A question: Joris van Cats' five ships off the coast of Spain

The plan had been to send Maarten Tromp to command a fleet of 15 Dutch warships in the Mediterranean Sea to protect Dutch commerce. When Tromp became ill, Joris van Cats was sent without Tromp. Before entering the Mediterranean Sea, he cruised off the coast of Spain. In his article about the First Anglo-Dutch War in the Mediterranean Sea, R. C. Anderson said that Joris van Cats, with five ships under his command, cruised near Cadiz before entering the Mediterranean Sea. This sounded a lot like what one list says, except the list says that the five ships cruised off Cape St. Vincent, which is on the coast of Portugal, a long ways from Cadiz. Anderson does not say what ships were under Joris van Cats' command. My question is: which five ships were they? I assume that they were all from the Admiralty of Amsterdam.

R. C. Anderson, "English Fleet-Lists in the First Dutch War," The Mariner's Mirror, Vol.XXIV No.4, October 1938.

The Wikipedia "Battle of the Downs", in English

The English version of the Wikipedia entry for the Battle of the Downs (1639) is well done and very interesting. While it is necessarily incomplete, there is a great deal of information there for study. Can anyone say how accurate it is? I don't have enough information to know, but I can recognize some correct details.

Amsterdam ships convoying the fishing busses in July 1652

I have a document showing the employment of Amsterdam ships in home waters on 29 July 1652. The list shows that the following ships were convoying the fishing busses in July 1652 prior to the English attack on 22 July:

the ship Engel          kapitein Maerten Schaeff     28 guns and a crew of 80 men
the ship Marcus Curtius kapitein Hendrick Kroeger    24 guns and a crew of 70 men
the ship Patientia      kapitein Adriaen van Loenen  24 guns and a crew of 70 men
the ship Catharina      kapitein Dirck Bogaert       24 guns and a crew of 70 men

Rotterdam ships in "The Plan" of 9 June 1652

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dutch guns

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

Some Friesland ship questions

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

I am back to working on my book project

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

The Salamander

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

So, just how large was the Vogelstruis?

The Dutch East Indiaman Vogelstruis was captured by the English at the Battle of Portland on 28 February 1653. I have not seen Dutch dimensions in Amsterdam feet but we do have the dimensions measured by the English in their style. The English length is that of the keel. The beam is the beam measured outside the hull planking. The depth is the height between the keel and the underside of the main deck, measured on the centerline, approximately at the middle of the ship. Here are my "back of the envelope calculations":

          English      Calc. Dutch   My est. of the Dutch
Length    116ft        151ft         155ft
Beam       36ft-3in     40ft          38ft
Hold       17ft         19ft          18ft

My usual system does not work well for this ship. My factor for length is 1.33. The factor for the depth of hold and beam is 1.13. It totally breaks down in this case.

My approximate "lasts" formula

I have a spreadsheet that I use for generating proportions for drawing Dutch ships from the period of 1628 to 1678. One of the figures that I calculate is just for information: the size of the ship in lasts. There is a VOC-related page that gives the formula: length x beam x depth / 200. My Excel formula is somewhat different: =ROUND(BN6*BN8*BN9/210,-1). I am using 218 for the divisor and round the result. For the approximate dimensions, in Amsterdam feet, for the Dutch flagship Brederode, the size is calculated to be 350 lasten (lasts).

The Dutch navy and ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War

I find the fact that there is so much information available about the Dutch ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War, with dimensions and lists of guns, to be quite amazing. I would venture a guess that the amount of ship data does not exist for the second and third wars. The third war is a special case, with the combination of the French invasion and the coup d'etat that put Willem III into power. Both greatly disrupted the sort of record keeping that had happened previously. I am less sure about the second war, but there seems to be less ship data available than in the first war. I look forward to getting what exists, eventually, but I am currently focused on the first war, because there is so much data available. There is also a considerable amount of information about the composition of the main fleet. Sadly, almost all of what I have seen does not show the organization into squadrons. I hope that eventually, I might see the fleet organizations for all of the battles in the first war. They do exist for the second war and have been published by Frank Fox. Less complete information has been published about the Dutch fleet in the third war. All this research takes time and is costly when you have to pay to have it done, rather than be able to do it yourself.

