ship, the Prins, also had 4-24pdr guns and was the most heavily armed, carrying 38 guns. The other Rotterdam Directors' ship was the Jonas, commanded by Jan Evertsz de Liefde. The Jonas was armed with 36 guns, of which over half were 12pdr while the rest were smaller. The Jonas was apparently discarded after the storm in the Shetlands, as by late 1652, Jan de Liefde was Witte de With's flag captain on the Prinses Louise.

Inventories of ships

I have wondered how Ab Hoving and those like him would use the inventories of ships that still exist. There are many inventories that exist for Dutch ships in late June 1653, following the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag van Nieuwpoort). There are more inventories from November 1653, following the great storm off the Texel where many ships were lost. In some cases, the inventories include gun weights, and more have the number of the various size shot carried.

A list from 14 December 1652

One list that I have is a list of captains in Tromp's fleet on 14 December 1652. The list actually covers the ships in the fleet for the Battle of Dungeness on 10 December. I find the list for the Admiraliteit van de Noorderkwartier particularly interesting. We can do a better job of listing the ships and guns that go with captain's names:

Adm  Ship                    Guns Commander
N    Monnikendam             36   Schout-bij-Nacht Pieter Floriszoon
N    Prins Maurits           28   kapitein Cornelis Pietersz Taenman
N    Wapen van Monnikendam   24   kapitein Arent Dircksz
N    Peereboom               24   kapitein Tijs Tijmensz Peerebom
N    Tobias                  30   commandeur Johannes Bourgoigne
N    Eenhoorn                28   kapitein Jan Heck
N    Lastdrager              28   kapitein Volckert Schram
N    Schel                   24   kapitein Theunis Vechterszoon
N    Casteel van Medemblick  28   kapitein Gabriel Teuniszoon
N    Wapen van Enkhuizen     30   kapitein Herman Munnekes

More thoughts about Abraham van der Hulst's ship in early 1652

From a letter written by Johan Evertsen, following the storm in the Shetlands, we see that Abraham van der Hulst's ship is named Overijssel. We know that Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet says that the ship carried 26 guns and had a crew of 100 men. The mostly likely scenario, I believe, is that this was the Amsterdam ship Overijssel built in 1650. The other possibility is that this was the old Overijssel that Dr. Elias said was sold on 11 April 1652. Because of that, and because I have seen no information about a second Overijssel, the odds are that this was the new Overijssel. The story would be that after the storm in the Shetlands, Abraham van der Hulst passed the Overijssel to Jan van Campen, who had been fitting out a new ship, perhaps the Campen. Abraham van der Hulst took over the 125ft 40 gun ship Groningen from Joris van der Zaan. Joris van der Zaan gave up the Groningen and took over the newly constructed 128ft 40 gun ship Campen. The other possibility is that Jan van Campen was fitting out the new Overijssel, which had laid in dock since being completed in 1650. In this scenario, Abraham van der Hulst commanded the old ship Overijssel, despite the 11 April sale date. I guess that we need to know more before we can be sure which was the case.

From the Dutch arming plan for new ships in late 1653

I just posted the 58 gun and 52 gun arming plans at Anglo-Dutch Wars from this document from late 1653:

A ship of dimensions 134 or 136ft x 36ft x 14ft with 46 guns:

Lower Deck:
 4-bronze 24pdr
10-iron 18pdr
 8-iron 12pdr

Upper Deck:
 8-bronze 12pdr
 8-iron 8pdr
 8-bronze 6pdr drakes

Armament weights

Since I do not have exact gun inventories for most Amsterdam ships in 1652 and 1653, I can only estimate armament weights. I thought that an interesting exercise would be to compare armament weights for 128ft 40 gun ship, in this case the Vereenigde Provincien, and for a 125ft 40 gun ship, the Maan. They both have four large guns with a 12pdr lower tier. The upper tier on each consisted of 8pdr guns. There were also more guns, perhaps on the quarter deck and poop. The larger Vereenigde Provincien, with my estimates, would have had a 113,400 lbs armament while the smaller Maan would have had a 103,800 lbs armament. Bronze 24pdr guns might have been 4400 lbs. Iron 18pdr guns might have been 3600 lbs. Iron 12pdr guns might have been 3000 lbs. Iron 8pdr guns might have been 2300 lbs. Iron 6pdr guns might have been 1700 lbs. Iron 4pdr guns might have been 1150 lbs.

