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.

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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.