17th Century Naval Wargaming

The forty convoyers of 1648

2011-06-05T14:51:00.002-05:00

After the peace treaty in 1648 that ended both the Thirty Years War and the Dutch war of independence, funding was voted to provide for forty ship, which were characterized as convoyers. I have not seen the original list of ships. All I have are several competing lists from late 1652. One of those lists, dated 28 November 1652 shows the ships as follows:

Adm  Ship                  Commander                             Guns
R    Gorcum                Capt. Willem Adriaensen Warmont       30
R    Rotterdam             Capt. Jan Aertsen Verhaeff            30
R    Schiedam              Capt. Dirck Juijnbol                  30
 (or Gelderland)
R    Gelderland            Capt. Aert Jansen van Nes             24
R    Maeght Dordrecht      Capt. Sier de Liefde                  26
R    Nimmegen              Capt. Paulus van Kerckhoff            26
A    Vrijheid              Capt. Augustinnus Balck               46
A    Aertsengel Michael    Capt. Willem Nieuhoff                 40
A    Utrecht               Capt. Jan Roeteringh                  30
A    Campen                Capt. Joris van Zaan                  40
A    Zeelandia             Lt.-Capt. Claes Marrevelt             34
A    Hollandia             Capt. Evert Anthonissen               32
A    Zutphen               Capt. Ewout Jeroensen,                28
                             Lt. Joris Jansen Block
A    Phesant               Capt. Jan Jansz Lapper                28
A    Bommel                Capt. Pieter van Brakel               30
A    Groningen             Capt. Abraham van der Hulst           40
A    Graaf Willem          Capt. Jan Gideonsz Verburgh           40
A    Brack, jacht          Capt. Pieter van Zalingen             18
A    Engel                 Capt. Maerten Schaeff                 26
A    Omlandia              Capt. Jacob Troncquois,               30
                             Capt. Boetius Schaeff
A    Middelburg            Capt. Jeroen Adelaer                  26
Z    Zeeuwsche Leeuw       Capt. Cornelis Evertsen de Oude       27
Z    Westcappel            Capt. Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge      28
Z    Amsterdam             Capt. Adriaen Kempen                  32
Z    galias Middelburg     Capt. Claes Jansen Sanger             26
Z    galias Sandenburgh    Capt. Pieter Gorcum                   24
Z    Wapen van Zeeland     Capt. Joris Willemsz Blocq            34
Z    Hasewint              Capt. Jacob Verhelle                  28
Z    Jager, jacht          Capt. Adriaen Jansen Gloeijenden Oven 14
N    Hoorn                 Capt. Pieter Aldertsz                 32
N    Prins Maurits         Capt. Cornelis Taenman                28
N    Wapen van Monnikendam Capt. Arent Dircksen                  24
N   Casteel van Medemblick Capt. Gabriel Theunissen              26
N    Wapen van Alkmaar     Capt. Gerrit Nobel                    24
N    Sampson               Capt. Willem Ham                      26

We don't have a source that shows how the ships of the Admiralty of Friesland were divided between convoyers, cruiser, and ships of the Extraordinary Equipage. We can pretty easily guess the ships in the latter category, but not the first two.

Ships in Tromp's squadron on 15 September 1639

2010-10-16T19:28:00.002-05:00

Dr. De Boer's book, Tromp en de Armada van 1639, gives Tromp's squadron. I have supplied the missing details:

Adm Ship Guns Crew Commander R Aemilia 57 240 Lt-Adm Tromp R Gelderland 34 120 Willem van Colster A Frederik Hendrik 36 120 Pieter Pietersz de Wint N Sampson 32 120 Claes Cornelisz Ham N Hollandsche Tuin 32 120 Lambert Ijsbrantsz Halffhoorn A Deventer 28 110 Robbert Post A Omlandia 28 80 Jan Gerbrandsz Z Veere 32 110 Cornelis Ringelsz WIC Salamander 40 110 Laurens Pietersz Bachuysen N Groote Christoffel 28 90 Frederik Pietersz F Gideon 24 100 Hendrik Jansz Camp Z Meerminne 28 105 Jan Paulusz on the ship of Jan Jacobsz Vlieger

The Sao Bartholomeu, captured by the Dutch

2010-07-19T14:31:00.002-05:00

Does anyone have the dimensions for the ship Sao Bartholomeu, captured by the Dutch in Brazil? There is a question about the fate of this ship after being intercepted by the English while returning from Brazil in 1652.

The Noorderkwartier ship Sampson

2010-07-14T11:17:00.002-05:00

The Noorderkwartier ship Sampson was one of the ships captured by the English on 22 July 1652. The Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1629 said that the Sampson was 220 lasts, but then it also said the the Eenhoorn was 220 lasts. Since we know the exact dimensions for the Eenhoorn, built in 1623 or 1625, we know that the ship was actually 200 lasts. Perhaps the Sampson was also a ship of dimensions 125ft x 29ft x 11-1/2ft x 6-3/4ft, which were the Eenhoorn's dimensions.

The Dutch navy in the First Anglo-Dutch War: what we know and sources

2010-07-10T09:21:00.002-05:00

When we look at the period of the First Anglo-Dutch War, we can divide up war into segments of time, based on our knowledge and sources. We can characterize the sources as being from the Nationaal Archief, in The Hague, from Notary Archives from the cities, and more obscure sources such as the Riksarkivet in Stockholm. From February 1652 until August 1652, our knowledge is very incomplete. We have fairly good information from this period about ships hired by the Directors of Amsterdam. We also have good information about ships of the Admiralty of Rotterdam (or the Maze). We have some lists, but little actual ship data from this period. From September 1652 until December 1652, we have better ship data for the Admiralty of Amsterdam, the Admiralty of Zeeland, and the Admiralty of Friesland. We have poor information from this period about the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier and the various directors other than Amsterdam. We also do not have much information about the VOC ships employed from July to October 1652. Given that the Vogelstruis served from at least July to February 28, 1653, we have very little information (which seems rather surprising). The period of January 1653 to April 1653 is the least documented period of the war. While we have some information from this period, we really do not have the fundamentals: fleet lists and ship data for the majority of the navy. From April until November 1653, we have much more complete information, although still with gaps. It will take some revelations about obscure sources and privately held papers to change the situation. We can speculate that there is more (and we know this to be true) that is known but is being closely held for now. I would be happy to buy other authors' books, if I can find out the sources that they used. I like having photographs of the original documents, not just information about what was found.

Guns from October 1639

2010-06-21T20:08:00.002-05:00

One page that I received recently has a gun inventory for one ship and some other gun weights:

Bronze guns

5pdr   1780 lbs
5pdr   1787 lbs
7pdr   2700 lbs
7pdr   2400 lbs

Spanish guns
7pdr   2521 lbs
7pdr   2545 lbs
7pdr   2687 lbs
7pdr   2520 lbs
5pdr   1868 lbs
5pdr   1810 lbs

Iron Gotelingen

6pdr   2040 lbs
6pdr   1980 lbs
6pdr   2220 lbs
6pdr   2270 lbs
6pdr   2910 lbs
4pdr   1770 lbs

These date from early October 1639

Continued Vreugdenhil commentary: 28-31

2010-05-30T11:35:00.003-05:00

This is a continuation of what I started on the other blog:

    Name                  Guns   Adty.       Date   Length   Beam     Depth
28. Griffioen             26*    Z           1620   112*     27*      10.5*
                             the ship commanded by Cornelis Loncke in 1649.
                             Note that these are all estimates (*)

29. Groningen             40-48  A           1641   125      31       12 
                          the Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654
                            gives larger dimensions

30. Haarlem               36-44  A           1644   128      31-1/2   12

    Name                  Guns   Adty.       Date   Length   Beam     Depth
31. Hollandsche Tuin      32-36  N           1632   128*     29*      11-1/4*
                  This was the ship commanded by Lambert Ysbrantsz Halffhoorn in 1639
                    and Jan Adriaansz Backer in 1652

Continued Vreugdenhil commentary

2010-05-24T20:03:00.003-05:00

This is a continuation of what I started on the other blog:

    Name                  Guns  Adty.       Date   Length   Beam     Depth
20. Frisia (frigate)      12    F           1637*  78*      17-1/2*
                  If this is the same vessel as that listed in the Staat van Oorlog
                    te Water for the year 1654, then the dimensions are exact.
                    Joost Bulter was listed as captain in 1648, where the vessel
                    was called a frigate, not a smack

21. Gekroonde Liefde     23    Z                   110       23-1/2 
                  This was the ship commanded by Dingeman Cats from after the 
                   Battle of the Kentish Knock until at least November 1653.
                   The Gekroonde Liefde survived the storm off the Texel
                   after returning from Norway with Witte de With's fleet.