Remember, this is news

I don't know if anyone besides myself noticed this, but the information that we found about two Noorderkwartier ships in 1652 is news. By that I mean that the only published information is in The First Dutch War, and all that is given is the name of the captain and the name of each ship. Otherwise, nothing else was known. One ship, the Huis van Nassau, was commanded by Captain Gerrit Munt (sometimes written as Munth). The other ship was the Nieuw Casteel, commanded by Captain Claes Allertszoon. We found in information from the Nationaal Archief in The Hague that the Huis van Nassau carried 28 guns and had a crew of 104 men while the Nieuw Casteel carried 14 guns and had a crew of 65 men. They were both hired as part of the 100 Ships of the Extraordinary Equipage in 1652. That was a massive funding to hire 150 ships into the service of the Dutch navy.

The different charters to which ships were built

Dutch ships that were specifically built as warships were typically built to charters. The charter was generally defined by the length of the ship in Amsterdam feet of 283mm. In the First Anglo-Dutch War, Ships were nominally built to a limited number of charters. This is not an exhaustive list:

130ft

Adm   Ship                    Guns Commander
A     Jaarsvelt               44   Johan van Galen
N     Eendracht               41   Cornelis Jacobsz de Boer
A     Vrede                   44   Gideon de Wildt

128ft

R     Gelderland              40   Michiel Fransz van den Bergh
A     Vereenigde Provincien   40   Hendrick Claesz Swart
A     Campen                  40   Joris van der Zaen
                                   Willem van der Zaen

125ft

A     Zon                     40   Anthonis van Zalingen
A     Maan                    40   David Jansz Bondt
A     Haarlem                 40   Dirck Quirijnen Verveen
A     Zutphen                 36   Jan Pietersz Uijttenhout
A     Maeght van Enchuijsen   34   Cornelis Tromp

120ft

A     Middelburg              30   Jeroen Adelaer
N     Kasteel van Medemblick  28   Gabriel Antheunissen
                                   Adriaen Houttuijn
A     Hollandia               32   Evert Anthoniszoon
R     Prinses Louise          36   Witte de With
                                   Abel Roelantsz Verboom
A     Prins Willem            28   Jan Jansz Boermans
A     Leeuwarden              34   Govert Reael
A     Amsterdam               30   Barent Dorrevelt
R     Dolphijn                32   Paulus van den Kerckhoff

116ft

A     Leiden                  28   Cornelis Hola
R     Gorinchem               30   Jan van Nes
R     Rotterdam               30   Jan Aertsz Verhaeff
R     Dordrecht               26   Sier de Lieffde

112ft

A     Gelderland              28   Cornelis van Velsen
A     Overijssel              28   Jan van Campen

109ft

R     Gelderland              24   Aert Jansz van Nes de Jonge Boer Jaep
R     Utrecht                 22   Leendert Haewant
R     Overijssel              22   Cornelis Engelen Silvergieter
                                   Dirck Vijgh

The Amsterdam ship Haarlem

From this list that I just received that is dated 15 November 1653, there is another list of Amsterdam ships. I was looking at the list again, and the list of guns for the 40-gun ship Haarlem is striking: 8-18pdr, 18-12pdr, 10-6pdr, and 4-4pdr guns. The weight of broadside is 218 lbs. Compare that with the broadside weight for the Vereenigde Provincien, another 128ft 40-gun ship, which fired a broadside of 232 lbs, as the ship carried 4-24pdr and 22-12pdr guns, along with 8pdr and 6pdr guns. The heavy battery on the Haarlem did not really provide a greater broadside, although the 18dpr guns would be harder-hitting than 12pdrs.

One of the ships lost on 22 July 1652: the Kalmar Sleutel

The Kalmar Sleutel (or Calmer Sleutel) was one of the ships hired by the Admiralty of Rotterdam in early 1652 as part of the 100 ships, the Extraordinary Equipage. Her captain was Dirck Vijgh. In the summer of 1652, the Kalmar Sleutel was assigned to the 15 ship fishery protection squadron. That squadron was devastate on 22 July 1652 when many ships were sunk or captured. At least some of the captains, such as the squadron commander, Dirck van Dongen, shamefully surrendered their ships without a fight. Dirck Vijgh fought, however, and his small ship was sunk. Ron van Maanen has the details, which match fairly well with those that I have seen elsewhere. The dimensions were 103ft x 25ft x 11ft x 6ft. The latter is the "height above the hold", or height between the decks. The armament consisted of something like 8-8pdr, 6-6pdr, and 6-3pdr guns, according to Ron. My information from June 1652 was that the armament included 4-8pdr, 6-6pdr, 6-4pdr, and 4-3pdr guns. There actually may have been as many as 24 guns. The crew consisted of 90 men. Ron says that the Kalmar Sleutel was twenty years old.

