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.