22. Gelderland           40    M            1632   128-8/11  30-6/11 13-7/11
                  This ship served in the Mediterranean Sea during 
                    the First Anglo-Dutch War. The captain was Michiel Fransz
                    van der Bergh. Vreugdenhil gave the dimensions in Maas feet,
                    while these are in Amsterdam feet

    Name                  Guns  Adty.       Date   Length   Beam     Depth
23. Gelderland           24    M            1636   109-1/11 25-1/11  8-8/11
                  This was the ship commanded by Aert van Nes from the fall of
                  1652 until the end of the First Anglo-Dutch War. Vreugdenhil
                  gives the dimensions in Maas feet. The Staat van Oorlog te Water
                  for the year 1654 gives the wrong dimensions (those for the 
                  larger ships, such as the Gorcum and Rotterdam)

The Achilles

2010-05-24T07:41:00.003-05:00

In the fall of 2006, Prof. Jan Glete had sent me a copy of a document from the Riksarkivet that listed all the ship hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam in 1652. When I examined the list, I immediately saw that the the ship Achilles that Dirk Scheij commanded was the 131ft ship and that the ship carried but 28 guns. As we accumulated more information about the First Anglo-Dutch War, from the Nationaal Archief, I noticed that the Achilles was not mentioned after the Battle of Portland. Yes, the Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 and a list from 1655 mentioned the Achilles, but the ship seems to have not been employed after the Battle of Portland. The last mention is the list that is reproduced in Vol.IV of The First Dutch War that lists all Amsterdam ships. (NOTE: I just looked at J.C. De Jonge's notes for 1654, and he credits the Achilles with 32 guns at that date, which explains Vreugdenhil).

A little Vreugdenhil commentary

2010-05-22T09:45:00.007-05:00

I would do some updates to Vreugdenhil's list as follows:

    Name               Guns      Adty.      Date     Length    Beam      Depth
1.  Achilles            28-32     A         1630*    131       29        13
        This was the ship commanded by Dirk Schey in 1652 and early 1653.
        J.C. De Jonge, in his notes for 1654, credits the Achilles with 32 guns.

(2. Achilles is a mistake. There was no second Achilles)

3.  Bommel              30-34     A         1645*    120       28-3/4    11-3/4
       This was the ship commanded by Pieter van Brakel in 1652-1653

4.  Breda               28-32     F         1637     120       29        11-1/2
       This was the ship commanded by Hendrik Jansz Camp in Brazil up to 1652
       and by Adriaan Bruynsvelt in 1652-1653

5.  Brederode           54-59     M         1644     144       35-3/11   14-2/11
       The corresponding dimensions in Maas feet were 132ft x 32-1/4ft x 13ft

6.  Burcht van Alkmaar  24-28     N         1645*
       This was the ship commanded by Gerrit Nobel in 1652. The ship was also 
       called the Wapen van Alkmaar

7.  Dolfijn             30-32     A         1633     120       28        10-1/2
      The dimensions in the Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654
      were incorrect, even though lists in 1652-1653 had the correct dimensions

8.  Dolfijn             32        M         1631     120       27-9/11   13-7/11
      The dimensions in the Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654
      were incorrect, even though lists in 1652-1653 had the correct dimensions.
      The correct dimensions in Maas feet were 110ft x 25-1/2ft x 12-1/2ft

9.  Maagd van Dordrecht 42-46     M         1631     141-9/11* 34-10/11* 14-2*
       Discarded prior to 1645

10. Drente (jacht)      16*       A         1637     88*       22*       9

Note that all these dimensions are in Amsterdam feet of 283mm and divided into 11 inches. One problem with Vreugdenhil's list is that the earlier Rotterdam ships (Admiralty of the Maze) actually have the dimensions in Maas feet (308mm divided into 12 inches) shown.

How mismatched were the Shannon and Chesapeake?

2010-03-27T18:07:00.002-05:00

My attention was taken to the fight between the British frigate Shannon and the American frigate Chesapeake, during the War of 1812. I wondered just how mismatched the two ships were. This is the data for the Shannon:

LGD: 150ft-1-1/2in
LK:  125ft-2-7/8in
B:    39ft-9in
D:    13ft-9in

Guns: 28-18pdr, 10-9pdr, 8-32pdr carronades

This is the data for the Chesapeake:

LGD: 151ft
LK:  126ft-7in
B:    40ft-11in
D:    13ft-9in

Guns: 28-18pdr, 2-9pdr, 16-32pdr carronades

On paper, they seem pretty well matched, although the Chesapeake had the disadvantage of so many carronades, so that an enemy might fight beyond their range. The Chesapeake was said to have a crew of new recruits, while the Shannon was commanded by Philip Broke, a premier British frigate captain.

Some Hollandsche Mercurius years are available in Google Book Search

2010-03-19T07:50:00.003-05:00

A correspondent of mine pointed out that Google Book Search now has some Hollandsche Mercurius years available as full view items. I hope that they eventually will have full coverage. I happen to have the 17th Century publications for 1650-1658 and 1665-1671, although what I have lacks the nice Reinier Nooms illustrations of the original. The Hollandsche Mercurius is a useful source, although it does not replace what original archival sources that still exist. I would also like to see the Ontstelde-Zee (1654), by "Jodocus Hondius" (apparently a pseudonym) appear in Google Books. The James Ford Bell Library at the University of Minnesota holds a copy. Copies may be more freely available in Europe than here.

The Amsterdam ship Zeeland in 1631

2010-03-05T07:06:00.002-06:00

From the list of ships dated 4 July 1631 that I received recently, there is the ship Zeeland, commanded by Joris van Cats. This was a ship of 225 lasts, which might have been built to the standard 125ft x 31ft x 12ft x 7ft dimensions. The Zeeland had a crew of 95 men and was armed with the following guns:

4-bronze 18pdr
2-bronze 8pdr
6-iron 12pdr
10-iron 8pdr
4-iron 5pdr
2-bronze 3pdr bases

The hired ship Postpaert

2010-02-28T12:58:00.002-06:00

You will see the hired ship Postpaert mentioned in The First Dutch War book. The Postpaert was hired by the Admiralty of Friesland in 1652 and served through at least late 1653. The Postpaert was armed with 30 guns: 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 4-4pdr guns. The Postpaert had dimensions of 118ft x 28ft x 13ft x 7ft. For most of the First Anglo-Dutch War, Isaac Codde was the Postpaert's captain.

Witte de With and the Battle of the Kentish Knock

2010-02-27T10:48:00.002-06:00

I continue to be interested in Witte de With and the Battle of the Kentish Knock. I have letters and journals for Witte de With, but I do not have the good journals from 1652 that have been partially included in The First Dutch War, Vol. II. I am particularly interested in the report of the status of ships that was prepared on 10 October 1652 (as I understand it). I have assumed that it is comparable to the report prepared on 23 June 1653, following the Battle of the Gabbard. That latter report is very useful, even though the information is incomplete. For example, there are dimensions and a gun list for Cornelis Pietersz Taenman's ship Prins Maurits that was later sunk off the mouth of the Meuse at the end of the Battle of Scheveningen. Nico Brinck had told me that he had helped raise guns from this ship, although they had a different guess as to the name of the ship.

Pieter de Bitter and the Mercurius

2010-02-06T16:58:00.004-06:00

On page 2 of J.C.M. Warnsinck's book De Retourvloot van Pieter de Bitter 1664-1665, he states that Pieter de Bitter's ship, the Mercurius, sunk at the Battle of Scheveningen, had 40 guns and a crew of 200 men. Sadly, both figures are wrong. The Mercurius was a fairly small ship, of 122-1/2ft x 30ft x 12ft x 6-1/4 or 6-1/2ft. This was a vessel of about 220 lasts. The Mercurius carried 36 guns: 6-18pdr, 4-12pdr, 10-8pdr, 6-6pdr, 6-4pdr, 2-3pdr, and 2-2pdr guns. The crew varied in size, but often was somewhere between 100 and 120 men. At Scheveningen, the crew may have been 110 men. This is based on documents from April 1653 to August 1653 from several archives.