The Brederode lasts calculation

Tromp's flagship, the Brederode, is usually stated to be 300 lasts. I think that actually understates the size. If you do the calculation with Maas feet of 308mm, then the 300 lasts makes more sense than if you use the dimensions in Amsterdam feet of 283mm. The equation shows 300 lasts = (132ft x 32ft x 13-1/2ft)/K.Soliving for the constant K, we have K=190.08, which seems low. If we do it in Amsterdam feet, it makes less sense: 300 lasts = (144ft x 34.9ft x 14.73ft)/K. Solving for the constant K gives us K=246/76, which is high. In this case, the case for the calculation being done in Maas feet is not as strong, but it does seem plausible.

The small frigates Utrecht and Overijssel

The list that I just received, dating from 1642, is quite interesting. That list confirms what I had already seen. The small Rotterdam frigates Utrecht and Overijssel were built in 1636, not in 1638, as is stated in Vreugdenhil's list. The 1642 list also gives their size as 90 lasts. I suspect that figure is calculated from their size in Maas feet (308mm), not from the size in Amsterdam feet (283mm). The dimensions of the Utrecht and Overijssel, in Maas feet, are 100ft x 23ft x 8ft. If we look at the equation for lasts, we see 90 lasts = (100 x 23 x 8) / K. We solve for K = (100 x 23 x 8)/90. That gives a K=204.44, which is very plausible. I predict that if we converted the dimensions to Amsterdam feet, we would see a K that is too large. As for the 130 last ships (dimensions in Maas feet of 106ft x 25ft x 9.5 or 10ft), we see 130 lasts = (106ft x 25ft x 10ft)/K. We solve for K=(106 X 25 x 10)/130. That gives us a K=203.846, which is a very plausible figure.

Ships from 28 June 1653

Yesterday, I received a document that is similar to other lists from the same period (late June 1653). What it does is confirm information that might otherwise have been in doubt. This is an excerpt from that list:

College of the Admiralty of Amsterdam

Overijssel     kapitein Jan van Campen
Pellicaen      kapitein Overcamp
Engel Gabriel  kapitein van den Bosch
Gouden Reael   kapitein Adriaen van Loenen
Hollandia      kapitein Evert Anthonisz
Groningen      kapitein Gillis Tijsz
Bommel         kapitein Brakel
Winthont       kapitein Heertiens
Brack          kapitein Jan Admirael

College of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier

Eenhoorn       kapitein Jan Heck
Lastdrager     kapitein Gerrit Munt
Harder         kapitein Jan Backer

Colleges of the Admiralty of Friesland and Stad en Landen

Sevenwolden    Lt. Stellingwerff
Breda          kapitein Bruijnsvelt
Graef Hendrick kapitein Wagenaer
Waterhont      kapitein Oosteroon
Sara           Lt. Hessel Franssen 

A counterpart to the list from Thurloe from June 1653

The First Dutch War, Vol.V, has a list of Dutch ships taken from Thurloe's state papers, which was compiled from English spies operating in the Netherlands. The list in The list from Thurloe is somewhat different than what I have seen, but it is close enough to be either based on the document that I received yesterday, or from a slightly different copy. The interesting feature of what I received yesterday is that there is a date from the envelope: 19 June 1653. In case you are not familiar with the list, this is what is in the document that I received yesterday:

Ships lying in the Texel

Admiralty of Amsterdam

kapitein Jan van Campen       the ship Overijssel
kapitein Overcamp             the ship the Pellicaen
kapitein van den Bos          the ship the Engel Gabriel
kapitein Arij van Loenen      the ship the Goude Reael  73 men
kapitein Evert Anthonisz     (the Hollandia)
kapitein Gillis Tijsz Campen (the Groningen)

Noorderkwartier

kapitein Jan Heck             the ship the Eenhoorn     80 men
kapitein Gerrit Munt          the ship the Lastdrager   61 men
                              the Harder                80 men
kapitein Roetjes              the ship Radbout van Medemblick 90 men

Directors of Amsterdam

Keurforst van Keulen

Friesland

commandeur Stellingwerff      the ship the Seven Wolden
kapitein Bruijnsvelt          the ship Breda
kapitein Wagenaer             the ship Graef Hendrick

Fireships

commandeur Jan Claesz         the ship the Cleijn Hoop
commandeur Cornelis           the ship the Groot Hoop
commandeur Schoonvelt         the ship the Fortuijn
commandeur van de Crimp(?)    the ship the Son

Galliots

schipper Trommel
Reijer Cornelisz

The Amsterdam ship Bommel

Ron van Maanen has his own information about the Amsterdam ship Bommel that served in the First Anglo-Dutch War. The Bommel usually was listed at 120ft x 28-3/4ft x 11-3/4ft x 6-3/4ft. At least one source gave the beam as only 27-1/2ft. Ron only gives the armament as 20-12pdr, 2-6pdr, and 8-4pdr guns. We believe that in mid-1653, the Bommel carried as many as 34 guns. Her crew is listed as anywhere from 80 to 140 men. The Bommel was built about 1645 and was last mentioned on 20 May 1656.