An answer to a question that no one but me wants to ask

The question is: "so, how many round shot and how much gunpowder did the Amsterdam Directors' ship Moor have on board after the Battle of the Gabbard?" The Moor carried 6-18pdr, 14-10pdr, 12-6pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. The answer is that the ship had 150 18pdr shot, 350 10pdr shot, 240 6pdr shot, and 4 3pdr shot. The ship also had on board 4500 lbs of gunpowder. There may be numbers of expanding bar shot, but I can't be sure that is correct, because I can't find the word in a dictionary. It looks like "kemepels". By the way, the captain signed his name as "Adrijaen Cornelissen". I otherwise know him as Adriaen Cornelisz van Ackersloot.

The ships that sailed to Danzig in 1656

I have the listing published in the Hollandsche Mercurius for 1656 and I have a page from Witte de With's journal from July 1656 (Riksarkivet E8812). I had also seen this list published in Dr. Ballhausen's book. I was comforted to see that the lists matched, despite the fact that the ships commanded by captains often did not match the ships that they commanded when they were not part of this operation in the Baltic.

I looked at my copy of the recent book by Doeke Roos about the Evertsen family: Twee eeuwen varen en vechten 1550-1750. Het admiralengeslacht Evertsen. I had hoped that he might have had information about Johan Evertsen and Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge in the Battle of Scheveningen, but he did not. I also think that he may have several mistakes in the book, as well. The book indicates that Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge was captain of the hired ship Vlissingen in May 1652, but all indications are that he was captain of the Vlissingen Directors' ship Haes (30 guns) from May to July 1652. He also calls Cornelis Evertsen de Oude's ship, that was lost at the Battle of Scheveningen, the Wapen van Zeeland. All the original documentary evidence that I have indicates that the ship was commonly called the Zeeuwsche Leeuw (28 guns). In Vol.V of Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen, Dr. Elias calls the ship the Zeeusche Leeuw, which is the name that I would expect to see.

Another good Google Book Search full view book

This is very hard to find in Google Book Search. To my mind, it is too hard. With a considerable effort, I was able to confirm that the booklet by Julian S. Corbett can be downloaded as a PDF file. This is the small work about the drawings in the possession of the Earl of Dartmouth: NOTE ON THE DRAWINGS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH ILLUSTRATING Battle of Solebay MAY 28, 1672 AND Battle of the Texel AUGUST 11, 1673 BY JULIAN S. CORBETT. This was publshed by the Navy Records Society in 1908.

The hired ship Hoop

I have a page that I saw today that dates from early August 1653. The page lists a few ships and gives their gun lists. One is for the Amsterdam hired ship Hoop, commanded by Captain Dirck Pater. I have not seen the gun list for this ship before, so it was a good find. The Hoop had four 10pdr guns as the largest guns. The rest were a few 8pdr, many 6pdr, and a number of 3pdr guns, with a pair of 2pdr guns bringing the total to 28 guns. This does seem to be the same ship that was commanded by Joris Collerij in the summer of 1652, based on the gun list.

Ron van Maanen's translation of Cornelis Adriaensz Cruijck's statement

Ron van Maanen kindly provided me his translation of the statement made by the captain of the captured ship Vogelstruis that he made in 1655. This clearly shows that he was not killed in the the Battle of Portland, as was reported by some sources. I have attempted to do a bit of editing on Ron's text. Ron has also provided a correction to my editing:

Statement for notary Dirck van der Mast at Schiedam dated 13 november 1655 by captain Cornelis Aedriaensz Cruijck former captain of the Vogelstruis of the E.I.C. in naval service. Stated for his lieutenant Frerijck Frerijck, born in Amsterdam, what happened when Frerijck was on board of the ship when Cruijck commanded it. Frerijck served as a brave, pious or true, wise sailor and a good soldier in the battle against the British. He especially showed that he was a good officer and soldier in the last battle when the ship fought under the flag of the dead admiral Maerten Harpertsz Tromp on 28 February 1653. Cruijck stated that he had been fighting until his ship was shot powerless, and until a lot of his crew were killed, and they had to surrender. The rumors that Frerijck had torn a white table-cloth in two pieces and during the fight had put out it at the stern where not true. On the contrary Cruijck stated that his lieutenant fought as a true, vigilant man.

