I still smile at the Dutch ships that have large numbers of 3pdr guns

The Amsterdam ship Callantsoog is another example of ship that carried large numbers of 3pdr guns to bring the ship up to 70 guns. The ship was another of the ships built to the 150ft charter (usually 150ft x 38ft x 15ft), as was the Eendracht of 1653, the Groot Hollandia, and others. The Rotterdam ship Gelderland of 1666, was built to an expanded version, having greater beam and depth (150ft x 39ft x 15-1/2ft).

The Callantsoog, at the Four Days Battle, had the following armament:

• lower tier: 6-brass 24pdr nd 20-iron 18pdr
• middle tier (really, the upper tier): 8-brass 12pdr and 16-iron 18pdr
• upper tier (with an unarmed waist): 16-3pdr
• poop: 4-brass "klokwijs" 4pdr

This meant that only 50 of the 70 guns were "substantial". The 16 3pdr were more to just bring the total to 70 guns.

Some English ships still had mixed armaments on a gun deck

The 4th Rate Newcastle, in June 1666, still had a mixed armament on the lower tier. The lower tier had 10-demi-cannon (32pdr) and 12-culverins (18pdr). The upper tier was a uniform 22-demi-culverins (9pdr). The quarterdeck was armed with 6-sakers (5-1/4pdr). The Newcastle had been built at Radcliffe, in 1653, as part of the First Anglo-Dutch War building program. At the Four Days Battle, her captain was Thomas Page, and her assigned crew was 200 men. The Newcastle is one of the few ships from this period for which we know a gun deck length. Her dimensions were:

• length on the gundeck: 131ft
• length on the keel: 108ft
• beam outside of the planking: 33ft-1in
• depth in hold: 13ft-2in
• burden: 628-71/94 tons

Some English 3rd and 4th Rates at the Four Days Battle had peculiar guns, perhaps as chase pieces

This data is from Dr. Weber's book about the Four Days Battle. At first glance, the 3rd Rate Dover looks to have uniform calibers per deck. The lower tier must have been 22-demi-cannon (32pdr) with an upper tier with demi-culverins, with demi-culverins (9pdr) on the quarterdeck (a total of 32 demi-culverins). There were 4-odd culverins (18pdr) that we are left to wonder where they were mounted. One explanation could be 2-culverins firing forward and two aft. Perhaps a few of the demi-culverins were also firing forward and aft. All the van de Velde drawings tend to show all ports armed, even in the chase, rather than allowing for guns to be moved from the broadside, a difficult thing with big guns, even as small as the culverin (only relatively small).

The English had started to arm ships with uniform calibers per deck by 1666

Compared to the Dutch, it is very striking to see that the English were arming ships with uniform calibers on each deck. That was not universal, but it was extremely common. Even the Black Bull (ex-Dutch Wapen van Edam) was armed that way. She had a lower tier armed with 22-12pdr and upper tier armed with English sakers (5-1/4pdr). Her Dutch dimensions had been 120ft x 28ft x 11ft, while her English dimensions, as measured, were 86ft on the keel x 28ft-4in outside the planking x 12ft in the hold. Her intended crew at the Four Days Battle numbered 160 men.

The Amsterdam frigate Ijlst (Ylst) in 1666

The small Amsterdam frigate Ijlst participated in the Four Days Battle in 1666. Thanks to Dr. Weber, we know a good bit about her.

• captain: Jacob Dirkszoon Boom
• crew: 120 sailors and 20 soldiers
• built: probably in 1663
• dimensions: 114ft x 28ft x 11ft
• armament: Lower tier: 6-12pdr and 12-8pdr; Upper tier: 12-6pdr; quarterdeck: 4-2pdr

I would guess that she measured 170 lasts, at least if we are generous in rounding.

The Haarlem in 1666

Even though the Amsterdam ship Haarlem, built in 1644, was 128ft long, it seems to have left some ports empty. Her dimensions were the standard for a 250-last ship: 128ft x 31-1/2ft x 12ft. Her armament in 1666, at the Four Days Battle, was 4-18pdr and 14-12pdr on the lower tier. The upper tier was armed with 18-6pdr. In both cases, that is 9 ports filled per tier, per side. The upperworks (presumably, the quarterdeck) was armed with 8-3pdr. This continues the practice of 1665, where gun counts were filled out with many small-caliber guns, so that certain ships would have 70 guns, despite having a low broadside weight. In this case, the armament was 44 guns.

So, how did the Dutch stay competitive in the Anglo-Dutch Wars?

My long-standing theory is that if you summed the displacements of ships and the broadside weights, that the English were superior in those criteria through the Anglo-Dutch Wars. In two large-scale battles where the Dutch won, Dungeness and the Four Days Battle, the Dutch outnumbered the English. At the Kentish Knock and Portland, during the First Anglo-Dutch War, the English, commanded by Robert Blake, made mistakes. Witte de With managed to survive the Kentish Knock with minimal losses, due to Blake's tactical ignorance, while Tromp still lost at Portland, but escaped where they could well have been annihilated, again due to Blake's strange behavior. The other part of my theory is that the Dutch utilized tactics where they concentrated ships against strong enemy ships and gave each other mutual support. I really need complete OOB's and calculations for all ships in the three Anglo-Dutch wars to be able to do this analysis, but I am gradually making progress on this, especially for the Dutch.

Aert van Nes' division at the Battle of the Texel (17 August 1673)

This is the list of Aert van Nes' division at the Battle of the Texel, from J.R. Bruijn's book from 1966:

• Spiegel Capt. van Meeuwen 70 guns 314 sailors + 12 soldiers Amsterdam
• Schiedam frigate Capt. van der Hoeven 20 guns 79 sailors Rotterdam
• Beschermer Capt. Swerius 50 guns 200 sailors + 16 soldiers Amsterdam
• Eendracht Aert van Nes 72 guns 353 sailors + 57 soldiers Rotterdam
• Essen Philips de Munnik 50 guns 194 sailors + 20 soldiers Amsterdam
• Utrecht frigate Capt. Snellen 34 guns 143 sailors Rotterdam
• Harderwijk frigate Capt. Wichmans 24 guns 96 sailors Rotterdam
• Caleb Capt. Wijnbergen 40 guns 199 sailors Noorderkwartier
• Maria fireship Capt. Barendszoon 4 guns 22 sailors Amsterdam
• Tonijn fireship Capt. De Moor 6 guns 30 sailors Zeeland

A Dutch ship in 1654 with 18pdrs on the lower tier

The Stad en Lande, built in 1653, actually had a lower tier with 18pdrs in July 1654. This is the ship built by Amsterdam, as it is 136ft long. The dimensions were: 136ft x 34ft x 14ft. In July 1654, the captain was Pieter van Brakel. The armament consisted of 48 guns: 4-brass 18pdr, 18-iron 18pdr, 4-brass 8pdr, 16-iron 8pdr, and 6-brass 6pdr drakes. Obviously, the upper tier was armed with 8pdrs, with the 6pdrs on the quarterdeck.

Several Amsterdam ships from the 1640's have lower tiers armed with 12pdrs

Two ships, the Leeuwarden (built in 1645) and the Maan (or Halve Maan) (built in 1643) both have lower tiers armed with 12pdrs. The Leeuwarden, as I have recently mentioned, had 14-iron 12pdrs on the lower tier, along with 4-brass 18pdrs. The Maan had the same 4-brass 18pdrs, with 16-iron 12pdrs on the lower tier. The Maan was considerably larger ship, being 250 lasts and 128ft x 31.5ft x 12ft, while the Leeuwarden was about 200 lasts and 120ft x 29.75ft x 11.75ft.

There are many ways to get a 200 last ship

Given the basic formula, which is only approximate, and seems to have been bent pretty far, although I believe that was more from inaccurate dimensions, such as using Maas feet instead of Amsterdam feet. For example, there was the Noorderkwartier ship Eenhoorn with dimensions of 125ft x 29ft x 11.5ft. Then there was the Amsterdam ship Star (built in 1644) with dimensions of 120ft x 28ft x 12ft, but also of 200 lasts. The Amsterdam ship Fazant (built in 1646) was approximately 200 lasts, and had dimensions of 120ft x 29ft x 12ft. It is somewhat larger, but I would still round it to 200 lasts. the Leeuwarden (built in 1645) is pushing things, and might count as being 210 lasts, as her dimensions were 120ft x 29-3/4ft x 11-3/4ft.

The 120ft long ships built by the Noorderkwartier

On page 49 in De Vlootbouw in Nederland, Dr. Elias points to the ships built by the Noorderkwartier to a charter with dimensions: 120ft x 27ft x 11ft. My estimate is that these ships had burdens of 180 lasts. I base that on the 128ft charter that was 250 lasts. These ships were armed with an odd collection of guns. These were seemingly whatever was available, when they were being fitted out for sea. One example of this charter was the frigate Medemblick built in 1640. She was armed with 2-brass 6pdr, 10-iron 12pdr, 8-iron 8pdr, 6-iron 4pdr, and 2-iron 3pdr. Another was the frigate Hoorn, built in 1636. She was armed with: 2-brass 6pdr, 6-iron 12pdr, 20-iron 8pdr, 2-iron 6pdr, and 2-iron 4pdr. The Casteel van Medemblick was built to the same dimensions in 1640. She was armed with 2-brass 6pdr, 10-iron 12pdr, 8-iron 8pdr, 6-iron 4pdr, and 2-iron 3pdr.