Some ships hired by Amsterdam in 1653 in the Mediterranean Sea

2010-01-31T17:25:00.002-06:00

There is a document dating from 1652 that lists ships either hired, or considered for hiring by the Admiralty of Amsterdam in the Mediterranean Sea. There are no guns listed but there are partial dimensions:

Port     Ship            Schipper                    Dimensions
Livorno  Sint Pieter     Pieter van Breen            130ft x 30ft x ? x 6-1/4ft
Venice   Sint Philippo   Foppe Gerritsen             136ft x 30ft x ? x 6-1/2ft
Naples   Suzanne         Daniel Jansz de Vries       133ft x 29ft x ? x 6-1/4ft
Venice   Morgensterre    Hendrick Govertssen         125ft x 28ft x ? x 6-1/2ft
Venice   Venetia         Cornelis Schellinger        130ft x 28ft x ? x 6-1/2ft
Venice   Swarten Arent   (Pieter Jansz Bonttebotter) 130ft x 28ft x (13ft) x 6-1/2ft
Venice   Sint Marc       ?                           130ft x 30ft x ? x 6-1/2ft
Livorno  Witte Oliphant  Seijbrant Jansz Mol         134ft x 29ft x ? x 6-1/2ft
Zemia ?  Salomons Ordeel Meijndert Teunisz OostWout  141ft x 31ft x ? x 7ft
Venice   Jupiter         Cornelis Jansz              130ft x 30ft x ? x 7ft
Naples   Sint Andries    Anthonij Claesz van Woglom  136ft x 29-1/2ft x ? x 6-1/4ft
Venice   Arent           Claes Cornelisz Roos        132ft x 29ft x ? X 6-1/2ft
Naples   Pellicaen       Cornelis Danielsz           136ft x 29-1/4ft x ? x 6-1/4ft

The Sint Matheeus

2010-01-10T20:37:00.002-06:00

For a while in the 2007 timeframe, we believed that there must be two ships named Sint Matheeus. The reason for that is that there seemed to be two sets of dimensions for a ship named Sint Matheeus. One is the ship with length and beam quoted in Vreudenhil's list (144ft x 36ft x 15ft x 7ft) and the other was the ship with dimensions listed in lists of Amsterdam Directors' ships (140ft x 34ft x 15ft x 7-1/3ft). I think that we assumed that the 50 gun ship was the larger of the two. We knew that the 140ft ship initially carried 34 guns. By May 1653, that ship carried 42 guns. In fact, there was only one ship and that was the one captured by the English in the Battle of the Gabbard on 12-13 June 1653. This was the ship that Tromp fretted about in January 1653, when the ship was missing after a storm. Tromp feared that the Sint Matheeus had been captured by the English. He was concerned, because he expected that the Sint Matheeus was large enough that the English would arm the ship with 60 guns. In fact, in the Four Days' Battle in June 1666, the Mathias (as the Sint Matheeus was called by the English) was armed with 54 guns.

The Vrijheid in early June 1653

2010-01-03T19:08:00.003-06:00

The Amsterdam ship Vrijheid was one of the best Dutch ships serving with the main fleet in early June 1653. Like some other ships, the Vrijheid had been up-gunned after the Battle of Portland (the Driedaagse Zeeslag). The Vrijheid carried 50 guns in the Battle of the Gabbard and for the rest of the First Anglo-Dutch War. They consisted of: 4-24pdr, 22-12pdr, 20-8pdr, 2-6pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. The Vrijheid had carried 46 guns in late 1652: 4-24pdr, 24-12pdr, 16-8pdr, and 2-6pdr guns. This was a very substantial ship for the time: 134ft x 34ft x 13-1/4ft x 7ft and had a crew of 210 men by the fall of 1653. Captain Augustijn Balck had commanded the Vrijheid up until the Battle of Portland, when he was killed. Abraham van der Hulst commanded the Vrijheid for the rest of the war, starting with the Battle of the Gabbard in June 1653.

De Jonge's list for the Dutch navy in March 1653

2009-12-12T19:44:00.002-06:00

Sadly, we don't know if De Jonge's notes for the list of March 1653 exist. They are not amount his papers preserved at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague. We do have his notes for 1654 and later, at least some of them. If they existed, the notes would be priceless. I can name most of tbe ships in the list, but I can't account for one 40 gun ship of the Admiralty of Amsterdam. The list is peculiar, in that it seems like some ships lost in the Three Days Battle are shown as losses and other ships which were lost in March are still listed (seemingly). One suggestion is that the last Amsterdam 40 gun ship is the Vogelstruis, captured by the English in the Three Days Battle (the Battle of Portland).

Got into 17th Century naval history because of wargaming

2009-11-29T16:28:00.003-06:00

In late 1989, I was looking for a new topic to research to support wargaming. I had spent much of the last 20 years studying the War in North Africa, as well as the broader war in Europe. I focused on mechanized warfare, tanks, and artillery. I had expected that there would be sufficient information about the Spanish Armada campaign and ships to pursue that, but that proved to be not the case. Instead, I stumbled onto Archibald's book: THE WOODEN FIGHTING SHIP IN THE ROYAL NAVY AD 897 - 1860. What particularly caught my interest was the period from 1642 to 1660. I started looking for more sources and first found David Howarth's book Man of War. A year or two later, I found The First Dutch War and then The Royal Navy: a History from the Earliest Times to the Present (the 1890's). By then, I was hooked. After meeting Frank Fox, I took his advice and looked for a way to access data from the Dutch archives. "The rest is history" so to speak.

Small Dutch 38-gun ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War

2009-10-19T18:24:00.002-05:00

The Dutch had a number of small 38-gun ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War. Almost predictably, most were lost. These were the ships that come immediately to mind:

Adm    Ship                 Captain
Z      Hollandia            Philips Joosten & Adriaan Bankert - Lost at Scheveningen
Ve-Dir Wapen van der Veere  Jan Olivierszoon                  - Survived the war
F      Stad Groningen en Ommelanden Joost Bulter              - Lost at the Gabbard
F      Zevenwolden          Frederik Stellingwerff            - Lost at Scheveningen

The armaments of these ships varied from 34 to 38 guns at different dates. Their lengths varied from 120ft to 123ft, so they were quite small. The smaller Dutch 40-gun ships were 125ft and most were 128ft. Of course, the small Rotterdam ship Vrede carried 40 guns at the Battle of Lowestoft, and she was approximately 112ft long in Amsterdam feet (the actual size different from that, since the ship was designed in Maas feet). These lengths are all in Amsterdam feet.

Ron van Maanen

2009-10-10T10:39:00.002-05:00

I would like to see Ron van Maanen publish a book, in English, something like Colledge's Ships of the Royal Navy, but for Dutch ships. Even if he published a book that only covered the sailing warships from the late 16th Century to the end of the Dutch Republic, that would be of interest to a great many readers. Ron has information that covers a wider range than what I have. I am limited to 1613 to 1784 or so, with the 18th Century being fairly sparse. I will continue to supply him with my latest set of information so that he could fill in any gaps that he has. He has been working in this arena much longer than I have and I am very appreciative of how generous he has been in sharing information.

3-1/2pdr guns in 1629

2009-09-29T11:19:00.002-05:00

An interesting feature of the guns carried by the Rotterdam ship Postpaert in 1629 is that the ship carried two "Spanish" guns firing 3-1/2 pound shot. These would be roughly equivalent to English falcons. The Dutch also used guns firing 2-1/2 pound shot in the early 17th Century. These were similar to the English falconets in shot size.

22 pounder guns?

2009-09-11T07:08:00.002-05:00

I have never seen a 22pdr gun before, but supposedly, Hillebrant Quast's ship, the Hollandsche Tuin, carried two of them in 1631. For a ship of 180 lasts, the Hollandsche Tuin was heavily armed, as it also carried 6-18pdr guns. The 22 pounders were bronze chambered guns, while the 18 pounders were bronze guns. A ship of 180 lasts might have dimensions of 120ft x 28ft x 11ft.

The crew of the ship Sint Pieter in 28 October 1653

2009-09-03T19:35:00.002-05:00

The ship Sint Pieter was hired by the Directors of Amsterdam in 1653. On 28 October 1653, the crew consisted of 68 officers and sailors, 29 ship's soldiers (marines), 5 land soldiers, and 6 boys. This is from a report signed by Captain Gerrit Schuijt.

A Dutch ship in 1616

2009-09-03T18:26:00.002-05:00

There are gun lists for some ships in service in 1616 on page 750 of Vol.I of Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, now available from Google Books. My identification of the 36-gun ship at the upper left of the page is the Amsterdam ship Gulden Arend. This was a ship of 220 lasts armed with 2-24pdr, 4-18pdr, 2-12pdr, 12-8pdr, 2-6pdr, 6-5pdr, and 8-steenstukken shooting a three pound shot. The crew in 1616 was 90 men.

2009-09-01T07:06:00.002-05:00

I would like to find a college or university in the United States where there was interest in studying 17th Century Dutch naval history and warships. There is no one in my family who would be interested in continuing my work. I hope to have a good bit of time left, but I would like to find a home for what I have found by the time I am done with it.

22pdr guns?