The Amsterdam ships Jaarsveld and Vrede

The information from 1652 to 1654 about the two large Amsterdam ships built in 1650 and 1651 seem to indicate that they were built to the same Charter. These were the Vrede, built in 1650, and the Jaarsveld, built in 1651. The Jaarsveld wrecked on an uncharted rock near Livorno in late January 1653. The published dimensions for the Vrede seem to be incorrect. Both ships apparently were 130ft long and carried 44 guns in 1653. Vrijheid, also built in 1651, was a considerably larger ship, being 134ft long. By May of 1653, the Vrijheid had its armament increased to 50 guns. All three of these ships still had a main battery of 12pdr guns with a few larger.

The ship Alkmaar

Dutch ships often had multiple versions of their names. The Alkmaar, commanded by Jan Warnaertsz Capelman, was apparently also called the Wapen van Alkmaar. That ship, commanded by that captain, apparently took part in the operation in 1645 to force a large fleet of merchant ships into the Sound without paying the toll to the Danes. That same ship was captured by the English in June 1652. I suspect that this was the ship built to the 116ft dimensions: 116ft x 26-1/2ft x 10ft x 6-1/4ft. The 26 guns might have included something like this: 4-12pdr, 14-8pdr, 4-6pdr, and 4-4pdr guns. I base that estimate on what was carried by a similar ship.

Wild speculation

Given that I don't have access to all the information that might be available, I think that until proven otherwise, information that might be correct can be useful. If you require proof that meets legal standards, with multiple sources as corroboration, then I will have nothing, as for much of what I have, I would never have that many sources or the concrete proof of all the facts. One case in point is where I seem to have dimensions for hired ships in the First Anglo-Dutch War. I am going back and printing ship data and lists that I have received since early in the year. I am doing that because I am not sure when I will be able to acquire new information and having hard copy is much more convenient than needing a computer to view image files. An example of dimensions for a hired ship is the Profeet Samuel. I have a list of ships from early 1653 that gives dimensions for a ship named Profeet Samuel. Is that the ship that Reijnst Cornelisz Sevenhuijsen commanded at the Battle of the Gabbard? I don't know, but it might be. Another ship names that are familiar and on the same page are the Jonas and the Engel Gabriel. I just happen to know that the dimensions given for those ships on the page match the dimensions for the ships that were hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam and served with the fleet in 1653. My working hypothesis is that the Profeet Samuel was the ship hired, as well, until I learn otherwise.

Campbell's Lives of the British Admirals

If you have not checked Google Books lately, you need to, as there is much more available, including some rare books. I just downloaded John Campbell's Lives of the British Admirals:: Containing a New and Accurate Naval History, from 1785. This is a classic work that Frank Fox had recommended to me.

The Three Days Battle

One thing that I really would like to have is a list of the Dutch ships and the fleet organization for the Three Days Battle (the Battle of Portland), from 28 February to 2 March 1653. I have an idea that there were quite a few different ships involved. I know for a fact that Jan Duijm's ship, the Salamander, was there, because the Salamander towed Michiel De Ruijter's ship, the Lam, for the last two days of the battle and until they returned to port. Right now, about all I can do is go through the published literature and write down captains' names and then supply the information that I know. You would think that some sort of list must have supplied, somewhere at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague.

The Grote Sint Lucas

I have wanted to dismiss the mention of the Grote Sint Lucas, in the Hollandsche Mercurius and the Onstelde-Zee, as a mistake. The problem is, everything else that I have been able to check, from the Onstelde-Zee, has been correct. That makes me want to take the Grote Sint Lucas seriously. Supposedly, the Grote Sint Lucas (28 guns), was the ship commanded by Sipke Fockes, in the Battle of Portland (or the Three Days Battle). The Grote Sint Lucas was supposed to have been an Amsterdam Directors' ship, presumably. The ship was taken by the English and taken into Portsmouth on 12 March 1653. Other ships taken into Portsmouth were the Swarte Reiger, commanded by Christoffel Juriaenszoon, the Vogelstruijs, and the Liefde. The Gulden Haan (36 guns) was taken into Dover.