The switching of data for the Black Bull and Black Spread Eagle

Frank Fox has long believed that a copies, a long time ago, switched the dimensions for the two captured Dutch ships Black Bull and Black Spread Eagle. He had advised Dr. Weber of this, back in the 1980's. The Black Bull (Edam or Wapen van Edam) had well-known Dutch dimensions of 120ft x 28ft x 11ft. Frank Fox's first book, Great Ships, still had the error. The English dimensions for the Black Bull were given as 103ft x 30ft x 13ft-6in with a burden of 493 tons. The dimensions given for the Black Spread Eagle were 86ft x 28ft-4in x 12ft and a burden of 367 tons. This is nonsensical, as the Black Spread Eagle was a much larger ship than the Black Bull. The Black Spread Eagle was the Friesland ship Groningen. Her dimensions in Amsterdam feet were132ft x 31ft x 14-1/2ft. Dr. Weber corrected the error in his book De Vierdaagse Zeeslag 11-14 Juni 1666. I had asked Frank Fox about this in 2001, and he told me that yes, the earlier figures were in error, and that Dr. Weber's book was correct, as he had incorporated Frank's thoughs on the subject.

Martinique in 1667

We know the English ships that took part in the battle against the anchored French fleet at Martinique in June 1667. They were:

• Lion, 58 guns John Harman
• Jersey, 50 guns
• Crown, 48 guns
• Newcastle, 50 guns
• Dover, 46 guns
• Bonaventure, 48 guns
• Assistance, 46 guns
• Assurance, 38 guns
• Norwich, 26 guns
• Portsmouth ketch, 10 guns
• Roe ketch, 8 guns
• Joseph fireship, 4 guns

I don't know the French OOB, but I would welcome help from anyone who might know, as well as how they were anchored.

I just watched the dismasted 1st Rate London "take apart" the Dutch Eendracht (76 guns)

I am finishing playtesting the Battle of Solebay scenario, with me playing the English. This was pretty much "annihilation" for the Dutch. The AI continually closed with the English, and they got shot up pretty badly. I watched the dismasted 1st Rate London, as she "took apart" the Dutch 2nd Rate Eendracht (76 guns), a Rotterdam ship. This scenario is challenging for the Dutch, as I suspect that they are outmatched pretty badly. Despite the "Pearl Harbor" style attack at dawn, they still had a challenge. I may need to downgrade most of the French, as the French were badly led by D'Estrees. Right now, towards the end of a "fight to the finish", the Dutch are outnumbered almost 5:1, and the English Sovereign (100 guns) is only slightly damaged.

I am playtesting the Battle of Solebay scenario for Privateers Bounty

As soon as I have finished playtesting the Battle of Solebay (28 May 1672) scenario, I will make it available for download from AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. I expect that it will be ready in an hour or so, unless I find some unexpected flaw.

The scenarios are always subject to revision, if I find better information that needs to be factored into the scenario.

I know that there are at least several people who are interested in networked Privateers Bounty

I would like to facilitate people getting together to play networked Privateers Bounty games, but I really don't have a mechanism set up to do so. I would be open to suggestions, although I am overextended already, and really am not in a place to have to deal with anything on a large scale.

Updated Battle of Nevis scenario

I realized that I should have included the Castle Frigate in the Battle of Nevis scenario. I have updated the scenario and the usrships.ini file, and both are available for download at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. By the way, the usrships.ini file has most of the ship definitions for the Battle of Solebay.

What we know about John Berry's ships at the Battle of Nevis

What we know about John Berry's ships comes from Frank Fox's two-part article in the Mariner's Mirror in 1998, and from R.C. Anderson's Lists of Men-of-War 1650-1700 Part I English Ships 1649-1702, Second Edition. It may be that Frank Fox omits some of what Anderson wrote earlier, because he couldn't comfirm the data. For example, Anderson gives the armament for Berry's flagship, the Coronation, as 50 guns, but Frank omits that from his list.

• Coronation, 50 guns; built 1661; LK=93ft-8in; B=30ft-7in; 466 tons; 22 gun ports on gun deck
• John & Thomas, 44 guns; built 1664; LK=102ft-0in; B=29ft-4in; 467 tons; 22 gun ports on gun deck
• Constant Katherine, 40 guns; built 1664; LK=85ft-0in; B=27ft-4in; 338 tons; 20 gun ports on gun deck
• William (nothing more known)
• Pearl, 32 guns; 260 tons
• Companion (nothing more known)
• St. Peter (nothing more known)
• Castle Frigate, 36 guns; buiilt 1656; LK=85ft-0in; B=27ft-0in; 330 tons; 20 gun ports on the gun deck (apparently, this ship should be included)
• William, fireship (nothing more known, except she was small)
• Norwich, 5th Rate, 28 guns; built at Chatham in 1655; LK=80ft; B=25ft; 265 tons

What do we really want?: a 3D simulation that let's us realistically maneuver large fleets and fight them

We may settle for a 2D game for fighting Anglo-Dutch War battles, but what we really want is a 3D game with continuous motion. We want what Privateers Bounty has, but we want better. We want to be able to have a fleet tack in session, at a turn point. We want to be able to keep a fleet in an informal line, where ships adjust speed to stay together. We want to be able to maneuver fleets in a way that feels like our concept of how they really manuevered. We want ships to fight like they really did. We might like to be able to script some patterns of behavior, so that we could setup a scenario, where under AI control, a fleet starts at anchor, but upon seeing the enemy fleet approaching, will weigh anchor, and get underway. Perhaps it is too ambitious a goal, but why not say what we really want, so as we can, we can implement more of what we want.

The French at Solebay in 1672

The French squadron at the Battle of Solebay was an odd collection of ships. To make up the needed numbers, they had to resort to four 38-guns ships (Hasardeux, Eole, Arrogant, and Hardi). I can really notice my lack of books that cover the French frigate-leger type in the 17th Century. I really need to get a copy of Jean Boudriot's two books about frigates and corvettes. I do have Cdt. Demerliac's book, which is simply a list of ships and data. The other three books that I own have drawings and text, which is very helpful (even if it is in French). I know that a hole in my Battle of Solebay OOB for the French has to do with "light frigates". Corbett says that they had five with their squadron, along with 8 fireships. I guess I need to go back and retrofit some frigates, so they can be out as a screen on the morning of the Dutch attack.

The Battle of Solebay scenario for Privateers Bounty

Sometime this weekend, I expect to make the Privateers Bounty scenario for the Battle of Solebay available for download. Right now, I have completed entering the French, and have started to enter the English ships. I have finished all the calculations, so now only the drudge work of entering ships and putting them on the map remains (along with the more interesting task of playtesting).

The French flagship Saint-Phillipe (78 guns)

I have been collecting information for the Battle of Solebay, for the Privateers Bounty scenario. The French ships are frustrating, in that I find that there are many different figures, in particular for the Saint-Phillipe (d'Estrees' flagship). I have three sources:

• Jean Boudriot, Les Vaisseaux 74 à 120 Canons, 1995
• Cdt. Alain Demerliac, Nomenclature des Vasseaux du Roi-Soleil de 1661 à 1715, 1995
• J.C. Lemineur, Les Vaisseaux du Roi Soleil, 1996

Boudriot: 146ft x 36.5ft x 18.5ft 24-36pdr, 26-18pdr, 24-8pdr, 8-6pdr

Demerliac: 146ft (121ft keel) x 36.5ft x 18.5ft 24-36pdr, 26-18pdr, 24-8pdr, 4/8-6 or 4pdr

Lemineur: 144ft x 40ft x 18ft 12-24pdr, 28-18pdr, 12-12pdr, 26-8pdr, 6-4pdr

The two sets derived from Boudriot's publishing company are essentially the same, but M. Lemineur's is different. The armament seems to be what was carried earlier, while Boudriot's armament seems to be late in her career.

I'm proceeding with the Battle of Solebay scenario for Privateers Bounty

I just finished the calculations for the French at Solebay (28 May 1672). I've gone back to assembling the scenario. If there are not too many distractions today, I may be able to finish and start playtesting.

The main remaining work, besides the grunt work of entering data is finishing the Dutch ship calculations.

The Solebay scenario for Privateers Bounty

I'm sorry to say that forward progress has ground to a halt. I hope to still get this done, but it will take more spreadsheet work for both French and Dutch ships before it will happen. It still seems worth doing, especially after seeing how useful the Lowestoft scenario was.

Battle of Nevis pictures

When I did playtesting of the Battle of Nevis from the English perspective, I took several pictures. The background is what Privateers Bounty provides: rock-like islands. If I had moved the action further to the west, there would have been fortifications and a town.

This shows the English squadron maneuvering for the weather gauge. Yes, Privateers Bounty provides a good enough environment for such things.

This shows the English squadron pulling away so that there is room to wear. Ideally, the English squadron would tack, but I have had enough problems getting caught in stays for extended periods of time that I have generally gone back to wearing.

I am playtesting a Battle of Nevis scenario for Privateers Bounty

Since the Battle of Nevis information "fell into my lap", I thought that I needed to put together the Privateers Bounty scenario for it. I am currently playtesting.

I just finished playtesting with me commanding the English. I was able to annihilate the Allied force. They are small, weakly armed, and have mediocre crews (only the French). I am about to try the scenario with me commanding the Allies.

My opinion is that despite the Allied handicaps, a commander can do well enough to win. Therefore, unless there are factual issues uncovered the scenario is good as is, and I will make it available for download at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com.

The French ships at the Battle of Nevis

I believe that this is the list of French ships at the Battle of Nevis. They were divided into two squadrons: First Squadron:

• du Florissant flagship of Admiral François 28/30 guns (Royal West Indies Company)
• des Armes d'Angleterre (English prize, ex-Coventry) 24 guns (Royal West Indies Company)
• de l'Harmonie 26/32 guns (Royal West Indies Company) 300 tons
• de la Notre-Dame 10 guns, 12 cannon perriers (Royal West Indies Company) 400 tons
• du Marsouïn 12/18 guns (Royal West Indies Company)
• de Saint Christophe 26 guns (Royal West Indies Company)
• Cher amy, a fireship 8/10 guns (Royal West Indies Company)

Second Squadron:

• du Levrier (Dutch Windhond)
• François le Saint Jean 8/30 guns (Royal West Indies Company) 300 tons
• l'Hercule 26 guns (Royal West Indies Company)
• le Mercier 16/24 guns (Royal West Indies Company) 400 tons
• l'Hirondel 14 guns (Royal West Indies Company)
• le Soucy converted to a fireship in April 1667 (Royal West Indies Company)

I was able to find the ship data in Cdr. Alain Demerliac's book Nomenclature des vaisseaux du Roi-Soleil de 1661 à 1715 (1995).