2009-08-19T07:09:00.003-05:00

The Noorderkwartier ship Hollandsche Tuin, in the Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1633, is listed as carrying two chambered bronze 22pdr guns. The 22pdr is a very odd size. Most Dutch guns close in size to this fired a 24 pound shot. A very few fired a 20 pound shot. I had assumed that when I first saw this size mentioned that it was a mistake, but now I think it is correct. One of the old Rotterdam ships was listed as carrying 22pdr guns, and I had thought that it must be wrong, but it was probably correct.

Rotterdam ships

2009-08-08T15:13:00.002-05:00

I realized today that the Rotterdam ship Zeekalf was probably the same size as the ship Dolfijn (or Dolphijn, in the archaic way of spelling the name). The Zeekalf is listed with different Rotterdam last figures, but when it is 180 Rotterdam lasts, that is about the same as the Dolfijn, built in 1631 or 1632. An ship size in Amsterdam lasts is about 1.3 times the number of Rotterdam lasts. For example, the small frigates Overijssel, Utrecht, and Gelderland, listed in Vreugdenhil as 100ft x 23ft x 8ft are said to be 90 Rotterdam lasts. Of course, those dimensions are in Maas feet of 12 inches (about 308mm). An Amsterdam foot is about 283mm and is divided into 11 inches of about the same size inch as those in the Maas foot. You can find my example of how to do the conversion at Kentishknock.com. I also list what seems to be the correct dimensions for the Dolfijn. My working hypothesis is that about the same dimensions were used for certain sizes of ships in lasts over an extended period of time. That may be wrong, but I have not found a way to check the hypothesis yet, as I lack Rotterdam ship dimensions for the 1620's and earlier.

Cromsters

2009-07-25T10:52:00.005-05:00

I noticed this morning that two of the ships in service with the Admiralty of Amsterdam in November 1616 were cromsters. One of these served as a guardship on the Rhine, the Steur. The other was the Salm. They were both vessels of 45 lasts. This picture is from www.british-towns.net, which has some ship images.

Applying my theory about Rotterdam ships

2009-07-24T08:22:00.002-05:00

Early this morning, I applied my theory about lasts and Rotterdam ships to the data that I had entered into my ship list the latter part of this week. The idea is that the last figures (gross tonnage) for Rotterdam ships is calculated from Maas feet. If you calculate from Amsterdam feet measurements, the figures are about 30 percent greater. Doing this has interesting results. For Example, the ship Hond, built about 1604, has the same dimensions as the ships Overijssel and Utrecht that found in the First Anglo-Dutch War (100ft x 23ft x 8ft in Maas feet).

In 1624, Rombout van der Parre commanded an Amsterdam ship

2009-07-07T07:57:00.002-05:00

An interesting piece of trivia: Friesland captain Rombout van der Parre commanded the Amsterdam ship Oranjeboom (Orangienboom) in 1624. This was a vessel of 120 lasts that carried 16 guns and had a crew of 90 men.

The list of Zeeland ships from 1655

2009-06-19T18:12:00.000-05:00

I just consulted this list of Zeeland ships from 1655. You will be hard-pressed to find mention of many of the more significant Zeeland ships. I already knew the answer, but I was looking for a sign of the ship Meermin listed by Vreugdenhil as number 41. The only mention that I have seen of a ship named Meermin (or Meerminne with the old spelling) was as an alternate name for the Zeeridder.

The Dutch ship Patientia

2009-06-07T07:49:00.003-05:00

Jan Glete's list of the ships hired by Louis Geer to help the Swedes includes a ship named Patientia. The dimensions and guns suggest that this was the same ship hired in 1652 and then paid off. I would suggest that the Patientia was also the same ship hired in 1645 by the Nieuwe Directie van Amsterdam to be part of Witte de With's fleet. Jan Glete gives the dimensions as a length of 126ft and a beam of 26-1/2ft, very similar to the dimensions of the Patientia in 1652, although the Patientia is mentioned as 130ft in 1652.

Some datapoints: 1636, 1641, and 1645

2009-05-31T19:50:00.002-05:00

We have three good lists from 1630's and 1640's. One is from 1636, from Dr. Graefe's book De Kapiteinsjaren van Maerten Harpertszoon Tromp (1938). Another is from a list dated 1641 of Amsterdam ships and captains. The third is the list of Witte de With's fleet in 1645. There is also some useful information in Dr. De Boer's book Tromp en de Armada van 1639. The question is always, "are these the same ship?"

I wish that I knew more about the Spanish Dunkirkers

2009-05-28T06:54:00.002-05:00

Since a great many of the Dutch naval operations in the 1620 to 1640's involved the Spanish Dunkirkers, I would like to know more about the men and ships that operated from Dunkirk and Ostende. This Wikipedia article has some nice background information but no specifics.

In 1629, there were many 5pdr and 10pdr guns in the Dutch service

2009-05-25T12:46:00.002-05:00

We are used to seeing the gun calibers that were used by the Dutch after 1648. These were mostly 3pdr, 4pdr, 6pdr, 8pdr, 12pdr, 18pdr, 24pdr, and a few 36pdr guns. In 1629, there were many 5pdr and 10pdr guns in service. For example, the Goude Raven carried 4-10pdr and 10-5pdr as part of its armament. There were also a few 15pdr and 20pdr guns used in the Dutch service.

Estimating dimensions for old Dutch ships

2009-05-23T20:26:00.003-05:00

The ship lists of old Dutch ships only give the size in lasts. I have been running wild, estimating dimensions for the ships, mostly prior to 1648, for which I have not seen dimensions. I have gun lists for many of the ships, so I have the basis for wargame pieces with the estimated dimensions and gun lists. One issue is that many of the published last figures are incorrect for the ships like the Brederode.

My Sevenwolden wargame piece

2009-05-08T08:05:00.003-05:00

This is my wargame piece for the Friesland ship Sevenwolden (38 guns) that served in 1653 and was sunk at the Battle of Scheveningen on 10 August 1653.

A small English warship, circa 1652

2009-05-03T15:55:00.003-05:00

This represents my first attempt in several years to make an English ship wargame piece. The ship is 100ft long on the gun deck. A representative ship would be the Hector, taken from the Royalists in 1644 and sold out of the service in 1656. The specifications for this ship are (as estimated):

Ship: Hector, 5th Rate prize
22-30 guns
LGD: 100ft
LK:   80ft
Beam: 25ft
Hold: 10ft
LK x B x D:         200 tons
LK x B x D x (4/3): 266 tons
LK x B x (B/2)/94 : 265-45/47 tons (burden)

Guns probably sakers (5-1/4pdr) and minions (4pdr) 
 (say 16-sakers and 8 minions)

I am in desperate need of better gun information for English ships in 1652 to 1654, if someone has some better information). I would settle for some representative gun lists.

A mistaken idea that I had in the past

2009-04-18T16:20:00.002-05:00

Perhaps 15 years ago, before I had very much knowledge and information about Dutch warships in 1652-1653, I could only imagine what the ships were liked. From The First Dutch War, I knew that Michiel De Ruyter's flagship Neptunus in 1652 was said to be armed with 28 guns. I imagined that if there were so few guns, that the ship might carry larger guns on the lower tier. I got that idea from a book about sailing warships from the late 16th to the 18th Century that showed an armament for a Dutch ship from about 1600. The ship had perhaps 18 guns, but there were mostly larger guns, perhaps 18pdr. I had thought that the Neptunus might be armed like that: 18pdr on the lower tier and 6pdr and 8pdr on the upper tier and quarterdeck. In fact, the Neptunus was quite small and lightly armed. You have to wonder how De Ruyter survived the Battle of Plymouth in such a modest ship.

Wargame pieces

2009-04-12T16:40:00.002-05:00

If you wanted to make Dutch wargame pieces for the First Anglo-Dutch War, you would have the field pretty well covered if you had standard pieces of 116ft, 120ft, 125ft, 128ft, and 130ft. There were a very few larger ships. You would need lengths such as 132ft, 134ft, 136ft, 141 or 142ft, and 144 or 145ft long ships. The large East Indiamen were much longer than that. The smallest might be 155ft or 160ft and many were 170ft. The idea that the largest were 182ft or so is controversial.

Noorderkwartier ships

2009-04-04T09:35:00.002-05:00

The idea that Noorderkwartier ships that served in 1652 were the same ones that had served since at least the 1630's is appealing. If it is true, then we know a great deal about some ships that would otherwise be a mystery. We have Dr.Graefe's book, we have De Sleutels van de Sondt, and we have what we know about the Dutch navy in 1652. The dates are from my analysis of those from Ron van Maanen. This list could be enhanced more, but this was what I could quickly do.

