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.