Complete list of crews

I am not sure what to do with them, but I have more complete lists of the men the crew of Amsterdam Directors' ships. The lastest is the list of men in the crew of the Nassouw van den Burgh, the ship of Lambert Pieterszoon in 1652. Up until the fall, the ship was referred to as being leaky.

I have my copy of Iain Stanford's rules out and am studying them

I have a copy of Iain Standford's rules (thanks to Iain Stanford). Since my interest has increased, again, in doing some 17th Century naval wargaming, Iain's rules look the most promising for what I want to do: fight battles with fleets of up to 100 ships or so per side. I had forgottent that a "stand" could have more than two ships (up to four). I now have the luxury of knowing the dimensions and lists of guns for almost the entire Dutch navy in the First Anglo-Dutch War. I know enough about the English navy to at least make reasonable estimates. For hired ships, I have Frank Fox's articles from 1998 in the Mariner's Mirror, where he gives dimensions and guns for some ships that served in the First Anglo-Dutch War. I also have Rif Winfield's book about 50 gun ships. With that and R.C. Anderson's article about English fleet lists from the First Anglo-Dutch War, I should be able to do something reasonable.

The Groote Liefde and Bruijn van Seelst

Carl Stapel says that the letter that I have from Bruijn van Seelst written from an English prisoner of war camp. The date is a few days after he was taken prisoner, when his ship was captured. He complains that the Groote Liefde was a poor sailer. That explain, in part, why the ship, renamed Great Charity by the English, was the only English ship captured by the Dutch at the Battle of Lowestoft in June 1665. The Dutch dimensions for the Groote Liefde were 132ft x 29ft x 13-1/2ft x 6-1/2ft. the ship carried 38 guns: 2-bronze 24pdr, 18-12pdr, 14-6pdr, and 4-3pdr guns. The English dimensions were: 106ft (keel) x 28ft-4in x 11ft. The burden, calculated in the later English method was 453 tons. I estimate that the Dutch measurement was about 240 lasts.

Iain Stanford's General-at-Sea rules

Iain Stanford wrote a set of rules for naval wargaming for the period of 1660-1721 called General-at-Sea. General-at-Sea was published by The Pike & Shot Society. He has a revision to those rules that are intended to be published. I think that I am in a place to make another run at wargame pieces for the First Anglo-Dutch War using Iain's system, except calibrated to use individual ships. I had made a start on the drawings, already, although I may want to redo them. This weekend looks to be setup so that I would be able to put some time into this project.

What happened to Jan Christoffelsz Duijm?

Jan Christoffelsz Duijm commanded the Zeeland ship Salamander (26 guns) from before the beginning of the war in 1652. He was in the Caribbean Sea with Cornelis Mangelaer, commanding the Vlissingen (32 guns). They returned by early January 1653. Jan Duijm performed a critical function of towing Michiel De Ruijter's flagship, the Lam, through the last two days of the Three Days Battle, after the Lam was dismasted after desperate fighting on the first day. By the late summer of 1653, the Salamander was commanded by Pieter Marcuszoon. We later see Jan Duijm in 1658, when he commanded the Zeeland frigate Prins Willem (28 guns) in 1658, with Jacob van Wassenaer-Obdam's fleet in the Sound. So, why did we not see any mention of Jan Duijm until 1658? Is the mention there, and I have just not seen it?

My goals, all along

Most of my original rationale for studying 17th Century naval history was to be able to make wargame pieces for the English and Dutch navies and have a set of rules that I could use to game the battles in the First Anglo-Dutch War. An early complication was that I had little solid information on the Dutch. Once I found The First Dutch War, I was able to make a small start. I eventually got my bound volume that contains the various lists of English, Dutch, French ships from about 1648 to 1700, published by the Society for Nautical Research. Someone had the booklets bound into a hardback book, and that was what I had found. After reading Jan Glete's Navies and Nations, and I contacted him, I started to get more solid information about the Dutch beyond what had been published. Right now, I am collecting information faster than I can process it. I still would like to use the information for gaming, although there are many obstacles to doing so, such as concocting suitable rules. Because my focus was on gaming, that was why I had made my 1:1200 scale drawing for use as wargame pieces. One fairly major issue is that the information about the English ships is very limited. Anyway, I am moving as fast as I can, limited by time and money. Right now, Carl Stapel moving faster than anyone and knows more, as well. I would settle for buying his books, even though I would have liked to be in the position of writing them, as well.

