Rotterdam ships in "The Plan" of 9 June 1652

I have photographs of a document from 9 June 1652 that gives the plan for how ships were deployed and funded. One part of the list says that there were two ships of the 36 ships from Rotterdam "in the Mediterranean Sea". I believe that the second ship was the Brederode, which was planned to be sent but did not actually go. The ship that actually was in the Mediterranean Sea was the Gelderland (40 guns), commanded by Michiel Fransz van den Bergh.

Another look at the 10 Dutch ships in Brazil in early 1652

I was looking at a document dated 9 June 1652, today, that showed ten ships in Brazil. By 9 June, they were actually returning home. So what were the ten ships listed in the document?

Rotterdam       Nijmegen, 26 guns          Paulus van den Kerckhoff  lost 10 June
Rotterdam       Dolphijn, 32 guns          Marinus de Clercq
Amsterdam       Gewapende Ruiter, 36 guns  Boetius Schaeff           lost 18 June
Amsterdam       Prinses Aemilia, 28 guns   Floris van Oyen
Amsterdam       Westfriesland, 28 guns     kapitein Boonacker
Amsterdam       Graef Willem, 38 guns      kapitein Tas
Zeeland         ?                          Cornelis Loncke
Zeeland         ?                          Cornelis Mangelaer
Friesland       Frisia, 28 guns            Tjaart de Groot
Friesland       ?                          Hendrick Jansz Camp
Noorderkwartier Eenhoorn, 28 guns          Allert Tamessen
Noorderkwartier Hollandsche Tuin, 36 guns  ?

I know a bit more than this, but I don't know that I am authorized to say what it is.

J. C. De Jonge's list from March 1653

When I have tried, in the past, to fill in the names of ships into the list from J. C. De Jonge's outline of ships in the Dutch navy in March 1653, I always have had trouble. The main trouble has been with the Amsterdam ships. I now think that the problems there are caused by some odd ships being considered hired and at least one ship not considered hired that seems to have been hired. You also have to include the VOC ship Vogelstruis, which is reasonable, as the Amsterdam hired 40 gun ship, not the Aartsengel Michiel. I don't like having to defend that, but there is at least one list that includes the Aartsengel Michiel under the landsschip list for the 40 convoyers funded in 1648.

The list of ships in De Ruyter's fleet probably from late July 1652

Today, I received a photograph of two pages from De Ruyter's journal from the summer of 1652 (probably late July) that shows that Laurens Degelcamp was captain of a ship named Gelderland (24 guns and a crew of 80 men). I think that it is telling that the Sint Nicolaes and the Gelderland both have a plus and an X to the left of the entry. I am more convinced than ever that I lost some photographs back in February to March 2007 when I ran out of storage space in Gmail, before they were selling increased storage. I am certain that I saw a photograph that showed Laurens Degelcamp as captain of a ship named Gelderland.

Dutch guns

What I would like to be able to do is to look at a Dutch gun's shot weight and the weight of the piece, in Amsterdam pounds, and be able to estimate the gun weight. I have an idea that might not be too easy. I imagine that guns were probably not cast to the ideal thickness of metal, but were both lighter and heavier than that. We would also need to take into account that a gun was a drake or klokwijs (with a bell-shaped chamber). You also have guns that were "metael" or "ijser" (bronze or iron).

Some Friesland ship questions

I have seen a summary document that ascribes two convoyers of 1648 and two cruisers of 1651 to the Admiralty of Friesland in 1652. I had forgotten that the second "convoyer" was probably the jacht Graaf Willem (12 guns) built in 1644 (according to Vreugdenhil's list). I am not surprised that the two Frisian smacks, the Frisia (8 guns) and the Koning David (2 guns), are not included in the counts, as they were small vessels. One other remaining question is ship number 48 from Vreugdenhil's list: the Omlandia, said to be built in 1628 with dimensions 122ft x 26-1/2ft x 13ft, carrying 30 guns. I have not seen that ship obviously mentioned in any document that I have seen. The only possible candidate would be the mysterious ship commanded by Captain Belevelt, in Vice-Admiraal Witte de With's journal in September 1652. There is also the mention, by December 1652, of the ship Stad Groningen en Ommelanden with only 28 guns, with Joost Bulter as captain. By early 1653, the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden is mentioned with either 34 or 38 guns.

I am back to working on my book project

I am back to working on my book project, although there is a great deal to do. I am going with my original outline for a book about the Dutch navy, ships, and naval officers in the First Anglo-Dutch War. At least, I am now using information almost exclusively from archival sources, rather than rehashing previously published information. I have my usual handicaps. I have limited time. I am not a native Dutch speaker. I do not have easy access to the archives. I expect that we will see related publications in Dutch quite a while before you will see mine in English. I would like to think that I have a different focus and perspective. I have been studying the subject for about fifteen years.

The Salamander

In August to November 1653 Pieter Marcuszoon commanded the Zeeland ship Salamander, including in the Battle of Scheveningen. The question that I have is if this was the same ship that Jacob Christoffelsz Duijm commanded through 1652 up to after the Three Days Battle? That Salamander towed Michiel De Ruyter's ship Lam from later in the first day up until they arrived in the Netherlands.