Frank Fox's Mariner's Mirror first article gives the English OOB for the Battle of Nevis (10 May 1667)

I got a copy, today, from the De Golyer Library at SMU, of the first part of Frank Fox's article about English hired ships "Hired Men-of-War, 1664-67". One nugget from that is the English OOB for the Battle of Nevis. I have the list of Dutch ships at the Battle, and need to figure out what French ships were there. It was an English victory, due to the horrible performance by some of the French.

The English ships were:

• Coronation
• John & Thomas
• Constant Katherine
• William
• Pearl
• Campanion
• St. Peter
• Norwich (a 5th Rate)
• William, fireship

The Campanion blew up, but the English won the battle, anyway.

The Dutch squadron was commanded by Abraham Crijnssen. They left Zeeland on 30 December 1666 (New Style). The ships initially with him were:

• Zeelandia, 34 guns crew 140 Abraham Crijnssen
• West-Cappel, 28 guns Simon Lonck
• Zeeridder, 34 guns crew 167 Piter de Mauregnault
• Prins te Paard, jacht 14 guns crew 75 Salomon le Sage
• Wester-Souburg, hoeker 6 guns crew 13 Rochus Bastaert
• Aardenburg, fluit Abraham Trouwers
• an unnamed snauw Hayman Adriaensen

They were joined by the Visschers Herder, 26 guns Boudewijn Keuvelaer (perhaps in February)

The advijs jacht Windhond brought letters from the Netherlands, seemingly arriving in March.

The Zeelandia, Zeeridder, and Visschers Herder definitely took part in the Battle of Nevis.

After the abortive battle, the Dutch left the Caribbean and headed for Virginia.

I broke down and am calculating the correct burdens for French ships

I looked at alternatives, and decided that I would do best to use a spreadsheet to calculate the English-style burden for French ships. My first application is for the Solebay scenario. I am calculating the burdens and recording relevant data for the French ships that were actually at Solebay, not just those that are in the Privateers Bounty scenario.

For example, the data for the French flagship, the Saint-Phillipe (78 guns) is:

146ft LOA 121ft LK x 36.5ft x 18.5ft, giving a French tonnage of 1408 tons and an English burden of 1,037 tons. The armament I'm using is 24-36pdr, 26-18pdr, 24-8pdr, and 4-6pdr.

It turns out that Corbett's booklet gives captains and order for Solebay

I have a copy of a rare item by Julian S. Corbett entitled "A Note on the Drawings in the Possession of the Earl of Dartmouth illustrating The Battle of Solebay May 28, 1672 and the Battle of the Texel August 11, 1673" published by The Navy Records Society in 1908. It turns out that this booklet gives the names of the French and English captains as well as the sailing order for each division. The only thing that it lacks are the fireships and smallcraft.

Allied fireships at Solebay

I need to find out, if possible, what fireships accompanied the Allied fleet at the Battle of Solebay. I have the information for the Dutch, from Brandt, but I lack if for the combined Franco-English fleet. I have sketched out the scenario that I will use for the Privateers Bounty scenario, but I lack fireship data for the allies. I also have to add in fireships to the Dutch fleet, although I at least have sufficient data to proceed.

I am developing a Privateers Bounty scenario for the Battle of Solebay (28 May 1672)

With my success in scaling the Battle of Lowestoft into Privateers Bounty, I decided that the Battle of Solebay would be what I would do next. I am using R. C. Anderson's OOB from Journals and Narratives of the Third Dutch War as the basis for proceeding. I will use French ship data from Cdt. Alain Demerliac's book Nomenclature des vaisseaux de Roi-Soleil de 1661 à 1715. I will use Frank Fox's book Great Ships: the battlefleet of King Charles II for English ship data.

I don't recommend "breaking the line" in Privateers Bounty

I just proved to myself (as if I needed it) that breaking the line does more damage to your fleet than it does to the enemy. I did another simulation run with the Battle of Lowestoft scenario, and I commanded the English with the difficulty set to "Hard". I shut it down part way through, as the English had lost one third while the Dutch were still at something like 94%.

I will upload the Battle of Lowestoft scenario momentarily

I just ran the Battle of Lowestoft scenario for Privateers Bounty, and the only thing I want to do is to set the camera position. I just ran the Dutch, and found them to be competitive. My belief is that in the real battle, attitudes were generally bad, due to political instability that eventually brought down the Republic. The fleet was also badly led by Jacob Wassenaer. They weren't helped by the fact that the government had refused to build the fleet that Tromp had wanted in 1653, but that was in the process of being fixed by 1665. The huge building program started in 1664 produced a fleet of ships that were sufficient to fight the English. I have previously outlined that building program at KentishKnock.com.

I don't see the organization and tactics to be the real problem. Many captains were incompetent and needed to be replaced. Fortunately for the Dutch, the next generation was maturing and would be equal to the task, saving the country in 1672-1674.

I'm very close to being able to enter Lowestoft as a Privateers Bounty scenario

I have scaled the fleets and picked ships for the English, arranged in the three squadrons. I have scaled the Dutch and just have to list the specific ships and captains. I would expect that in a day or two it would be ready to playtest.

I will be interested to see how the simulation works, if the English would tend to win, as in real life, or not.

A Lowestoft scenario--let's analyze the numbers

To do a Privateers Bounty scenario for the Battle of Lowestoft (3 June 1665), we will need to scale the fleets to fit. To do that, we need to know actual numbers. For now, we will omit smallcraft, although I like to have them. English fleet: (104 ships) White Squadron: (33 ships)

• Van: 1-2nd Rate, 2-3rd Rates, 4-4th Rates, 1-5th Rate, and 4-hired merchantmen (11 ships)
• Center: 1-1st Rate, 1-2nd Rate, 2-3rd Rates, 4-4th Rates, 1-5th Rate, 2-fireships, and 2-hired merchantmen (13 ships)
• Rear: 1-2nd Rate, 2-3rd Rates, 3-4th Rates, 1-5th Rate, and 2-hired merchantmen (9 ships)

Red Squadron: (39 ships)

• Van: 2-2nd Rates, 1-3rd Rate, 4-4th Rates, 1-5th Rate, 1-6th Rate, and 2-hired merchantmen (11 ships)
• Center: 1-1st Rate, 2-2nd Rates, 2-3rd Rates, 5-4th Rates, 2-5th Rates, 1-6th Rate, 2-fireships, and 2-hired merchantmen (17 ships)
• Rear: 1-2nd Rate, 1-3rd Rate, 5-4th Rates, and 4-hired merchantmen (11 ships)

Blue Squadron: (32 ships)

• Van: 1-2nd Rate, 2-3rd Rates, 3-4th Rates, 1-5th Rate, and 3-hired merchantmen (10 ships)
• Center: 1-1st Rate, 2-3rd Rates, 4-4th Rates, 2-5th Rates, 1-fireship, and 2-hired merchantmen (12 ships)
• Rear: 2-2nd Rates, 1-3rd Rate, 4-4th Rates, 1-5th Rate, and 2-hired merchantmen (10 ships)

Dutch fleet: (122 ships)

• First Squadron: 1-78 (VOC), 1-73, 1-68, 2-58, 1-56, 4-48, 2-46, 1-38, 1-36, 1-18, and 2-fireships (17 ships)
• Second Squadron: 1-76 (VOC), 1-58, 1-57, 1-53, 1-50, 2-46, 3-36, 2-34, 1-29, 1-25, 1-8, 1-6, and 2-fireships (18 ships)
• Third Squadron: 1-70 (VOC), 2-68, 1-58, 1-50, 4-48, 1-46, 1-41 (VOC), 2-38, 1-36, and 1 fireship (15 ships)
• Fourth Squadron: 1-70 (VOC), 1-68, 1-58, 1-54, 2-52, 1-50 (VOC), 1-44, 4-40, 1-38, 1-36, 1-18, and 1-fireship (16 ships)
• Fifth Squadron: 1-70, 1-58, 2-56, 1-50 (VOC), 6-48, 1-40, 2-38, 1-36, 1-30, 1-14, and 1-fireship (18 ships)
• Sixth Squadron: 1-50, 1-48, 4-46, 1-40, 1-36, 1-34, 2-30, 1-26, 1-24, 1-21, 1-20, 1-16, 1-4, 1-3, and 2-fireships (20 ships)
• Seventh Squadron: 1-60, 2-56, 1-54 (VOC), 3-52 (VOC), 2-50, 1-46, 2-44, 1-36, 1-32 (VOC), 2-30, and 2-fireships (18 ships)

The English are 104 ships while the Dutch are 122 ships. If the total in the game is 84, then the English would have 39 ships and the Dutch would have 45 ships. The squadrons would need to be scaled accordingly.

Possible Battle of Lowestoft scenario (3 June 1665 Old Style)

I find it distasteful to have to reduce numbers to be able to fit the large battles in to Privateers Bounty, but that is just what is needed. I think that we might as well have the 2nd Anglo-Dutch War battles available to fight, as the OOB's are well defined by Frank Fox. I have to shoehorn them into Privateers Bounty, but at least we would be able to get a flavor for what it was like.

The basic problem is the need to limit total ships to some number around 84. I will scale the fleets accordingly, to fit within this limitation. The main work to be done will be do develop the scaled OOB and then finish the Dutch ship calculations, so that I have what would be needed to create the ships in the Privateers Bounty scenario editor.