Dutch warships on 9 June 1652

The plan in place on 9 June 1652 for the Dutch navy listed the various categories and numbers of ships (I do this again, perhaps more clearly, because it is what I am thinking about):

About 41 convoyers (authorized in 1648)
36 ships authorized in 1651:
  15 in the Mediterranean Sea
   5 on the coast of Spain near Cape St. Vincent
  16 operating in the North Sea
10 ships in Brazil
38 ships of the 100 ships authorized in 1652

125 ships total

In addition, there were 50 ships 
  hired by the Directors of the seaports

186 ships total

Rotterdam:
  5 convoyers
  2 in the Mediterranean Sea
  4 in the North Sea
  2 in Brazil
  8 of the 16-1/2 ships in the 100 ships of 1652

Amsterdam:
 18 convoyers
  7 in the Mediterranean Sea
  5 on the Spanish coast near Cape St. Vincent
  2 in the North Sea
  4 in Brazil
 11 of the 33 ships in the 100 ships of 1652

Zeeland:
  9 convoyers
  3 in the Mediterranean Sea
  4 in the North Sea
  1 in Brazil
  7 of the 16-1/2 ships in the 100 ships of 1652

Noorderkwartier:
  7 convoyers
  3 in the Mediterranean Sea
  4 in the North Sea
  1 in Brazil
  7 of the 16-1/2 in the 100 ships of 1652

Friesland:
  2 convoyers
  2 in the North Sea
  2 in Brazil
  5 of the 17-1/2 ships in the 100 ships of 1652

Six Dutch fireships on 22 June 1653

The list from 22 June 1653 that gives the status of the Dutch fleet lists six fireships (branders):

1. Coninck David, Jacob Arensen (a Rotterdam fireship)
2. Orangeboom, Dirck Janssen Stroo (a Rotterdam fireship)
3. Ostende, Jan Dieman (a Zeeland fireship)
4. Lieffde, Jan Vinckhart (a Zeeland fireship)
5. 't Vercken, Henric Boudewijns (a Zeeland fireship)
6. 't Hammetien (Hammetje), Abraham Boons (?) (a Hoorn fireship)

The Elias called the "Propheet Elias"

I received a photograph, today, of a document from late September 1652 that is about Amsterdam Directors' ships and captains. The page in question names a ship the "Propheet Elias". The more modern Dutch spelling is "Profeet", but this uses, much like the "Phesant", the "ph" spelling for the "f" sound. This makes sense, although the ship is usually listed simply as the "Elias", rather than "Propheet Elias". This is the ship that served from March or April 1652 up to June 1653, when the ship was captured by the English at the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). This was such a good ship that she served with the English navy until being wrecked in 1664. Probably no one else wonders, but I wonder how well my formula for converting from English measurements to Dutch dimensions in Amsterdam feet works:

Elias
Dutch dimensions: 132-1/2ft x 30ft x 13ft x 6-1/2ft
English dimensions: 
ELK=101ft  EB=27ft-6in  ED=11ft-6in

DL = ELK x 1.33 = 101 x 1.33 =   134.33 ft (too long)
DB = EEB x 1.13 =  27.5 x 1.13 =  31ft (too wide)
DH = ED x 1.13  =  11.5 * 1.13 =  13ft (just right)

I would say that the Elias may have had thinner planking than usual, and that accounts for the beam. I also suspect that the Elias had less rake, between the keel and the length from stem to sternpost, and that accounts for the disparity in length.