Ship                Lasts Date Guns Crew 1637               1645                1652
Eenhoorn              200 1625 32   110  Jan Keert de Koe                       Allert Tamessen
Eendracht             300 1622 31   110  Jan Bleecker       
Eendracht             300 1639 41   140                                         Jacob de Boer
Hollandsche Tuin      250 1632 32    90  Lambert Halffhoorn  
Hoop                  150 1622 26                           SbN Halffhoorn
Koninck David         250 1632 34   100  Claes Ham
Medemblick            170 1640 26    80                     Gabriel Anthonisz   Gabriel Anthonisz
Sampson               240 1625 28    92                     kapt Schellinckhout Willem Ham
Wapen van Alkmaar     150 1638 24    80                     Jan Cappelman    
Wapen van Holland     200 1639 28    90                                         Herman Munnekes
Wapen van Hoorn       150 1636 24    87                     Claes Tesselaar
Wapen van Monnikendam 150 1640 26    80                     Arent Dircksz       Arent Dircksz
Wapen van Nassau      250 1631 38   100  Hilbrant Quast

A question about the jacht Jaeger

2009-03-28T12:46:00.003-05:00

The Jaeger, or Zeeuwsche Jaeger, was apparently built as a binnenjacht. The Jaeger played a significant role, especially with De Ruyter's fleet in the Channel, in 1652 into 1653. The entry in Vreugdenhil's list (No.350) gives a length of 60ft, which is too short. The Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 (July 1654) gives a length of 80ft. Given that Vreugdenhil would ordinarily use the data from the Staet, it is curious that he gave the wrong length. My question is: how was the Zeeusche Jaeger rigged? Was it a three-masted ship?

Progress report

2009-03-08T19:42:00.003-05:00

The good news is that I am making progress on my new set of Dutch ship wargame pieces. Through the means of digital editing, I am making new ship drawings to the right scale. The best way is to do a detailed pencil drawing and then scan and print it. I would take that and ink it and color it with pencils. I then scan again and do editing. That takes too long, at least it takes longer than I have. This ship is a 128ft long ship to my own design.

I am making some new Dutch ship wargame pieces

2009-03-07T20:27:00.003-06:00

I finally am making some progress on new Dutch ship wargame pieces. I am using a combination of Paint and the GIMP for graphic editing. I am working at a scale of 120 x 120 pixels per inch. My scale is set so that five pixels are two Amsterdam feet (what I said first one incorrect: five pixels = 1 foot). The ship drawings are really just symbolic, and not intended to be very realistic. I just don't have the time to do that sort of work. I am trying to mass-produce some new ship pieces based on what I have learned in the last two years.

Pieter Aldertszoon's ship up to early August 1652

2009-03-06T19:19:00.001-06:00

The answer to the question "What ship did Pieter Aldertszoon command in the period from the beginning of the First Anglo-Dutch War up to early August" is answered in one letter that names captains and ship names. Pieter Aldertszoon is said to command the ship "Stadt Hoorn", or probably the same ship that he commanded up until the Three Days Battle in 1653, when he was killed.

Gunports on Dutch warships

2009-02-28T16:45:00.004-06:00

From the Van de Velde drawings, we know something about gunports on Dutch ships in the period of 1639 to 1654. The Gorinchem is from a drawing of the ship in 1665. I would welcome corrections, as I am particularly uncertain about the Brederode. The picture of the Rotterdam is in Dr. M.G.de Boer's book, Tromp en de Duinkerkers, opposite page 49. The picture is so indistinct that I can't count ports.

Adm  Ship            Built Gunports
R    Aemilia         1632  13 on lower tier, 12 on upper tier, 6 on quarterdeck
A    Star            1644  10 on lower tier, 4 on quarterdeck
A    Vrijheid        1651  12 on lower tier, 9 on upper tier, 4 on quarterdeck
R    Prinses Louijse 1646  10 on lower tier, 6 on upper tier, 4 on quarterdeck
R    Gorinchem       1639  9 on lower tier, 8 on upper tier, 4 on quarterdeck
A    Fazant          1646  9 on lower tier, 6 on upper tier (2+4), 4 on quarterdeck
A    Leiden          1647  9 on lower tier, 5 on upper tier at rear, 2 on quarterdeck
A    Vrede           1650  12 on lower tier, 10 on upper tier, 3 on quarterdeck
R    Brederode       1645  12 on lower tier, 10 on upper tier, 5 on quarterdeckj
F    Groningen       1653  10 on lower tier, 10 on upper tier, 4 on quarterdeck
A    Edam            1644  10 on lower tier, 7 on upper tier (2+5)
R    Rotterdam       1639  10 on lower tier, unk on upper tier, 3 on quarterdeck

When did the Dutch fire on Deal?

2009-02-16T19:35:00.002-06:00

The Dutch seemed to have fired on Deal, sometime during the period of 1639 to 1667. As far as I can tell, there were opportunities during the Battle of the Downs, in 1639, during the fight on 29 May 1652 (new style date) and on 3 July 1652 (old style date). There may have been other possible occasions, but I am not sure about them. Does anyone know?

The Friesland ship Groningen

2009-02-08T15:59:00.002-06:00

I was just looking at the page from April 1653 (apparently) that mentions the ship Groningen, of the Admiralty of Friesland, at Sardam, presumably under construction, that would replace the Graaf Willem and Waterhond. The dimensions given, 132ft x 31ft x 14ft x 7ft, are those given in Van Foreest and Weber's book.

Jan van Campen in 1652 and 1653

2009-02-01T19:34:00.003-06:00

In 9 June 1652, Jan van Campen was listed as being off Cape St. Vincent in command of the three-masted jacht Windhond. After returning home, he seems to have been responsible for fitting out the new ship Campen (40 guns). By September, he was appointed to command the ship Overijssel (26 guns) that had been commanded by Abraham van der Hulst. Ships and captains were shuffled in August and September 1652. Jan van Campen commanded the Overijssel through the rest of 1652 and 1653.

Pieter van der Does in 1599

2009-01-21T07:31:00.002-06:00

I just had an inquiry about Pieter van der Does and the Dutch raid on the Canary Islands in 1599. I was able to find the image that I had seen before and several short paragraphs, but no ship list or anything of that sort of specificity. Is there a good source of information about this incident?

An interesting list from 1671

2009-01-20T07:21:00.002-06:00

This morning, I received a photograph of a list from 1671. The list shows Dirck Scheij as captain of the ship Oudshoorn (70 guns), which was the captured English 2nd Rate Swiftsure. The Oudshoorn reportedly had some cosmetic changes that tried to hide the ship's identity.

A different version of the Dungeness "photo"

2009-01-10T19:43:00.003-06:00

This is a different approach to the Dungeness photograph that has a different sort of water. The picture still shows the Dutch 40-gun ship Campen exchanging fire with Robert Blake's flagship Triumph.

Another attempt at a Dungeness "photograph"

2009-01-10T13:53:00.003-06:00

This is my latest attempt at adding water to the Dungeness picture that shows the Campen (40 guns), in the left foreground, firing at Robert Blake's flagship Triumph.

December 10, 1652

2008-12-10T07:08:00.002-06:00

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Dungness, fought on 10 December 1652 (the Gregorian date). This was the only victory of the Dutch over the English in home waters in a battle between the main fleets. The Dutch lost one ship, the Schiedam (for some reason sometimes called the Gelderland) (30 guns) and the English had two ships captured (the Garland and the Anthony Bonaventure). Shortly after the battle, Bastiaan Centsen, in the Haes, chased the hired English ship Hercules. The Hercules was run on shore and was abandoned by the cowardly crew. The Dutch got the Hercules afloat and took her as a prize. The Hercules had 34 guns while the Haes was a small ship with 30 guns.

The Maecht van Enckhuijsen on 6 September 1652

2008-11-28T13:30:00.002-06:00

I happened to look at a page from a document that is dated 6 September 1652. The document has gun lists for some ships that seem like they reflect what was actually carried on that date and not what was planned or allowed. One such ship is the Enkhuizen Directors' ship Maecht van Enckhuijsen (presumably Maagd van Enkhuizen). The armament includes the 4-bronze klokwijs guns of unspecified shot weight, but presumably heavy, and 4-iron 18pdr guns. The armament listed is consideraly different from that listed in 1653 after the ship was lost in the Three Days Battle and includes a main battery of iron 9pdr guns, which are unique in a day when ships either had 12pdr of 8pdr guns in the main battery.