The Battle at Bergen on 2 August 1665 (Old Style)

I finished playtesting and tweaking the Privateers Bounty scenario for the English attack on the Dutch East India fleet in the harbor at Bergen. I had to reduce the effectiveness of Dutch ships, as the battle is so one-sided. Since I don't have information about armaments for the Dutch ships, I felt that I may have originally made them too strong. As it is, the scenario plays "true to form": the English are easily repulsed. The harbor size seems very realistic, although it faces the wrong direction by 90 degrees, as the dutch ships fill up the entrance the way that is shown in the drawings. I don't understand Privateers Bounty, as I set all the Dutch ships to "Hard Anchor", in the scenario setup, but when running the Dutch via AI, some of the ships get underway. When I ran the Dutch, I furled the sails to settle the issue. I did NO manuevering of the Dutch and let the AI run the English. The English have a very hard time, as in the actual battle. From a purely simulation perspective, I though it worthwhile to build and run this scenario. As a game, it is less interesting, but it has its moments, even if you are commanding the English, as you do have two capable fireships (Bryar and Hound).

I'm building a new Privateers Bounty scenario: the attack on Bergen on 2 August 1665

I am using some very appropriate land models for the harbor at Bergen. There is an ample supply of fortifications, and a good harbor that looks something like the van de Velde drawing. The Dutch fighting fleet consisted of the following ships:

• Walcheren (Zeeland) Pieter de Bitter, Admiral
• Phoenix (Amsterdam) merchant Jacob Burckhorst, Vice-Admiral (400 lasts)
• Slot Hooningen (Rotterdam) schipper Herman de Ruyter, Rear-Admiral
• Notemuskaatboom (Amsterdam) (300 lasts)
• Rijzende Zon (Amsterdam) (300 lasts)
• Brederode (Amsterdam) Skipper Pieter Veltmuys
• Wapen van Hoorn (Amsterdam) flute
• Amstelland (Amsterdam) Skipper Theunis Gysbertszoon (340 lasts) flute
• Diemermeer (Zeeland) (220 lasts) flute
• Ooievaar (Zeeland) Skipper Frederick Janszoon (340 lasts) flute
• Jonge Prins (Hoorn) Skipper Jacob Jochemszoon
• Kogge (Amsterdam) Skipper Luyt Pieterszoon (180 lasts) yacht
• Nieuwenhoven (Amsterdam) Skipper Pieter Kooker (170 lasts) yacht
• Catharina (a Lisbon trader) Skipper Ruth Maximiliaan (40 guns)

Frank Fox says that the six largest ships were anchored across the entrance, with the Brederode on the west side, Phoenix, Wapen van Hoorn, Jonge Prins, and Walcheren in the center. The Sloot Hooningen was on the east side. The Catherine was in between the Walcheren and Sloot Hooningen. The Rijzende Zon and three others (Amstelland, Diermermeer, and Ooievaar) were behind them. The two yachts may have been near the Catharina. The following English ships took part in the attack:

• Revenge (3rd Rate) (58 guns) Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Teddiman
• Happy Return (4th Rate) (50 guns) James Lambert
• Breda (4th Rate) (46 guns) Thomas Seale
• Foresight (4th Rate) (46 guns) Packington Brooks
• Golden Lion (4th Rate, prize) (46 guns) William Dale
• Sapphire (4th Rate) (38 guns) Thomas Elliot
• Guinea (4th Rate) (36 guns) Thomas Room Coyle
• Bendish (M) (42 guns) Robert Taylor
• Society (M) (36 guns) Ralph Lascelles
• Prudent Mary (M) (36 guns) Thomas Haward
• Coast Frigate (M) (34 guns) William Lawson
• Guernsey (5th Rate) (28 guns) John Utber
• Pembroke (5th Rate) (28 guns) Richard Cotton
• Norwich (5th Rate) (24 guns) John Wetwang
• Martin Galley (6th Rate) (14 guns) William Kampthorne
• Bryar (fireship) (12 guns) Vincent Pierse
• Hound (fireship) (8 guns) James Coleman

Sources:

• Frank Fox, A Distant Storm: The Four Days Battle of 1666 (1996)
• J.C.M. Warnsinck, De Retourvloot van Pieter de Bitter (1929)

I'm off to a good start on calculations for Dutch ships from the 2nd and 3rd Anglo-Dutch Wars

The main impediment to building scenarios for the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars is that we need to calculate burden and navigational drafts for Dutch ships. We have reasonably good data for the English, partly due to Frank Fox, and partly from Pepys' tables. There is also the table for 1689, reprinted by E. H. H. Archibald. He includes that as essentially all of Derrick's classic book (of which I have a very beat up copy, formerly belonging to the National Maritime Museum, but which they sold).

I'm gearing up to do 2nd Anglo-Dutch War battle scenarios for Privateers Bounty

To do 2nd Anglo-Dutch War scenarios, I need to do the calculations for Dutch ships so that I know the correct burden in English measure as well as a reasonable draft estimate. I am reformatting my Excel spreadsheet to be ordered by ship name and date, rather than captain's name.

I have reasonable data for English ships. The main task there is to estimate armaments, crews, and mast values. I will rely upon Pepys' list for navigational drafts. I will also use those crew figures for later in the century. For the 2nd ADW, I will continue to rely upon Frank Fox and Dr. Weber's book.

A nasty feature of Privateers Bounty is that it will not allow enough ships per scenario, so I will need to "scale" the scenarios to fit what is possible.

The Blockade of the Royalists at Kinsale Privateers Bounty scenario is available for download

I finished my preliminary playtesting of the Privateers Bounty scenario for the Blockade of the Royalists at Kinsale, and you can now download it at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com.

I would welcome further input on this scenario, if someone has better information than I have used. I noticed that the English Civil War website says that only seven Royalists ships escaped from Kinsale, not 12.

I learned some new things about the blockade at Kinsale from Robert Blake's letters

I found some answers about the Royalists ships at Kinsale in June-September 1649. This is the list that is given on page 73, dated June 9, 1649 (obviously Old Style):

• Constant Reformation (52 guns)
• Swallow (36 guns)
• Convertine (42 guns)
• Washford frigate (14 guns)
• Ark (20 guns)
• Scots frigate (24 guns)
• James (29 guns)
• George
• Culpepper (18 guns)
• Roebuck (12 guns)
• Blackmoor Lady
• Ambrose
• Charles

I will need to revise my scenario, as I will replace some of my estimates with the real guns.

I am playtesting the "Blockade of the Royalists at Kinsale" scenario

I expect that I will make the scenario for the Parliamentarian blockade of the Royalists at Kinsale in 1649 available for download, sometime tomorrow. I expect that I will need to do some tweaking before I will be ready, as that has been the pattern.

It occurred to me that this would be a good scenario to try, as the numbers of ships are small. I may also try the Royalists at Lisbon blockaded by Robert Blake circa 1650.

An idea for a scenario: The Royalists at Kinsale in October 1649

I think that it might be interesting to have a Privateers Bounty scenario for the Parliamentarian blockade of Kinsale. It is more interesting, if we go with the reduced Parliamentarian forces in plce after 26 September 1649. The guns are my estimates, as I don't have as much data as I would like. The scenario starts with the Royalists in the harbor at Kinsale. The weather is bad, and their goal must be to escape the harbor without being intercepted by the Parliamentarians.

• Lion (52 guns), flagship of Robert Blake
• Garland (44 guns)
• Elizabeth (36 guns)
• Nonsuch (36 guns)
• Guinea frigate (32 guns)

The Royalists were:

• Constant Reformation (52 guns)
• Swallow (40 guns)
• Convertine (46 guns)
• Ark (28 guns)
• James (29 guns) 300 tons
• George (26 guns)
• Culpepper (28 guns)
• Roebuck (14 guns) 90 tons
• Blackmoor Lady (18 guns) 180 tons
• Ambrose (24 guns)
• Charles (40 guns)
• "Washford" frigate (26 guns)
• "Scots" frigate (24 guns)

Probably the most important feature of a 17th Century naval warfare simulation is the user interface

With 150 or more ships in each navy, the ship databases must be easy to access, and ship control must be easy and intuitive. It is critical that we can control multiple ships as a group, maintain a formation, and treat the physics of sailing in a realistic manner.

All my gaming experience for sailing naval warfare has been with Privateers Bounty. The criticism of that simulation is that square-rigged ships can sail too close to the wind. I know that is true, as I do it all the time. I sail my ships, using the helm, as close as 10 degrees to the wind. I am also more comfortable with tacking, instead of wearing, and have found that the danger of getting "caught in chains" is not that great, although it can happen.

I have found the discussion of tacking and wearing in John Harland's book, Seamanship in the Age of Sail, to be very useful and informative.

More about a 2D 17th Century naval warfare simulation

If we are going to "computerize" 17th Century naval warfare, a major goal needs to be to include individual ships. The problem with gaming this period with miniatures is that it is not feasible to game with "actual numbers" of ships. Miniatures rules require too much work and record keeping for it to be possible.

If we are going to the trouble of "computerizing", then we need to solve that problem. That doesn't mean that we will be moving individual ships on the map (although we could do that with a few). We still will group by fleets and squadrons.

I foresee wanting to have layers of map detail that we can access, as we bring ships into contact. If we actually show ships in contact on the map, in a battle (and this seems like a worthwhile goal), they would be shown in plan view. I suspect that we will only show that level of detail by zooming in on a squadron. Fleets will only show their constituant squadrons and divisions.

I have been experimenting with tacking instead of wearing

In Privateers Bounty, while running the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy scenario, I have started to tack, rather than wear. I am finding that while ships are stuck into the wind for a time, they will turn past.

I was reading in John Harland's book, Seamanship in the Age of Sail, and looking at the pros and cons of wearing and tacking. The main reason to tack, is that you do not lose distance downwind the way you do if you wear. In tacking, you are always "gaining to windward", if you have enough headway. If not, you can get in trouble, and "get caught in stays".