I am still not sure about Abraham van der Hulst's ship in the April to August 1652 period

Yes, we learn from a letter from Johan Evertsen that Abraham van der Hulst commanded an Amsterdam ship named Overijssel. From Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet, we conclude that this was 's-Landsschip, not hired. Hendrick de Raedt says that Abraham van der Hulst's ship carried 26 guns and had a crew of 100 men. There are two candidate ships, one of which may not even have been in service past early 1652, if not earlier. One possibility is the "old Overijssel", with 28 guns and perhaps of 120ft length. The other is the new ship built in 1651. The obvious conclusion is that the ship that Jan van Campen was fitting out in August 1652 was the ship built in 1651 that might never have been in service. The ship commanded by Abraham van der Hulst, then, would be the old Overijssel, which was discarded by September 1652. Abraham van der Hulst was given command of the 40-gun ship Groningen, which had been commanded by Joris van der Zaan. He moved to the newly built Campen in September. The one concern that I have is that we have dimensions and gun lists for all other Landsschepen and hired ships for Amsterdam in 1652. If the old Overijssel was in service, then there was one ship for which we do not have dimensions and guns lists. We even have dimensions and gun lists for two Landsschepen ships lost by August 1652. These are Jeroen Adelaer's ship, the Middelburg, taken by the English in June and Barent Pietersz Dorrevelt's ship Amsterdam, which foundered in the storm off the Shetlands in early August. If we know about these, why don't we know about some other Overijssel?

My English ship estimates

I have a spreadsheet that I last modified in 2003 for estimating characteristics of 17th Century English warships. Let us look at ships named Assistance, dating from 1650 to 1725:

Ship       Date Guns  LGD      LK       B       D       LK*B*D (LK*B*B/2)/94 Built
Assistance 1650 40-48 121.46ft 102ft    31ft    13ft    411.1 t 548.1 t    Deptford DY
Assistance 1687 40    121.46ft 102ft    32.33ft 13ft    428.7 t 571.6 t    Deptford DY
Assistance 1699 48    119.58ft 103.33ft 33.25ft 12ft    412.3 t 549.7 t    Deptford DY
Assistance 1712 50    132.13ft 108.92ft 35ft    14ft    535.5 t 713.7 t    Limehouse
Assistance 1725 50    134ft    109.75ft 36.06ft 15.17ft 600.6 t 760 t      Woolwich DY

The planned armaments for Zeeland ships building in 1653

The lists of guns for a 50 gun ship and a 40 gun ship planned for the Admiralty of Zeeland still are interesting. Given the gun types, these must have been for specific ships:

The 50 gun ship
4 bronze German half cartouwen shooting 24 lbs shot
4 bronze French half cartouwen shooting 18 lbs shot
18 iron half cartouwen shooting 18 lbs shot
10 bronze shot serpants shooting 12 lbs shot
8 bronze drakes shooting 6 lbs shot
6 iron half sakers shooting 6 lbs shot

The 40 gun ship
4 bronze short serpants shooting 24 lbs shot
6 iron short 12pdr sakers shooting 12 lbs shot
4 bronze half-serpants shooting 6 lbs shot
4 bronze drakes shooting 6 lbs shot

These are my translation of gun lists from a document that I received in April 2007.

Jan Glete's approximation is for displacement

For his book Navies and Nations, Jan Glete created an approximation so that he could estimate displacements for sailing ships of all nations in the period that he covered from the 16th to the 19th Century. He describes some of that in his book, as quantitative measures were critical to his analysis about the influence of seapower on nation building. He was not working the usual generalities. Instead, he consulted the published literature and used archival sources. In his book, he mentioned the regional archivist Ron van Maanen, who had found information in the Dutch archives beyond what was in the published literature. I have used that information in the past three or four years to make significant progress. At least one other researcher with more direct access to the archives is moving faster than I am.

Why calculate an estimated displacement?

Frank Fox had suggested to me that displacement would be a better comparison of size between sailing warships than burden, as burden is essentially just a "gross tonnage" measure, having to do with some artificial calculations about ship volume (which is what gross tonnage is all about). The English burden calculation is rather nasty, in that it does not even use a real depth in hold measurement, but uses half the beam. The keel length even was abstracted away from the real keel length in the latter 17th Century, when the English started using a fraction of the length on the gun deck.

The Rotterdam ship Dolphijn, calculated

The dimensions given for the Rotterdam ship in the classic 26 February 1652 list are different from those published in Vreugdenhil's list and from what is in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654. A similar list from 7 March has the same dimensions, as they both must be based on records at the Admiralty of Rotterdam. I have based my calculations for early 1652 on those dimensions, of Maas feet of 12 inches to the foot:

Ship the Dolphijn
Commander in September 1652: Paulus van den Kerckhoff
Length (Maas feet): 110ft
Beam (Maas feet):    25-1/2ft
Hold (Maas feet):    12-1/2ft
Length (Amst feet): 120ft
Beam (Amst feet):    27ft-9in
Hold (Amst feet):    13ft-7in
Displacement:       555.6 tons
Broadside weight:   177 lbs
Armament:  4-24pdr, 16-12pdr, 8-6pdr, 2-4pdr, 2-3pdr
Length WL (English):  107ft-4in
Length WL (Amst ft):  115ft-7in
Beam outside planking (English): 27ft
Mean draft (English):  13ft-5in
Size in Lasten:       210 lasts
Jan Glete's approximation: 529.14 tons
English burden:            349.86 tons