30 June 1652

2008-11-22T19:24:00.002-06:00

I have this printed page from 1652 that claims to be the list of Tromp's fleet from 30 June 1652. Except for one ship name (Alkmaar) there are only captains and flag officers mentioned. Given the names listed, the actual date would be earlier. Either that or ships that were already lost are included. For example, Adriaen de Zeeuw is listed as is Jan Warnaertsz Capelman. After finding all the men in my list of the fleet from 15 July 1652, I am still not able to make sense of the two names listed in the van: Jacob van Nove and Jan Elbertsz van Enckhuijsen. These are the names mentioned in the 15 July 1652 list that are not obviously in the 30 June 1652 list:

Hendrick Jansz de Munnick        Rotterdam           ship Holland, 30 guns
Corstiaen Corstiaensz de Munnick Rotterdam Directors ship Prins, 38 guns
Joris van der Zaan               Amsterdam           ship Groningen, 40 guns
lt-cdr Nicolaes Marrevelt        Amsterdam           ship Zeelandia, 36 guns
Jan ter Stege                    Amsterdam           ship Keijser, 24 guns
Barent Pietersz Dorrevelt        Amsterdam           ship Amsterdam, 34 guns
Cornelis Hola                    Amsterdam           ship Leiden, 28 guns
Gillis Janszoon                  Zeeland             ship Zeeridder, 28 guns
Claes Jansz Sanger               Zeeland             ship Middelburg, 26 guns
Cornelis Evertsen de Oude        Zeeland             ship Zeeuwsche Leeuw, 28 guns
Adriaen Banckert                 Zeeland             ship Westcappel, 28 guns
Adriaen Kempen                   Zeeland             ship Amsterdam, 30 guns
Lambert Bartelszoon              Zeeland             ship Eendracht, 18 guns
Johannes Michielszoon            Zeeland             ship Haes, 20 guns
Jacob Wolphertszoon              Zeeland             ship Sint Joris, 23 guns
Daniel Cornelisz Brackman        Zeeland             ship Abrahams Offerande, 24 guns
Dingeman Cats                    Zeeland             ship Dolphijn, 24 guns
Reijnst Cornelisz Sevenhuijsen   Noorderkwartier     ship Roode Leeuw, 24 guns
Thys Tijmensz Peereboom          Noorderkwartier     ship Peereboom, 24 guns
Gerrit Munt                      Noorderkwartier     ship Huis van Nassau, 28 guns

There was also Witte de With's squadron, but they were omitted from the fleet list for 30 June.

The ship Hoop, in service in 1652 and 1653

2008-11-09T13:01:00.002-06:00

I was looking at a page dating from July 1653, yesterday, that had the armament list for the hired ship Hoop. The gun list is distinctive, because the largest guns are 10pdr, an odd size for 1653. I had thought that the ship Hoop that had fought in the Battle of the Gabbard and the Battle of Scheveningen might have been a different ship from that which Joris Caullerij (sometimes spelled Colerij) commanded in 1652. The gun list, however, as almost identical. The only difference in that the Hoop, in 1653, carried two more 8pdr guns and two fewer 6pdr guns. I had seen a list of ships hired for service in March or April 1653 that had somewhat different dimensions for a ship named Hoop, but I have frequently seen these sort of variations.

Johan Regermorter

2008-10-25T18:48:00.002-05:00

The short biography of Johan Regermorter, in Mollema's "Honour Roll" caught my eye today. I imagined that he was the son of Johannes Regermorter, who was killed in the Battle of Portland (the Three Days Battle). Johan's life seems to have been cut short. He had been in Cornelis Mangelaer's crew in the Goes in Brazil in 1650 to 1652. He served through the First Anglo-Dutch War in some unspecified capacity. In 1658, Johan Regermorter had been Adriaan Bankert's luitenant in the Sound. From 1661, he was Adriaan Bankert's flag captain. He died at the age of 32 in 1662, according to Mollema.

Jan Fransz Blom in September 1653

2008-10-22T07:14:00.002-05:00

The Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 lists Jan Fransz Blom as the captain of the jacht Haij. I just read a document that mentions him, without naming his ship, on 27 September 1653. He is mentioned, along with captains "Pauwels van den Kerckhove" and "Corstiaen Elderssen". They were all captains of the Admiralty of the Maze (or Rotterdam).

Aert van Nes and the Gelderland in 1652

2008-10-12T12:07:00.003-05:00

At the beginning of the First Anglo-Dutch War, the small frigate Gelderland (24 guns) was commanded by Jan Jansz van Nes, the Jonge Boer Jaep. His son, Aert Jansz van Nes was his lieutenant. According to a biographical dictionary I read last night, Jan Jansz van Nes died at Havre de Grace in late August 1652, after the collision with the Sint Nicolaes (24 guns), which was sunk. Aert van Nes commanded the Gelderland for the rest of the war. I have had some confusion, perhaps from misreading Dutch from the dictionary.

Last calculations

2008-10-04T15:38:00.002-05:00

Perhaps this is an attempt to calculate the "incalculable", but I do it anyway. These are my calculations for lasts for these ships (in round numbers):

Groningen       A       1644      220 lasts
Groningen       F       1666      420 lasts
Gouden Leeuw    A       1652      170 lasts
Gouda           A       1636      180 lasts
Gorcum          R       1639      160 lasts
Mercurius       A-VOC   1653      210 lasts
Middelburg      A      <1652      170 lasts
Brederode       R       1645      350 lasts
Prinses Louise  R       1646      200 lasts
Utrecht         R       1653      260 lasts

Dutch squadrons on 12 and 13 June 1653

2008-09-21T17:44:00.003-05:00

The question arose as to what the Dutch squadron organization was at the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June 1653. Lacking manuscript sources, I was reduced to using Brandt's biography of De Ruyter, with a little supplementary information:

Tromp in the Brederode, squadron admiral
 Gideon de Wildt in the Vrede, squadron Vice-Admiral
 Abel Roelantsz Verboom in the Prinses Louise, squadron Rear-Admiral

Witte de With in the Vrijheid, squadron admiral
 Jan de Lapper in the Phesant, squadron vice-admiral
 Jacob Kleijdijck in the Prins, squadron rear-admiral (Schout-bij-Nacht)

Johan Evertsen, possibly in the Milde Maerten 
       rather than the Hollandia, squadron admiral
 Cornelis Evertsen de Oude in the Zeeuwsche Leeuw, squadron vice-admiral
 Adriaen Nicolaesz Kempen in the Amsterdam, squadron rear-admiral

de Ruijter's and Florissen's squadrons totaled 35 ships

Michiel de Ruijter in the Lam, squadron admiral
 Adriaen Jansz den Oven in the Neptunus, squadron vice-admiral  (Sunk)
 Marcus Hartman in the Gecroonde Liefde,  squadron rear-admiral

Pieter Florissen in the Monnikendam, squadron admiral
 Gillis Thijssen Campen in the Groningen,  squadron vice-admiral
 Claes Bastiaensz van Jaersvelt in the David en Goliat, squadron rear-admiral

I see what I wrote in 2004 about this topic.

The Noorderkwartier ship Samson built circa 1625

2008-09-13T14:30:00.003-05:00

The Noorderkwartier ship Samson, built in 1625 or 1627, was a larger ship than the Eenhoorn of 1625. The Samson was variously listed as 240 or 250 lasts. That would be a ship of about 128ft x 30ft x 13ft (or 128ft x 31ft x 12-1/2ft). In 1639, for the Armada campaign that cuminated in the Battle of the Downs on 31 October 1639, the Samson was armed with 32 guns and had a crew of 120 men. Her captain in 1639 was Claes Cornelisz Ham.

A ship of 200 lasts

2008-09-11T19:57:00.002-05:00

In a note on page 275 of Vol.I of Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, there is a description of a ship of 200 lasts. The ship was mentioned in a document dated 1630. The dimensions given were 125ft x 29ft x 11-1/2ft x 7ft (the last is the deck height). The dimensions are in Amsterdam feet and pretty much match the dimensions of the Noorderkwartier ship Eenhoorn, built in 1625. The Eenhoorn is usually called a ship of 200 lasts, although one reference gives the size as 220 lasts.

The Onstelde-Zee book

2008-09-08T18:57:00.002-05:00

My original thoughts about the Onstelde-Zee book, published in 1654, were that the book was not to be trusted. After learning more, I found that the book's description of the Battle of Portland, which the Dutch call the Three Days Battle, is quite accurate. The book mentions the Prins Willem, when referring to the ship usually called the Prins. The Prins must actually be called "Prins Willem te Paard". The Van de Velde drawing of the Battle of Dungeness calls the ship Prins te Paard, as does a letter from Johan Evertsen from mid-August 1652. The book calls Jacob Cleijdijck's ship Meerman, which is correct. Johannes van Regermorter's ship is correctly called the Leeuwin. Abraham van Campen's ship is called by an alternative name "Poort van Troijen", which is what Johan Evertsen called the ship in mid-August 1652. The more usual name was Arke Troijane. One seeming error is the mention of the Groote Sint Lucas being Sipke Fockes' ship. All indications were that Sipke Fockes still commanded the Sint Maria in the battle and that the ship was not captured, although he was killed. We have no explanation, at this date, for the Groot Sint Lucas.

