I trying my hand, again, at wargame pieces

I decided that I should make another attempt at digitally drawn ships for use as war game pieces. I started with one of my hybrid sheets that was based on hand-drawn ships and then was digitally edited. I will post some of the results if and when I have something suitable.

Cornelis Tiebij's ship in July 1653

I just read a page that said that Cornelis Tiebij's English ship lay at Ter Veere. The date of the list that contains this entry is 23 July 1653. Most people are probably not so deep into this that they would see the interesting point. Another page says that the Bonaventura was lying at Veere. This was the captured English ship Anthony Bonaventure, which was taken at the Battle of Dungeness. A different page says that the ship of Cornelis Tiebij carried 37 guns and had a crew of 130 men. Of course, this page is dated 19 September 1653, more than a month after the Battle of Scheveningen. A list compiled on 11 August 1653, just one day after the battle includes the name of Cornelis Tiebij under the category of the Directors of Zeeland. A list dated 14/16 August 1653 gives his ship as having 37 guns and a crew of 134 men. A list from a few days before the battle omits Cornelis Tiebij's ship name and details, but his name is still under the category of ships of the Directors of Zeeland. One list from Witte de With's journal from the October timeframe calls the ship the "Luijpert". His ship is elsewhere called the "Luijpaert". Was this the same ship as the English ship? It would have been a ship hired by the Directors of Middelburg and was not the English 3rd Rate Leopard.

Dutch ships at the Battle of Portland

I have my working list of Dutch ships at the Battle of Portland (the Three Days Battle), but I already see a potential problem. On page 69, a Captain "Willem Aryens" is mentioned in the battle, and I think that this would be a reference to Willem Ariensz Warmont, who was captain of the Rotterdam ship Gorcum (30 guns). I do not have that ship in my list.

The hired ship Hollandsche Tuin

Any doubt that the hired 24-gun ship that was commanded by Joris Block in 1653 was the same ship as that which had served in 1652 were removed with I looked at the gun list. The list from September 1652 and the list from 23 June 1653 are indentical. The dimensions are similar, which is good, as the list from 23 June 1653 has dimensions that often vary from what we believe to be accurate.

The Dutch after the Battle of Portland

While the Battle of Portland, or as the Dutch called, the Three Days Battle, was hard fought, it was not as intense as the Four Days' Battle in June 1666. In the Battle of Portland, the hard fighting took place on the first day. Already, after the first day, the Dutch were running short of gun powder and shot. The Dutch acquired a new interest in the status of ships and how much gun powder, in particular, that they carried. They always had been interested in the status of victuals and water carried.

One consequence of the Battle of Portland was that the Dutch largely rearmed their ships. The fleet flagship Brederode had, by the time of the Battle of the Gabbard, a complete lower tier of 24pdr and 36pdr guns. Prior to that, there were still some 18pdr guns on the lower tier. The overall effect was to increase the broadside weight of many ships. After the Battle of the Gabbard, they often included inventories of shot carried for the guns, as they gathered more status information after the battle.

The Dutch did their best to learn from "the last battle", at least what they saw the problems to be. One consequence of the Battle of the Kentish Knock on 8 October 1652 was to start building new and larger ships for the fleet. The first had joined the fleet for the Battle of Scheveningen, but they did not join the fleet in larger numbers until after that battle. At this time, the Dutch had difficulty in providing guns for the new ships.