The updated Smyrna Convoy Word document and Privateers Bounty scenario can be downloaded

I've made the updated Word document scenario and the Privateers Bounty scenario available for download from AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. The earlier versions were replaced by this latest version. A feature is that my estimates for the Dutch merchantmen have been increased to be more in keeping with ships in service in the 1670's.

I have spent the evening playtesting and tweaking the Privateers Bounty scenario. It is a difficult situation, in that I would like to see some balance in outcomes. In real life, however, the Dutch were able to repel the attack, and left many disabled English ships.

Another simulation run of the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy

In my playtesting of my revised Battle of the Smyrna Convoy scenario, I commanded the Dutch and had the difficulty set to "Hard". I maneuvered the Dutch as a unit, until later in the evening of the first day. We got to the point where the only surviving English ship was the St. Michael (90 guns).

Before that, the Dutch fought in formation (an informal line) , and defeated the English main body, leaving the St. Michael dismasted, but still able to fight. While there was still light, the English reinforcements arrived from the far corner of the map. The Dutch turned to fight them. In a few hours of game time, the reinforcements were defeated.

There was still the St. Michael to deal with. The Dutch could have sailed off (those that were mobile), but instead, I decided to finish off the St. Michael. At this point, I maneuvered individual ships (of those that were still mobile). I gathered the ships still able to sail, and had them close the St. Michael. One of the more lightly-armed merchantman was already in a position to rake the St. Michael, but at a distance. As the night got later, the merchantman drifted out off range. I brought in the Vlissingen and Delft, and furled their sails. By this time, it was pitch dark. Ships fired to no effect.

I went off and did other things. By the time I came back, it was dawn, and the St. Michael had surrendered to the raking ships. As soon as it was light, the ships could fire accurately, and that was enough to finish the battle.

The Dutch were left in possession of the battlefield (so to speak). In the real world, they would have towed all the surviving ships into port, including surrendered English ships.

For the first time in ages, I am using "destination points"

For a long time, I have been strictly steering groups of ships, using the helm. I am finding, though, that when I have multiple groups of ships, geographically separated, the only reasonable way to have control is to use destination points. I am using one point, that I keep shifting, for the main English body (at the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy) and another for the reinforcements.

After chasing the Dutch convoy, almost to the edge of the map, the main body caught them, and started to "write off" the Dutch ships. All of a sudden, though, the Resolution surrendered. They did succeed in causing the largest Dutch merchantman (40 guns) to surrender, as well.

Now, the St. Michael and Cambridge surrendered, as well. The Cambridge sank almost immediately. The Utrecht is really savaging the surviving English ships. The time is 8:35pm, and it is very dark.

At 9:25pm, the Dutch are savaging the reinforcements. The Gloucester is the only English ship left. The battle is over, as the Gloucester surrendered (after 10pm). The Dutch, under AI control really slammed the English attackers. I think that much of the problem is that the English crews were so bad. They are not so bad as I had them ("bad"), but they are bad enough ("poor"). I need to decide if I should improve the English crews, or leave them as they are.

I'm updating the Smyrna Convoy scenario: Privateers Bounty and Word document

Thanks to Steven Webber, I have sufficient information to design a better scenario for the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy. We know that the wind was from the southwest, the Dutch were sailing east along the Isle of Wight, and the Robert Holme's ships approached from the windward. The English were in line with the Resolution leading.

I am assembling the revised Privateers Bounty scenario, right now, and will make it available for download, after some playtesting. After that, I will make available the revised Word document. One thing I did was to increase the size of the Dutch merchantmen. My assessment is that I used First Anglo-Dutch War-sized ships, which were too small for the 1670's. They were also too lightly armed, at least with respect to gun calibers.

I have updated the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy Word document

A reader, Steven Webber, pointed out that Richard Ollard's book about Robert Holmes, Man of War gives the names of three more of Holmes' captains in the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy. I have updated the Word document to include those names plus some comments on the battle by Frank Fox.

Frank says that English gunnery in the battle may have been poor. They English also did not do well at close fighting in the second and third wars. The bottom line is that the English should have done better, but did not. Partly, the explanation may have been that the Dutch fought well (as simple as that). I have included more of what Frank had to say in the updated document.

I have added another new scenario for Privateers Bounty

I just made another new Privateers Bounty scenario available for downloading at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. The new scenario is for the action that in real life culminated in the capture of an English 4th Rate, the St. Patrick (48 guns) by two small Dutch frigates. They were both Zeeland ships, the Delft (34 guns) and the Schakerlo (28 guns). Both were built shortly before the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

Together, they caused the Malaga Merchant to flee and the captured the St. Patrick, by boarding. I based the scenario on the description in The Royal Navy: A history from the earliest times to the present, by William Laird Clowes (until Frank Fox pronounced the last name, I would never have guessed it rhymed with "clues" instead of "close").

The action between the St. Patrick and Delft and Schakerloo would be a good Privateers Bounty scenario

One incident that would be interesting to run as a Privateers Bounty scenario would be the capture of the St. Patrick (48 guns) by the Delft (34 guns) and Schakerloo (28 guns) on 5 February 1667 (Old style). The Malaga Merchant had been in company with the St. Patrick, but the captain fled the scene, leaving the St. Patrick to fend for herself. This is another case where the raw numbers would indicate that the St. Patrick should have been able to defeat the two Dutch frigates. Instead, the St. Patrick was beaten. Perhaps the St. Patrick's crew was poor. Supposedly, the St. Patrick put up a stiff fight, but that does not explain how she should have lost. Part of the explanation may be that boarders who fight fiercely can overcome a larger ship and crew. Lord Nelson proved that against the Spaniards, over a 100 years later. The French privateers consistently proved it true in the wars of the English and Spanish succession.

The Privateers Bounty scenario for the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy is available for download

I finished playtesting and tweaking the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy (13-14 March 1672). This is a very strange situation, in that there are a large number of weakly-armed Dutch vessels, and a few strong English ships. If you run the English, there is a great danger that you can end up with all of your ships dismasted and some possibly surrendered. Still, you can wreck havoc on the Dutch, as well.

The objective for the Dutch must necessarily be to run, and head for the far corner of the map. I may have estimated the Dutch merchant ships to be too small and to carry guns that are lighter than they should be. Still, I could cite examples for what I have estimated, so I went with those estimates, for now. The scenario and new usrships.ini file can be downloaded at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com.

I have posted my Battle of the Smyrna Convoy scenario

Sadly, this is not the Privateers Bounty scenario (not yet), but this is a Word document that gives ship data and the OOB's needed to game the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy (13-14 March 1672). This was the opening shot of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The English had hoped to take a rich convoy, but the Dutch were forewarned and repulsed the attack, although they lost the Klein Hollandia (54 guns) and 3 merchantmen. You can download this from AngloDutchWarsBlog.com

A computer naval wargame needs a good scenario and campaign editor

Since we want gamers to be able to define their own campaigns and scenarios, a good editor is critical. My only experience, to date, has been using the scenario editor for Privateers Bounty.

The scenario editing process demands that you have your ships defined before you ever start the process. For the 17th Century, you will need to do all the calculations before ever sitting down at Privateers Bounty. I use an Excel spreadsheet because it saves so much time and effort. Needless to say, you need to have a good ship list before you start. If you lack data, I always say: "make it up". If you want to game, you need to fill any details that are lacking. Fortunately, over the last two years, I have been able to fill in massive gaps in the Dutch information. The remaining gaps are large enough, but there is much less left to the imagination. Now, the bigger unknown is the English navy, not the Dutch.

The Battle of the Smyrna Convoy: a good Privateers Bounty scenario

I realized that the Battle of the Smyrna Convoy would make a good Privateers Bounty scenario. The most accessible source to me is R.C. Anderson's book, Journals and Narratives of the Third Dutch War (1946). In the introduction to the book, Anderson describes the battle and gives the OOB. One of the issues that I have with his book is that he tended to omit necessary detail (necessary for wargamers and picky historians, at least).

Anderson gives the date of the battle as March 13, 1672, but I am guessing that is the Old Style (Julian Calendar) date, as that is what the English used. The Dutch dates were always New Style (Gregorian Calendar).

The Dutch were divided into three squadrons, with armed merchantships being included. The first squadron, commanded by Eland du Bois, had his flagship, the Dordrecht (44 guns) and the Delft (38 guns), along with 7 merchantmen armed with between 10 and 36 guns. The second squadron was commanded by Adriaan de Haaze (Zeeland), the convoy commander, with his flag in the Vlissingen (50 guns). There was also the Klein Hollandia (44 guns) and 8 merchantmen armed with between 14 and 28 guns. The third squadron was commanded by Cornelis Evertsen de Jongste (Zeeland), whose flagship was the Utrecht (48 guns). The third squadron had the largest merchantman, armed with 40 guns and 8 with between 10 and 26 guns.

On the first day, Robert Holmes, who led the attack, had the St. Michael (90 guns), the Resolution (70 guns), the Cambridge (70 guns), the York (60 guns), and the Fairfax (60 guns). In the night, three more ships joined his force. They were the Gloucester (62 guns), the Diamond (48 guns), and the 5th Rate Success (32 guns). At the end of the second day, the Dutch were able to proceed without further interferance. They had lost one warship, the Klein Hollandia. The Dutch officer casualties were heavy. They included Jan Jacobszoon van Nes (Rotterdam), who was the Klein Hollandia's captain, and Adriaan de Haaze, the convoy commander. Eland du Bois lost his left hand, but survived.

17th Century wargame fleets

Clearly, computer wargame fleets need to be divided into squadrons as were real fleets. We should be able to define formations for the squadrons. We should also be able to give overall guidance for fleet formations, but the squadron is the real unit that matters. Squadrons need to be divided into divisions. Divisions can be given their orders, as well. Some Dutch divisions in the First Anglo-Dutch War could be tasked with rescuing crews from sinking ships, for example. Squadrons should be however large they were. Divisions are another question. Often, we do have any records as to how squadrons were divided into divisions. Michiel De Ruyter's squadron at the Battle of Scheveningen is one of the exceptions. In The First Dutch War, Vol. V, there is a listing of all of his captains. We know the ships for most of them. In that case, divisions could be three or four ships. That is not a bad size for a division, in any case. A 104 ship Dutch fleet would consist of 26 four ship divisions, for example. That just happens to have been the size of the Dutch fleet at the Battle of the Gabbard. One question is what to do when ships in a division take damage and are slowed or dismasted? One possible answer to that is that the divisional ships should take the damaged ships in tow, as that is what happened in the real world, unless they were really being pressed.