From 9 June 1652

2008-09-07T18:35:00.002-05:00

One thing notable on a page dated 9 June 1652 is the following:

5 die de steden Delff, Rotterdam, Schiedam, @ Enckhuijsen ordinarie equipperden, @ voegen bij s'lants schepen tot bescherminge van de buijssen

In other words, this is trying to cover five ships hired by cities for protection of the fishing busses. These ships were to be part of the fishery protection squadron, along with the ships of the admiralties. Of course, there are only four cities named and there are five ships.

Wargaming 1648-1720

2008-08-31T11:58:00.002-05:00

Wargaming in the 1648-1720 period is a great challenge, due to the large fleets that were employed during this period. If you insist on fighting fleet actions without the help of a compupter, then you must follow some strategy like that employed by Iain Stanford in "General-at-Sea", where the game mechanisms are simplified and the ships are grouped. There is a slight possibility that if you had large teams of gamers, you might be able to use more detailed rules, but I am doubtful.

One alternative is to fight small actions, either small, independent squadrons or else small parts of larger fleets. If what you really want is to be able to fight the Battle of Portland or the Battle of the Gabbard, you would end up being pretty dissatisfied.

The ultimate would be a simulation game with 3D models that was paced to allow large numbers of ships on each side. Barring that, at least a simulation game that used a plan view map as the display would be adequate. You would want to have some degree of artificial intelligence employed, probably at the ship level, as well as for the squadron commander. I can see such a game written in Smalltalk being possible. The main difficulty is the level of effort involved and the cost to pay developer's time. I suspect that such a game would not be commercially viable, as everyone wants a flashy 3D graphics interface.

Nine Amsterdam 40 gun Landsschepen in March 1653?

2008-08-30T19:58:00.002-05:00

I am back to trying to fill in the details that match J. C. De Jonge's appendix XXII to Vol.I of Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen. This is the table entitled "Staat der Nederlandsche Zeemagt, in Maart des Jaars 1653". One nagging problem involves finding nine Amsterdam 40-gun Landsschepen. Finding eight is easy:

Campen
Groningen
Graaf Willem
Zon
Maan
Vereenigde Provinciën
Haarlem
Goes

The question is, what is the ninth ship? The natural ship to list as the one 40-gun hired ship would be the Aartsengel Michiel. Interestingly, that is listed as being funded by the 40-ships of 1648 appropriation in a list from 28 November 1652. I thought it would be possible, then, to include the Aartsengel Michiel as the ninth 40-gun ship. That leaves us with having to find the 40-gun hired ship somewhere else. The only possibility that I could think of would be to use the Vogelstruis as the hired ship. That is more satisfying then using it as a Landsschip. The Vogelstruis was the ship hired from the Amsterdam Chamber of the East India Company (the VOC). I am doubtful that any of this is a reasonable thing to do, but then, what else can you do? We would have to be able to go back in our time machine and ask Johan Cornelisz de Jonge what he meant to resolve the problem, otherwise.

The Rotterdam ship Prinses Louise, built in 1646

2008-08-23T19:31:00.002-05:00

The Rotterdam ship Prinses Louise was vice-admiraal Witte de With's flagship in 1652. I as looking at the van de Velde drawing of the Prinses Louise and was counting gun ports. There are ten ports on a side on the lower tier. The upper tier is incomplete, with an unarmed waist. There are two guns on a side forward and four on a side aft. There are also four guns at the level above this. The lower tier almost certainly consisted of the 4-bronze 24pdr guns and 16-12pdr guns. The upper tier would have been 12-12pdr guns. At the next level (the poop), there were the 4-bronze chambered 5pdr guns. Of the lower tier, the bronze 24pdr guns were not chambered, apparently. By November, the 24pdr guns were reduced to two and two more 12pdr guns replaced them. Presumably, that was to lighten the ship.

Ships in the Three Days Battle (the Battle of Portland)

2008-08-16T18:10:00.002-05:00

The question I have is whether there is any documentary support for these ships being at the Three Days Battle (what the English called the Battle of Portland) from 28 February 1653 until 2 March 1653 (new style dates):

Adm    Ship                      Guns Crew Commander
A      Graef Willem              40   140  kapitein Jan Gideonsz Verburgh
A      Zeelandia                 34   120  luitenant-commandeur 
                                             Nicolaes Marrevelt
A      Zutphen                   26   100  kapitein Ewout Jeroensz de Moij
A      Amsterdam                 30   100  kapitein Sijmon van der Aeck
A-Dir  Sint Matheeus             34   125  kapitein Cornelis Naeuoogh
Z      Eendracht                 24    80  kapitein Andries Fortuijn
N      Wapen van Enkhuizen       32   120  kapitein Herman Munneckes
N      Lastdrager                32   110  kapitein Volckert Schram
N      Monnick                   28    95  kapitein Arent Dirckszoon
N      Prins Maurits             32    97  kapitein Cornelis Pietersz Taenman
Mo-Dir Swarte Beer               30   115  kapitein Jacob Claesz Boot
Ed-Dir Vergulde Halve Maen       30   110  kapitein Jan Fredericksz Hoeckboot
Ho-Dir Samson                    30   110  kapitein Jacob Hoeck
F      Breda                     28   110  kapitein Adriaen Bruijnsvelt
F      Graef Hendrick            30   110  kapitein Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer
F      Hector van Troijen        24    70  kapitein Laurens Hermansz Degelencamp
F      Princesse Albertijna      26    90  kapitein Rombout van der Parre
F      Sara                      24    80  luitenant Hessel Franszoon
F      Sevenwolden               36   140  kapitein Frederick Stellingwerff
F      Wapen van Nassau          36   130  kapitein Hendrick Jansz Camp
Ha-Dir Sint Vincent              28   105  kapitein Andries Douwesz Pascaert

I want better support than appearing on De Sneuper website or being listed in Dr. Ballhausen's book. Preferably, I would like two have at least two sources per ship to prove that the ship and captain fought in the battle. The admiralties follow my usual abbreviation system.

Job Forant

2008-08-13T07:28:00.002-05:00

I have a copy of the letter of marque from Charles II for Job Forant on the ship Fortune. The letter is dated 1652, so Anderson's date is wrong. We knew that Job Forant was in Brazil until mid-1649, so the 1649 date listed by Anderson was questionable.

Job Forant in 1649 or there abouts

2008-08-12T07:54:00.001-05:00

I see the listing in R.C. Anderson's book about English captains in the period of 162 to 1660 where Job Forant (or Foran) is named as a Royalist captain in about 1649. He is listed as the captain of the Fortune.

Captain Belevelt

2008-08-07T11:25:00.002-05:00

In his journal, Witte de With mentions a captain Belvelt who commanded a Friesland ship with the fleet in September 1652. The ship has neither guns nor crew mentioned. Carl Stapel had seen a reference from March 1653 that said that Captain Belvelt commanded a ship named Omlandia. There seems to have been an available ship named Omlandia, that built in 1628 and mentioned in July 1654 and then again in 1655.

One problem with this is that we know of the Omlandia from 1652 to 1653. We have many lists of Friesland ships and the ship built in 1628 is totally absent. All other Friesland ships are listed. So that is a concern, but given the list from July 1654, we might conclude that the Omlandia was simply employed outside of home waters and would be omitted from a list of ships based in the Netherlands. There was a Noorderkwartier ship Enkhuizen, which is a similar case.

I am skeptical that the Omlandia mentioned in March 1653 was the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden and that Captain Belvelt was actually Joost Bulter. I would have to see hard evidence before I would believe that. Otherwise, we are just guessing.

"Knuttel"

2008-08-02T10:09:00.003-05:00

I was interested to see that Google Book Search, at least what is available in the United States, has the volume Catalogus van de Pamfletten-Verzameling Berustende in de Koninklijke Bibliotheek, by Dr. Knuttel. They have the volume that covers 1649 to 1667, or at least the Second Volume, First Part.

Having 1671 and 1672 ship information sure is nice

2008-07-25T20:36:00.001-05:00

I hadn't guessed how nice it would be to actually have some ship data from 1671 and 1672. I received some yesterday, all about ships of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier. The 1671 information has length and beam, while the 1672 only has ship name, captain, number of guns, sailors and soldiers.

Corstiaen Eldertszoon (more name information)

2008-07-21T11:39:00.002-05:00

The captain of the Rotterdam hired ship Roscam is usually called Corstiaen Eldertszoon. I found a little bit of information while searching online: "kapitein Cristiaen Eldersz Groendal" of the ship "de Vergulde Roscam". Corstiaen and Christiaen seem interchangable. This makes it appear that Groendal is the captain's real last name, while he is just the "son of Elder".