The Rotterdam ship Overijssel (22 guns) calculated

I have a spreadsheet that I modified to convert from Maas feet to Amsterdam feet. The results from calculations for late 1652 are worth noting:

Overijssel

Commander: Leendert Haexwant

Length (Amsterdam feet):  109ft-1in
Beam (Amsterdam feet):     25ft-1in
Hold: (Amsterdam feet):     8ft-8in
Ht between decks (Amst ft): 6ft 
Displacement (est. tons): 293.4 tons
Broadside wt:             112 lbs
Armament: 4-chambered 24pdr, 2-12pdr, 4-8pdr, 12-6pdr
Length on waterline (English feet):   97ft-6.5in
Length on waterline (Amst feet):     105ft-1in
Beam outside planking (Engl ft):      24ft-6in
Beam outside planking (Amst ft):      26ft-5in
Mean draft (English feet):             8ft-7in
Size in Lasten (Dutch gross tonnage): 110 lasts
Keel length (English feet):            82ft
English burden:                       261.89 tons
Jan Glete's approximation:            277.68 tons

Arms on the Amsterdam Directors' ships

One document that I have gives a list of items to be carried by Amsterdam Directors' ships in 1652 (I can read much of the list, but not all):

25 muskets of the Directors
24 muskets of the shipowners
36 sabers
25 sabers of the Directors
24 long pikes
24 short pikes of the Directors
4000 lbs. of gunpowder
400 lbs. of musket balls
(looks like 500 lbs. "plat loot")
12 grapple axes
12 leather buckets
12 swabbers
4 heavy anchors
1 warp anchor
4 cables attached to each other 
1 (scratched out "warp anchor") "Tuij T?ull"
1 bread chamber for 4000 lbs. bread
12 straps

The Swarte Beer

The Monnikendam Directors' ship Swarte Beer served through the First Anglo-Dutch War. We know the armament on 21 June 1653, from an inventory. The ship had 2-18pdr guns, some 12pdr guns, with the main battery being 8pdr guns. The Swarte Beer also had some 4pdr guns and 2-3pdr guns. I have wondered about the widespread use of 2-3pdr guns by many ships and have not heard a good explanation of how they were used.

Letters from after the storm in the Shetlands

The most recent pages that I have received include letters from the captains of Amsterdam Directors' ships, such as Cornelis van Houten, captain of the Witte Lam (28 guns). Some letters are signed by Abraham Hendricksz van Campen and Hector Bardesius. Tromp's fleet consisted of 92 warships, along with one supply ship (the Blompot), seven fireships, and three galjoots.

I used to think that the lists of ships for 1648, 1651, and 1652 were static

Back when I started one of my writing projects, "Dutch Ships in Various Operations During the First Anglo-Dutch War", I had assumed that the lists of ships, the 40 convoyers funded in 1648, the 36 cruisers funded in 1651, the 50 Directors' ships funded in 1652, and the 100 ships funded in 1652 were static, so that I could have one table for each. I would fill them in once and that would be enough. I know now that the ships funded by each increment changed over time. The first indication of that was when more ships were hired by the Directors to replace losses. I could also see that more ships were hired by the admiralties, also to replace losses, but also to replace ships discarded for various reasons. Dr. Colenbrander had the numbers of ships for Rotterdam, Amsterdam, the Noorderkwartier, Zeeland, and Friesland in his book, Bescheiden uit vreemde Archieven omtrent de groote Nederlandsche Zeeoorlogen, 1652-76.

I have started work on a new family of wargame pieces: Dutch ships of various lengths that can be customized

The trick for putting together sheets of ship wargame pieces is to have a family of drawings scanned that can be customized to match individual ships. They are not intended, in my case, to represent actual appearances, although I may do that at times. Generally, there are not enough drawings of known ships for the First Anglo-Dutch War Dutch ships to be able to do that. I will be posting the results here as I finish them. The next ten days will be difficult, except today and the weekend, as I will be working ten hour days.