Even for miniatures, computer-aided wargaming would help solve the record-keeping burden

The biggest problem with miniatures gaming 17th Century sailing warfare is the record keeping. An obvious way to help with this is to do computer-aided wargaming. Let the computer do the record keeping, as well as resolving combat. There does need to be a simple way to check the status of ships, however. It is also rather burdensome to have a computer around, but it seems preferable to gaming with a few ships and lots of paper and rules.

What would a 2D 17th Century naval wargame look like?

I continue to focus on the topic of what a 2D game would look like, so that we could fight Anglo-Dutch Wars battles. The maps need to be hierarchical. We need a high level map that we can click to select a region. We need a regional map that we can click to select a detail. On the detail, we would have our fleets, divided into squadrons and divisions. We could look at the composition of divisions, but would not seem them on the detailed map. We would have something that was similar to Iain Stanford's General-at-Sea miniatures game, except we would be able to see the details of what ships are in each division, and what their status is. We would not have to settle for combat systems that were so generic, but could use computer power to perform the gunfire and assess the damage. We would still have to make some compromises, in that divisions might stay with damaged ships. Otherwise, you start dropping off damaged ships. That is a possibility. It would be what we would really want, but would add to the complexity of the display.

There are now five sheets of English ships for the First Anglo-Dutch War

I just added a fifth sheet of English ships at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. The series is alphabetical by ship name, and includes all the ships that were used in my Privateers Bounty scenarios up through the Battle of Portland. The series starts with the hired ship Acorn (22 guns) and goes up to the Culpepper (30 guns). I will continue to add to the series for both Dutch and English ships, as time permits.

Could a 2D game work for 17th Century Naval Wargaming?

Lets suppose that we would build a 2D game for 17th Century naval wargaming. We would need a map (I would say a larger map and a detail map). We would need to represent fleets on the large map and squadrons or divisions on the detail map. We should be able to look at divisions and see what ships are in them. We need to have game turns. We can specify maneuvers and where to fire, at the start of a turn, and then execute the turn. At the end of a turn, we need to be able to see the status of our fleet. We need to know that prior to planning our next move. It would also be good to allow for fighting campaigns. The larger scale map should help that. I would have the entire Northwest Europe, the Baltic, and be able to see the Mediterranean Sea. Perhaps there needs to be an overall map, a regional map, and then the detailed map for the battle. We need to continue to consider what is needed, as there is a good possibility that something can be done in the next year (sorry it is not sooner).

I have a new Dutch ship drawing

I will put in a little time this weekend on creating more sheets of Dutch and English ship drawings. My priority has to be game programming, however. I have an assignment with a naval wargame company that has priority. In the back of my mind, I am formulating what a 2D 17th Century naval wargame could be like. I say 2D, because the development time and effort are so much less. Admittedly, what we all want is a great 3D game with realistic ship 3D models. We want to be able to refight the battles of the First, Second, and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars. We want the play to be intuitive and easy to control. We want the AI to be good, so that we can run solo games. With the hardcore 17th Century community so geographically diverse, I have trouble seeing how we could pull together teams easily. There are gamers from the US, UK, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and the Far East. The time zones, alone, boggle the mind. As I hope to be in a 40-hour a week job, soon, I will have greater difficulty in gaming at odd hours. I am pretty much an early to bed, early to rise person. Many people do not fall into that category, and run noon to 7 or 8am. That is not me, however.

Maybe we can get by with a 2D game for 17th Century naval wargaming

I am starting to come around to the view that we could still have an acceptable simulation with a 2D game, rather than a "full-movement, 3D simulation". If we could be satisfied with a 2D game, we could have one much more quickly than we could have a new 3D game (to replace Privateers Bounty). I would be curious to know what readers might think of such a thing. For example, we could "beef up" something like General-at-Sea, and make an interesting 2D game. For map movement, we might want to group ships, but for combat, since we are computerized, we could have individual ships represented.

The text from the cover of Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet from 1652

The cover of Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet says: Lyste, Van de Schepen van Oorloge Onder het beleyt van den Admirael Marten Harpertsz. Tromp, En op den 4 Augusty 1652 onder Hitland present geweest, en door een groote storm-wint van den andere geraeckt. Mitsgaders de Lijst Van de Schepen die door de harde Windt van den Admirael afgedwaelt sijn, en tegenwoordich leggen in Hitland voor de Baey van Schalaway, den 10 Augusty 1652. 't Amsterdam Gedruckt by Gillis Joosten, in de Nieuwe-straet, 1652.

The Fourth English Sheet

I just made available the fourth in the series of English warship sheets at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. I will be adding to both the Dutch and English sheets, as I have time.

Wargame sheets in PDF format

I expect that you will be able to download from Nugamers.com a PDF version of my Dutch and English sheets of ships for wargaming. I have given permission for them to provide that version, although it doesn't seem to be available, as yet.

I working on more drawings

Tonight, I finished the initial artwork for a 120ft (LGD) English warship. The first application will be for the Anthony Bonaventure (36 guns). I had started English sheet 4, and immediately found that I did not have a suitable 120-ft ship drawing.

There is a new English ship sheet for the First Anglo-Dutch War

I just finished and uploaded Sheet 3 of English ships for use as wargame pieces in the First Anglo-Dutch War. I will be adding more Dutch and English ships, as I can get to them. The immediate goal is the supply sheets with all the ships for both the English and Dutch for the first war, and then eventually, to add ships for the second and third wars.

Finally, pictures from the last Battle of Plymouth scenario for Privateers Bounty

I now have the pictures deployed for the Battle of Plymouth scenario that I ran on Privateers Bounty on July 14th. This was a simulation run where I commanded the English at the Battle of Plymouth (about 45 strong) against De Ruyter's fleet (under AI control, and of about 30 warships plus fireships). I had the difficulty level set to "High", and ran the timescale at the highest speed. I maneuvered the English as a single group, and used the helm. As has been the case, in recent simulation runs, I have never tacked, but always wore, by turning in an outside loop, downwind. This prevents what I consider to be a bug in Privateers Bounty from being an issue. If you tack, you will be caught "in stays", head on into the wind, and will be stuck there for some time, unable to maneuver. You DON'T want to do this. The remedy is to wear, not tack.

Here is a picture of the English crossing the in front of the Dutch, so that they can rake them as much as possible. The English are under full sail (except for damaged ships). On the left is the heavily damaged Ruth (30 guns), which has lost her foremast and mainmast. The Vanguard (56 guns) is already dismasted and is behind the Dutch Drie Coningen (36 guns). The Increase of London and Thomas and William, with many others seen in the distance are under full sail. On the extreme left is the surrendered VOC ship, the Vrede (40 guns).

Here is a picture of the English in the foreground with the remaining Dutch in distance. The day is growing later. In the foreground in the Increase of London (36 guns), which has lost her mizzenmast. In front of her, closer to the Dutch, is the Thomas and William (36 guns), which has lost her foremast. Other English ships can be seen in the distance. The most heavily damaged are the dismasted William (40 guns) and the 2nd Rate Vanguard (56 guns). Also visible are the John of London (32 guns) and the Mayflower (32 guns).

Now, the big test would be to command the Dutch at the Battle of Plymouth

It would be instructive, I believe, to command the Dutch at the Battle of Plymouth. In my last battle, I mopped up the Dutch with the English, using my favored tactics. Can those tactics work for the Dutch, when they are outnumbered? The Dutch also had the disadvantage of starting out to the leeward, while the English have the weather gauge. I will try that scenario out, this afternoon, and report on the results.

I just ran the Battle of Plymouth scenario, where I commanded the English

Partly as a sanity check and partly just to "keep my hand in", I just finished running the Battle of Plymouth scenario, in the Privateers Bounty simulator. I commanded the English, I had the difficulty set to "Hard", and ran with the speed set far to the right (so that time passed quickly and ships moved quickly across the screen). The English all had their full sails set. I set the entire English fleet as a single group, and maneuvered with the helm, after the first few minutes.

I shut the simulation down when the sun had set (about 8pm). At that point there were 71% of the English and 19% of the Dutch left. It was a devastating defeat for the Dutch. There may have been as many as 7 Dutch ships left afloat. There were at least 30 English ships.

What I did was to diligently follow my rule: keep to the windward, always steer as close to the wind as possible, to keep my fleet clear of the Dutch. I always wore rather than tacked. In other words, I always turned onto the opposite tack by turning downwind, and turning about 240 degrees (at least).

When I was clear of the Dutch main body, I steered the English fleet along the edge of the Dutch, so that many ships would have the opportunity to fire. There is a great advantage to watching the point of contact between the fleets, and steering to both stay clear and yet be able to fire, preferably raking fire.

At the beginning of the battle, the Dutch, under AI control were able to "pick off" stragglers. Necessarily, when a fleet is not in good order, maneuvering will cause ships to scatter. The closes to the Dutch fleet were gradually surrendered and then sunk.

A very few English ships, such as the 2nd Rate Vanguard, were immobilized but still able to fight. The maneuvering English main body kept the AI control for the Dutch from finishing off those immoble ships. There may have been as many as four ships immobilized but still fighting, when I shut down the simulation. I will be posting some of the four photographs that I took of the battle.