Writing Projects

2008-07-21T04:48:00.002-05:00

I have three related writing projects about Dutch ships from 1600 to 1780's and the First Anglo-Dutch War. While there is still much information to find and learn, I presently know more and have more information. The challenge is to find time to write and complete what I have in work. I keep looking for a way to be able to go full time doing research and writing, but there is no obvious way to achieve that situation. In the mid-1990's, I would have said that this sort of information did not exist. However it does, and I would like to be one of the authors who publish some of it. There should be more, I would hope, as there are several researchers who know and either are or could write about it.

Dimension conversion

2008-07-11T19:00:00.002-05:00

I thought of making an Excel spreadsheet to convert from Maas feet and inches to Amsterdam feet and inches. At lunchtime today, I implemented it. It makes the process of converting from Maas feet (308mm divided into 12 inches) into Amsterdam feet (283mm of 11 inches) a simple task.

The hired ships Pelicaen and Gouden Reael

2008-07-04T10:15:00.003-05:00

I had forgotten that I had dimensions for the Amsterdam hired ships Pelicaen and Gouden Reael. Those two ships were hired in mid-1653 and served up through the voyage to Norway from September to November 1653. Both ships survived the storm off the Texel, as I recall. Many of the hired ships were long and narrow. Despite what David K. Brown wrote in his article about the speed and form of sailing ships. His thesis was that the form of sailing ships was irrelevant, due to the low speed-length ratio (speed in knots/sqrt(length in feet)). That is a valid assertion, but the length-to-beam ratio is still important for speed. Short wide ships have more resistance than long narrow ships. This is really intuitive and based on our experience. All you have to do is experiment with a short, wide, piece of wood. Push it in the water and see how fast it moves. Then try the same experiment with a long, narrow piece of wood. Even though both have flat ends, the long, narrow one will move faster and with less effort. Both the Pelicaen (24 guns) and the Gouden Reael (28 guns) had length-to-beam ratios above 4.0.

Wargame pieces

2008-06-21T19:22:00.002-05:00

I finally made a tiny bit of progress towards having a new style of Dutch ship wargame piece. I started with a pencil drawing that I inked. I scanned it and put it into a Dutch ship sheet. I tried digitally adding color, but with the tools that I have, the time cost is prohibitive. I just copied it, pasted it, and printed. I will use colored pencils and rescan. Then I will have do some digital editing to put back what I will lose in the printing and scanning process. I started with a 120ft ship, as there were so many.

The right base and chase diameters for guns?

2008-06-15T19:19:00.002-05:00

So I got my Smalltalk code for computing the weights of Dutch guns written and working, to a limited extent. One immediate issue that is really critical is how to choose appropriate chase and base diameters for a gun of a particular weight and shot weight. I am probably not using the correct terminology. My program needs the diameter of the gun at the muzzle end and the breech end. Both have rings that are of specific diameter. Naval guns generally flare to the muzzle, while army guns have a ring around the muzzle. The sizes determine how much metal is in the gun and there must have been design rules used by gun manufacturers that they had developed over time through experience and knowledge of what was common practice.

My current short project: program to calculate Dutch gun weight

2008-06-14T13:16:00.002-05:00

My current short project is to write Smalltalk code to calculate Dutch gun weights, based on the volume of metal and density. I hope to be able to estimate the actual metal density used, once I get this working.

Nico Brinck's bronze 24pdr gun drawing

2008-06-13T19:10:00.002-05:00

Nico Brinck gave me his bronze 24pdr gun drawing that shows a Dutch gun from 1632. This gun is 10.7 Amsterdam feet long, so that would mean that the guns are more lightly constructed than I have thought. Now, I go back to the spreadsheet and do some more adjusting.

Dutch gun analysis

2008-06-13T07:25:00.003-05:00

I thought that after having some idea about Dutch gun weights, that I could apply my analysis tool to what I learned. The idea is to look at some basic relationships:

D^3 x L x K = gun weight in pounds

I had time this morning to try my hand at Dutch bronze 36pdr and 24pdr guns:

Material Shot wt Length (Ft)  Length (Cal.)  Gun Wt   K
bronze   36pdr   10ft         18.2           6635 lbs 1.2658
bronze   36pdr    9.5ft       17.3           6282 lbs 1.2608
bronze   24pdr    9.5ft       19.8           4879 lbs 1.2835
bronze   24pdr    8.75ft      18.2           4414 lbs 1.2634
bronze   24pdr    8.25ft      17.2           4171 lbs 1.2633

Heavily armed, relatively small Dutch ships

2008-06-08T10:38:00.002-05:00

One phenomenon that has my interest is that of the numerous 120ft to 123ft long ship armed with 36 or 38 guns in 1652 and 1653. A prominent early example was the Zeeland ship Hollandia that served as Johan Evertsen's flagship for the first part of the war. Other examples include the Wapen van der Veere (38 guns), the Zevenwolden (38 guns), the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden (38 guns), the Leewarden (36 guns), the Monnikendam (36 or 38 guns), probably the Rotterdam Directors' ship Prins or Prins te Paard (38 guns), and the other Rotterdam Directors' ship Jonas, commanded by Jan Evertsz de Liefde up until August 1652.

I trying my hand, again, at wargame pieces

2008-05-31T10:37:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-25T16:16:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-17T11:13:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-13T11:57:00.002-05:00

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

2008-05-10T14:14:00.003-05:00

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.

The Amsterdam ship Overijssel in 1655

2008-04-30T07:03:00.002-05:00

By May of 1655, the 112ft Amsterdam ship Overijssel carried a much lighter armament than it had previously. Initially, the Overijssel carried a lower tier of 10pdr guns. By 1655, the armament was now mixed, with six 12pdr and the rest 8pdr guns. The 6pdr guns seem to have been retained and there were two "drakes", which could have been the original 3pdr drakes. The new broadside was about 111 pounds while the original broadside weight was 147 pounds. We could imagine that the 10pdr gun was now non-standard and there could have been a desire to move to the standard shot weights. The ship would probably have carried a lighter armament, although we would have to know the weights of the guns to be sure. Of course, we don't have those figures.

A bothersome fact about 17th Century Dutch ship data

2008-04-28T07:17:00.002-05:00

I just received the photographs for pages showing Amsterdam ship specifications, dating from 1655. The bothersome feature is that while they are consistent with what was published by Vreugdenhil in 1938, they differ considerably from lists dating from 1652 and 1653. I knew that this was the case, but the dimensions for many Amsterdam ships are what is different. In one case, the length is shown as five feet shorter (for the Maeght van Enkhuizen).

A Friesland ship in 1655 named Omlandia

2008-04-26T10:11:00.001-05:00

I am now receiving photographs of documents from 1655. There is one page that shows a ship of the Admiralty of Friesland that is named Omlandia. This is a ship of approximately the dimensions of the Zevenwolden that was sunk at the Battle of Scheveningen. The Omlandia was also 122ft long. The Omlandia only carried 30 guns, unlike the Zevenwolden, which carried between 34 and 38 guns at different dates. The ship in this document doesn't match other listing that I have seen for a Friesland Omlandia in service in 1655.

La armada invencible by Cesáreo Fernández Duro

2008-04-23T07:23:00.002-05:00

I suddenly thought of looking to see if La armada invencible By Cesáreo Fernández Duro might be available through Google Books, and it was. I just downloaded the PDF file. I had despaired of ever finding the book and now I (sort of) have it. This is an important source book, from the Spanish perspective, about the Spanish Armada. The book is reportedly based on a cache of documents discovered in an old Spanish castle, back in the latter 19th Century.

Fort Rammekens in Google Earth

2008-04-20T09:55:00.002-05:00

In Google Earth, I can see Fort Rammekens and the sandy beaches nearby where ships could be beached and careened. The picture is copyrighted by the Aerodata International Surveys, so you probably just need to get Google Earth and go the area east of Vlissingen.

"Aitzema" in Google Books

2008-04-19T10:10:00.002-05:00

It is amazing, but Google Books has Lieuwe van Aitzema's work Historie of Verhael van Saken van Staet en Oorlogh In / ende omtrent de VEREENIGHDE NEDERLANDEN. I am not sure if they have the entire work or just part, but they may have the entire thing. It is heavy going, but if you have references that point into the work, you can find interesting passages.

More Vlissingen

2008-04-17T19:43:00.003-05:00

I would like to show the Google Maps satellite view of Vlissingen, but I probably should let you go and look, yourself, due to "rights" issues. One nice thing is that Wikipedia has a picture of Fort Rammekens, near Vlissingen. There was a sandy area near there where ships could be beached, repaired, and have their bottoms cleaned. That was how the Rammekens was used after the Battle of the Gabbard, when about two-thirds of the Dutch fleet anchored off of Vlissingen. The Wikipedia page is in Dutch.