The Vrijheid was more lightly armed in 1652 and 1653, despite carrying 46 guns

The large Amsterdam ship Vrijheid, built in 1651, was lightly armed in the period of 1652 to 1653. Later, the Vrijheid had a lower tier of 18pdr guns, but during the First Anglo-Dutch War, the Vrijheid had 4-24pdr and the rest being 12pdr guns on the lower tier. The upper tier was 8pdr guns, probably with an unarmed waist, plus two 6pdr guns. I have a list with armaments dating from 1652 that has guns but no dimensions.

No surprises

Because we have basically complete information on Amsterdam and Friesland ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War, I am skeptical about a ship named Eendracht commanded by Albert Claesz de Graeff up to August 1652. While that is possible, given that we have dimensions and gun lists for all other ships built for and hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam in the period of 1652 to 1653, it seems unlikely. We even have dimensions and gun lists for Jeroen Adelaer's ship Middelburg, captured by the English in June 1652 and Barent Pietersz Dorrevelt's ship that foundered in the storm off the Shetlands in early August. I doubt any possible "mystery ship".

Amsterdam ships armed with 10pdr guns in 1652 and 1653

Apparently, the gun shot weights 5, 10, 15, and 20pdr were non-standard for Dutch ships. I have thought that they were an older standard, as in the few lists that I have dating from prior to 1639, there are many ships carrying at least the 5, 10, and 15pdr guns. At least one ship carried 20pdr guns in 1652 and 1653, although very few. The 5pdr is equivalent to the English saker (5-1/4pdr). I know for sure that the Amsterdam ships Gelderland (ship of Cornelis van Velsen), Overijssel (ship of Jan van Campen), and the Zeelandia (ship of Jacob Huyrluyt and Nicolaes Marrevelt) all carried a large number of 10pdr guns. The Gelderland exploded in the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort), so those guns were lost.

The list of Zeeland ships funded by the resolution at the Peace in 1648

You should not assume that they list of Zeeland convoyers includes the actual ships in service in 1648. There is reason to believe that the actual ships funded by the act of the States Generaal changed over time. My list is the list from early December 1652. By the summer of 1653, the ships included in the 40 convoyers of 1648, the 36 cruisers of 1651, the 50 Directors' ships, and the 100 ships of 1652 had changed radically, due to war losses, ships discarded, ships moved between categories, and new ships hired. You only have to study the lists over time to see the changes.

The Zeeland contribution to the 40 convoyers

At the peace treaty with Spain in 1648, the Dutch navy was reduced to 40 convoyers. The actual ships in that category seem likely to have changed over time. As of December 1652, the Zeeland convoyers included the following ships:

Adm    Ship              Gun Commander
Z      Zeeuwsche Leeuw   27  kapitein Cornelis Evertsen de Oude
Z      Westcappel        28  kapitein Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge
Z      Amsterdam         32  kapitein Adriaen Kempen
Z      Middelburg        26  kapitein Claes Jansz Sanger
Z      Sandenburgh       24  kapitein Pieter Gorcum
Z      Wapen van Zeeland 34  kapitein Joris Willemsz Block
Z      Hasewint          28  kapitein Jacob Verhelle (lost)
Z      Jaeger            14  kapitein Adriaen Jansz den Oven

Ships under the command of Egbert Meeussen (Kortenaer)

He wasn't using the name Kortenaer in October 1653, but Egbert Meeussen was recognized as being an outstanding officer. From the Battle of Scheveningen and on the voyage to Norway in October 1653, he was a temporary squadron commander. I have a document that gives guns and crew for the ships in his squadron:

Adm    Ship                Guns Crew Commander
R      Brederode           54   263  kapitein Egbert Meeussen
R      Princesse Louijsse  36   131  kapitein Abel Roelantsz (Verboom)
R      Gelderlandt         24   114  kapitein jonge boer (Aert van Nes)
A      Oosterwijck         55   226  kapitein de Wilde (Gideon de Wildt)
A      Edam                30   122  kapitein Cramer (Barent Cramer)
A      Gouda               30   145  kapitein Jan Egbertsz Ooms
A      Ouden Prins         32   113  kapitein Boermans (Jan Boermans)
  (the Prins Willem)
A      Leijden             30   114  kapitein Croeger (Hendrick Croeger)
A      Groningen           40   198  kapitein Gillis Thijssen Campen
A      Zutphen             30   107  kapitein Ysbrandt de Vries
A      Overijssel          30   132  kapitein Jan van Campen
A      Hollantsen Tuijn    24    87  kapitein Joris Block
N      Tobias              30   122  kapitein Jan Ham
F      Breda               32   124  kapitein Adriaen Bruijnsvelt
Ho-VOC Sint Willeboort     27   123  kapitein Eddick Jacobsz