I am working on a spreadsheet of English ships for the First Anglo-Dutch War

So as to be able to put together more "sheets" of drawings with data, I am working on a spreadsheet. I had also done the text to go on the backs of the "tents", up to the Diamond. I seem to be on a roll, so I will do as much as possible, and make the results available for downloading on AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. The spreadsheet includes values for use with Iain Stanford's new system for General-at-Sea value calculations. I have finished up to the Guinea frigate (32 guns) (as she was known before the Restoration). The list I am using is what ships are used in my Privateers Bounty scenarios. I probably will augment that list, as I can.

I'm working on a third English ship sheet

My latest project was a drawing for the hired merchant ship, the Acorn (22 guns). My working assumption about armament is 14-sakers (5-1/4pdr) and 8 minions (4pdr). I already have a spreadsheet that covers the calculations for the Acorn. The Acorn was hired from 1649 to 1654, but we don't have any information about captains. The Acorn served with the fleet, in 1652, but after Dungeness seems to have been relegated to convoying or patrolling.

I haven't wanted to do miniatures gaming on a hex grid

If I am going to do miniatures gaming, I expect to have to measure with some ruler and move ships that way. If I was boardgaming, I could see using a hex grid, but that would be the only time I would consider such a thing. I could see that for the tiny fleets of the late 18th Century, where you might have a dozen ships on a side, that you might consider the hex grid, but when you are like me, where I want to have 70, 80, 90, or 100 ship fleets for 17th Century gaming, I just wouldn't even have thought of using a hex grid for anything but the large scale map, where I moved prior to placing fleets on the floor (no table is big enough, even at 1/3000 scale).

My Privateers Bounty scenarios can now be downloaded

My Privateers Bounty scenarios can now be downloaded from AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. They are there, along with the start of Anglo-Dutch Wars naval wargame pieces.

I just made available some sheets of wargame pieces for the First Anglo-Dutch War

At AngloDutchWarsBlog.com, I have placed a link to a page of links to sheets of wargame pieces. They are designed to be used as "tents". You can print them with a color printer onto "index" (card stock). Cut out the pieces and fold along the center mark, to make a "tent". On the front side is the ship drawing, to scale, and on the back is ship information.

My critique of my last simulation run

My main criticism of my last simulation run, of the Battle of Plymouth scenario, was that I closed too quickly with the Dutch. When I have been successful, I tried to get further to the windward, before letting the Dutch approach. I would aggressively turn to the windward, when going on the opposite tack, to attempt to keep the Dutch from closing. The simulation run turned into a disaster for the English, due to the Dutch being able to close with and rake the English ships.

Narrative of the Battle of Plymouth scenario, recently run

In this running of the Battle of Plymouth scenario, the battle started, as always, with the English to windward, running down on the Dutch. As I was in command, as we approached the Dutch, I commanded the fleet to turn to port, to present broadsides to the advancing Dutch. Almost immediately, it was necessary to reverse course, to keep the English fleet athwart the Dutch advance. Immediately before wearing to the starboard, I ran the English a little more to the windward, before putting the fleet helm over to starboard. Right after turning to port, I felt like we needed to try to get more to the windward, again, as the Dutch were so close. The situation was dicey, as the Dutch were too close. Both sides were taking losses. Very quickly, both sides were reduced to 91%. Somewhere along the way, the Dutch actually had a higher percentage left.

As English commander, I was struggling, to be honest. Part of the problem was that I was using a different mouse than I had been using. This one was a wheel mouse, while what I had been using had a soft lever that behaved somewhat like a wheel.

I eventually got a feel for the new mouse, and concentrated more on keeping the English fleet off from the Dutch, and on wearing back and forth, to windward. The problem was that, as usual, the English fleet had become scattered, and some of the Dutch were mixed into the English formation (or grouping).

This battle was turning into one of those nasty "fights to the finish". Still, as I got more serious about maneuvering, the Dutch started to really suffer losses. They were down to 56% while the English were at much greater strength. Things were looking fairly good, although now the English were really getting decimated. The English were reduced to 40% while the Dutch were all the way down to 19%. At least the English were up 2-to-1.

The time was after 5pm, and the sun would soon be getting lower. By 5:30pm, the English were starting to appear to be in trouble. Most of the English ships were dismasted. There were a few Dutch ships that were still fully mobile. The English were about 31% to the Dutch 19%. I gave up and shut down the simulation.

As I have said, the English hired merchantmen that predominated in Ayscue's fleet were quite marginal. This was a battle between two second line fleets. De Ruyter's was tasked with convoying up and down the Channel. Ayscue's was tasked with interfering with Dutch trade in the lower end of the Channel. The main English fleet had only been recently formed, and had been engaged in a wild goose chase to the Shetlands. Most of the regular warships were with Blake's fleet, and were the worse for wear, after their stormy voyage. The only good thing was that the Dutch were in worse shape. The lords of the States General were so displeased with Tromp, that he was fired and Witte de With appointed in his place (although only temporarily, as it turned out).

The English ships are really starting to take heavy damage. Ships are dismasted while others sink.

The English ships are crossing the rear of the withdrawing Dutch fleet. The English maneuvering had caused the AI control to take the Dutch fleet away from the attacking English fleet.

Some comments about the Battle of Plymouth (I have been unpacking books, so I have not had the opportunity, yet, to post pictures)

I will post pictures from my last Privateers Bounty simulation run, sometime in the next day. I think that some comments are in order.

I ran the battle simulation up until about 5:30pm. At that time, the English were ahead, but had suffered a great number of lossed. Only 20 minutes (gametime) earlier, they were at 40% to the Dutch 19%. Percipitously, the English strength had fallen to 33%.

I have more sympathy, now, for Sir George Ayscue's situation. He had a second-line force made up mostly of hired merchantmen, many of them small. The hired merchantmen had low-quality crews and were lightly arned, in many cases. About the best of the hired merchantmen was the William (about 40 guns). The William was 700 tons, so was almost the size of the new 3rd Rates, such as the Speaker. I may well be not giving the William enough credit, giving her an armament of only 40guns. I could imagine 48 or 52 guns.

I will be writing about a really odd Battle of Plymouth simulation run

I ran the Battle of Plymouth scenario, where I commanded the English. I took pictures that I will be posting, a few here, but most at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com. The English were winning, when I shut the simulation down, about 5:30pm, but the battle was really ugly. I'll tell you more about it, tomorrow.

Are there players out there for networked Privateers Bounty?

I have not been really thinking about such a thing, but I know that there is at least some interest in using multiplayer, networked Privateers Bounty. I would be curious to know how many people would be interested in such a thing.

I happen to be more focused on understanding 17th Century battles, especially those of the First Anglo-Dutch War. I have found running simulations with Privateers Bounty to be quite useful, even though they are "solo" games against "AI".

The Battle of Dungeness: how the English could have won

I just ran the Battle of Dungeness scenario, to show my wife how Privateers Bounty looked. I commanded the English and set the difficulty to hard. The English tactics were sail as a single group, to have full sails set, and to only turn downwind. The Dutch, under AI control, "came at them". That was a bad move. The English essentially "crossed the T". At 4:07pm, the English had 74% of their fleet left, while the Dutch only had 35%. The collection of large English ships, heavily armed, was sufficient to overcome the "two-to-one" ration between the fleets.

So, why did the English do so badly in the real battle? It wasn't because of Dutch tactical brilliance, as they did not do particularly well, either. The real reason was that the English were timid, largely did not even try close and fight, and did not operate as a unit.

By the way, at 5:17pm, the ratio was 70% of the English versus 17% of the Dutch. It was a fight to the finish, but a one-sided slaughter, not "mutual destruction". A few minutes later, all the Dutch ships were sunk, with no further English losses. What a contrast with the real battle!

A change of pace: the Battle of the Virginia Capes scenario

I just got my computer set up at home, and decided to try something different, for my first simulation run. I have my own version of the Battle of the Virginia Capes scenario. Privateers Bounty has their own scenario, but I did not like it, as it starts with the two sides making contact. I wanted to start with the French leaving their anchorage, as the English approach from the sea.

I commanded the French, and set the difficulty to hard. As usual, I set the speed of the simulation near the maximum, so that the time scale was compressed.

I divided the French into three groups, at the start, so that I could deal with the different ship positions independently. One group is underway, with the wind off their port bow. Another group is starting to leave the anchorage, and has the wind on their starboard bow. The third group is just starting to sail, after weighing anchor.

The first group threatened to leave the others behind, so I had them wear, and go on the opposite tack. I finally got the three groups relatively close together, at which point I created a single group.

Just as this happened, the lead British ships arrived on the scene, at the southern end of the French group. The initial ship, a frigate, was quickly eliminated. The battle was on.

My tactics for the French were to set full sail, to maneuver as a group, using the helm, and to try to break the British in half. When the French got too close to the land, I had to quickly wear, and head to seaward, even when it was an inconvenient time.

When I shut the simulator down, the French still had 79% of their fleet, while the British were reduced to 31%. The only problem was that most of the surviving British ships were mobile, while the French were almost totally dismasted and, therefore, immobile.

I am curious to know what sort of tactics are typically used by gamers

I would like to know what sort of tactics that sailing naval wargamers use. If I was to guess, I would assume that they use the single line, exclusively. After looking at the panoramic Van de Velde drawings, I would have to think that battles quickly devolved into melees (such as occurred after the initial attack at Trafalgar). It seems like the typical tactics used by Lord Nelson were designed to disrupt the enemy formation and allow the British to concentrate against individual ships, after the opposing line was broken.

I have thought that Lord Nelson was influenced by tales of what had been done during the 17th Century. The first 80% of the 18th Century was not very instructive. The British plan was to fight rather defensive and unimaginative battles in single line. It was not until the Seven Years War that you would see admirals like Hawke be willing to even chase. I may be exaggerating, somewhat, but British tactical ideas prior to the Seven Years War seem quite dismal. I would welcome a dissenting view.

Iain Stanford has made good progress on scenarios for General-at-Sea

We may not see them until at least the fall, but Iain Stanford has assembled scenarios from 1639 up to the Four Days Battle, in 1666, for the General-at-Sea rules. Iain has a new version of the rules that considers burden for defense values, broadside weight for combat values, and real crew numbers. I think that it should improve the realism to use that, rather than "counting guns". Certainly, plenty of rule designers have "counted guns", and it is one thing that you can do, when you don't have much information.

Tactics

I had long theorized that fighting with independent squadrons would be superior to a fleet fighting in a single line. This was the tactical plan adopted by Sir David Beatty after the Battle of Jutland, when he relieved Admiral Jellicoe as Grand Fleet commander.

The Third Anglo-Dutch War seems to have particularly been fought this way. Partly, it was because of the personal conflict between Sir Edward Spragge and Cornelis Tromp. They often would go their own way, independent of the main fleets. That is not what I am advocating. Instead, I am advocating using squadrons to be able to concentrate and combine against portions of the enemy fleet. In a single line, concentration is only minimally possible (the French solution was to build heavily armed ships, and to keep close order, to obtain a pseudo-concentration).

I have also had a fascination with breaking the enemy's line, although gaming with Privateers Bounty and First Anglo-Dutch War scenarios, it is difficult to get much advantage. In my initial simulation runs, I was continually attacking with the intent of breaking the line, but with the light Dutch ships, it was difficult to maintain fighting strength at close range. The English, under AI control, would quickly pick off the Dutch by maneuvering independently and firing at close range.

Almost out of frustration, I have been reduced to maneuvering fleets as a single entity and firing at a distance. A fleet, in Privateers Bounty, seems like a blunt instrument, due to the difficulties in mantaining formation. I have found it possible to maneuver two to three squadrons.

In my continuing series of battles: the Battle off Dover (29 May 1652)

I just ran the Battle off Dover scenario using Privateers Bounty. I fought it as a "fight to the finish", but the result shows just how outclassed the Dutch were at the beginning of the war. The English had 62% of their force left while the Dutch were all sunk or surrendered. Most were sunk, as only two remained afloat but surrendered.

Two pictures are posted at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com.

I took four pictures on the afternoon of the third day. Here is an example. I have more pictures posted at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com.

This picture shows the Speaker and accompanying ships towards the end. At this point, the Speaker was almost undamaged, although in finishing off the remaining Dutch ships, she did take considerable damage. The smaller 3rd Rate Worcester is in the foreground. She already has taken a lot of damage to her sails and rigging.

My conclusion from the simulation run is that the English could have inflicted considerable damage on the Dutch in this opening action. The English must not have pressed the Dutch that hard, although they did succeed in disabling and capturing two hired merchantmen, one of which was later retaken by the Dutch (the Sint Maria). As long as Robert Blake commanded the English "underachieved". The best that Blake was able to do was at the Battle of Portland, and it was his timidity towards the end that allowed the defeated Dutch to escape with the majority of their convoy.

An example of a Dutch advice yacht

We don't have as much information about Dutch yachts as we would like. Apparently, these were three-masted yachts, even for relatively small vessels. One "adviesjacht" that we have information about is the Vliegende Hert (or Lopende Hert). She took part in the Four Days Battle in 1666. Dr. Weber lists the following information:

The Vliegende Hert was built in 1662, perhaps at Rotterdam. The dimensions were: 76ft-4in x 19ft-7in x 9ft-3in (Amsterdam feet of 11 inches). The armament was 8 guns consisting of 4-6pdr and 4-4pdr. The crew was 14 sailors and marines and 6 land soldiers. I am guessing that the size was about 60 lasts.

I still have undiminished enthusiasm for Privateers Bounty

I don't know if you can tell, but I am still enthusiastic about being able to run simulations of 17th Century battles with Privateers Bounty. It has many drawbacks, but the advantages far outway the disadvantages. Even though scenarios are limited to about 84 ships (some number like that), the numbers are sufficiently large to give some of the flavor of 17th Century battles. After the early 18th Century, nothing the size of 17th Century battles was seen until the Battle of Jutland, fought on May 31st to June 1st, 1916.

The drawbacks of Privateers Bounty are sufficient to have started me on the path of building my own simulator, using the Torque engine. That is a longterm project, however. I am still at the stage of determining requirements and learning the tools.

Battle of the Sound (I commanded the Swedes)

I ran my Battle of the Sound scenario, with me commanding the Swedes against the Dutch. The results were not surprising to me, as the Swedes were ahead with 74% of their fleet strength left, while the Dutch only had 30% of their strength left. Given the greater numbers and the number of very large Swedish ships, I would expect this outcome. What should have been unexpected was the actual outcome of the battle, where the Dutch beat the Swedes, and ran their transports down to reinforce and resupply Copenhagen.

This picture shows the Swedish fleet, late in the day, winning big. The simulation time was about 6pm, and the sky shows that the day was late. Some of the Dutch survivors can be seen in the background.

I used what are my standard tactics. I group the fleet that I am commanding into a single unit, if they are a compact group. Then I control them with the helm, and have full sails set. The idea is to keep maximum way on, for best maneuverability. I ALWAYS wear, rather than tack. That way, my ships always maintain a good speed. If you don't do that, you risk having ships caught in stays, dead into the wind. Perhaps in "real life", it was not a big issue, but with Privateers Bounty, it is a significant issue.

It still can happen, as ships suffer damage, and may have different speeds and turning ability, so a few individual ships may have different courses than you expect. This system at least minimizes the chances of that happening.

The other big tactical feature is that I keep a distance from the opposing fleet, so that the AI control can't rake my ships as easily. In this battle, the Swedes were always to the leeward, and let the Dutch have the weather gauge. My thinking was that my purpose was to stop the Dutch from breaking through to the south, so I needed to keep my fleet between the Dutch and their goal. In this case, it worked.

I will post more pictures of this simulation run at AngloDutchWarsBlog.com

Battle of Plymouth (I commanded the English)

This morning, I ran the Battle of Plymouth scenario. I commanded the English and had the difficulty set to "Hard". I only maneuvered the English as a unit, not as individual ships, and I always kept the weather gauge. The probably kept on past the point that the real combatants would have stayed, as I repeatedly broke off, and then re-engaged. The result, when I shut down the simulator, was that the Dutch were reduced to 16% while the English were 30% of their original strength. Apparently, Privateers Bounty is not just counting ship numbers, but the strengths must be weighted in some manner. There were more than 5 Dutch ships still in action.

My conclusion is that the English must have really done poorly in the actual battle, to have not sunk or captured a single Dutch ship. We know that the tactics were pretty much "charge at the enemy", and that there was never any attempt to group even into an informal line. In the real battle, the Dutch did better than I would have expected, given ship numbers and strengths (size and armament).

This picture is a panoramic view of the battle, with the English with green names, in the foreground, with the Dutch, with red names, in the background.

This picture shows the English fleet in the foreground, with the remnants of the Dutch fleet on the far left.

Battle of Dover scenario: I command the English

As part of my continued program of experiments, I ran the Battle off Dover scenario in Privateers Bounty. I commanded the English and set the difficulty to "Hard". When I shut the game down, the English had been reduced to 50% while the Dutch still had 84% of their fleet. I had set the English sails to "full", and had brought the two squadrons together, as well as Anthony Young's division. Anthony Young's flagship, the President had surrendered, and had slowed down the Dutch fleet (under AI control). The remaining English were proceeding at full sail to the southeast, fleeing the scene. The Dutch had taken control of the sea off Dover, with fairly minimal casualties.

It still seems to be the case that if you maneuver your fleet as a unit, the opposing fleet, maneuvering individual ships under AI control is stronger, especially if the difficulty is set to "Hard". The Battle off Dover is difficult, anyway, as the English were outnumbered almost 2-to-1. In the real battle, the Dutch were handled quite timidly, and did not maneuver as a unit (apparently). The larger English ships broke the Dutch into smaller groups, and severely damaged two ships that were taken (one being later abandoned and retaken by the Dutch). I am tempted to try this again. Perhaps if the English kept their distance and fought at longer range, they might do better.

I am working on Dutch ship data to support 2nd and 3rd Anglo-Dutch War scenarios

I have embarked on building an Excel spreadsheet to compute values for Privateers Bounty for Dutch ships from 1656 to 1677. I had already done some of the work for 1658, when I prepared the Battle of the Sound scenario (1658). I am using my document "Dutch Ships 1620-1700" (ordered by captain) as the basis. There are redundant entries for ships, as there is one entry for every time the ship and captain appear in the literature.

Part of the rationale is to be able to have a Four Days Battle scenario, with the wind set up pretty high, to see how Privateers Bounty handles that situation.

New Pictures from the Battle of Dungeness Scenario from June 5, 2004

I have new pictures on AngloDutchWarsBlog.com from a simulation run of the Battle of Dungeness scenario. I commanded the English, and had the difficulty set to "Hard". The English initially did well, and then the battle deteriorated rapidly. Towards the end, the Dutch still had many fresh ships while the remaining English were all damaged. A few English ships were able to escape to the south, as the sun was setting.

This picture shows Dutch ships going on the opposite tack, towards the end of the battle, after having decimated the remaining northern group of English ships.

This picture shows fresh Dutch ships closing the northern English ships, towards the end of the battle.

I will be reporting on a new set of experiments with Privateers Bounty

I intend to experiment with commanding the English in the various First Anglo-Dutch War scenarios, to see the impact of having the Dutch being controlled by AI. The one advantage I have seen for AI control is that every ship is maneuvered independently, while those under manual control must necessarily be controlled as a group (generally), due to the large numbers involved. My first experiment will be with the Battle of Dungeness, since it is such an extreme situation, where the English were so heavily outnumbered.

17th Century Naval Warfare Game/Simulator

I really would be interested to read suggestions from readers for requirements for a new computer sailing naval warfare simulator/game. I am in the initial stages of design, and am drawing up a list of requirements. I have been focused, except for this week, on trying to learn from Privateers Bounty, what are some basics that need to be incorporated.