Dutch warships in the mid-17th Century

Probably the most troubling feature of doing research about Dutch warships and the navy in the 1651 to 1654 period is that informaation is likely to be inexact and often wrong. What Tromp, other senior officers, such as Witte de With and Johan Evertsen, wrote is more likely to reflect commonly held beliefs, rather than accurate information. The problem is complicated by there being so many ships with the same names. Another issue is that some ships were referred to by alternate names, often nicknames or shorted versions of the name. In the 1654 book Onstelde-Zee, Abraham van Campen's Amsterdam Directors' ship is referred to as the Poort van Troijen. A letter from Johan Evertsen, in August 1652, also calls the ship Poort van Trojen, although every other source called the ship Arke Troijane (or some variation of that spelling, with a "c" and an "h"). I vary on how much evidence that I have before I reach a conclusion. At times, when I have something that is just an indication, I am strongly motivated to go with it, as it answers some open question. I suspect that even if we had a time machine and could go back and collect information, we would still have trouble sorting out truth, as the people back then operated differently than we do now, where we demand exact answers.

My book project

I just spoke with Frank Fox (author of Great Ships: the Battlefleet of King Charles II and A Distant Storm: the Four Days' Battle of 1666) about my book project. I have been doing research and some writing for a book about the Dutch fleet and warships in the First Anglo-Dutch Wars. Since I am a native English speaker, the book will be in English. Frank Fox has long been encouraging me to get an early publication of a book, not waiting until I and all the information that can be had. This would be independent of anything published in Dutch, which I hope will not be too long in the future. Everything in Dutch that covers the period of 1648 to 1654 seems to be high-level and does not include fleet lists and ship information. I like to think that I have more to offer than just publishing information, but have some insights to offer, as well.

The Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654

Vreugdenhil, when he compiled his list published in 1938, had clearly seen the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654. The curious thing about the list is just how poor and incomplete it is, compared to the information that we have seen in documents dating from 1652 to 1654. Some of the best information that we have is for Zeeland ships up to June 1653. Yet, the information for Zeeland ships in the Staet is sparse and incomplete at best. It was also the case that there were multiple versions of the Staet. I have copies of several versions, one of which is quite incomplete, up to the one which seems to have been most widely distributed, which seems to be the one which Vreugdenhil saw.

The ship hired by the Groningen Directors in 1652

I concede that the Friesland lists of ships with dimensions and gun lists would lead you to believe that the ship Graaf Hendrick, commanded by Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer in late 1652 and all of 1653 was a ship hired by the Admiralty of Friesland. However, there are some other, independent lists, that label that ship as a ship hired by the Groningen Directors.

In a list from 18 May 1652, Joost Bulter was listed as commanding a Groningen Directors' ship. My working theory, which seems more plausible now, is that Joost Bulter commanded the Graaf Hendrick up until July 1652 or so, when Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer was appointed in his place. Joost Bulter was nominated as the captain of a new ship purchased for the Admiralty of Friesland which was eventually named the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden.

I now have seen three unrelated lists that show that the Graaf Hendrick was employed by the Groningen Directors in November and December 1652. It remains to be seen if in fact Joost Bulter commanded the ship or if he was just listed as potentially commanding a ship. As for the Graaf Hendrick, the lists of dimensions and guns usually say that it was a ship of Groningen and leaves ambiguous whether it was employed by the Groningen Directors or by the Admiralty of Friesland. I expanded upon what I originally wrote after receiving some comments.

The Lastdrager

The Lastdrager seems to have been hired by the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier in late 1652. I have a gun list for the ship from mid-July 1653. I have an idea that this ship was rather large, such as 126ft x 32ft x 12ft x 7-1/4ft or even 130ft x 32ft x 12ft x 7-1/4ft. I could be wrong, but I had that impression. I am not sure what the initial armament was. It might have been something like 10-8pdr, 10-6pdr, 6-4pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. The crew was supposed to be 110 men, at least by July 1653. The Lastdrager was originally commanded by Volckert Schram, but was later commanded by Gerrit Munt.

The ship Campen, from 23 June 1653

The list dated 23 June 1653 has some rather extraordinary dimensions for the 40 gun ship Campen. The Campen was employed by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. At this date, Willem van der Zaan had replaced his late brother Joris as captain. The dimensions listed are 133ft x 32ft x ? x 7ft. What I believe to be the "real dimensions" are somewhat different: 128ft x 32ft x 13ft x 7ft. The ship had a lower tier armed with 12pdr guns and an upper tier armed with 6pdr guns. The lower tier also had 4-bronze 18pdr guns.

Laurens Degelcamp

One thing that I learned was that Laurens Degelcamp's full name was Laurens Hermanszoon Degelcamp. The First Dutch War, Vol.VI, page 157, lists his ship as the Gelderland, but we think that he actually commanded the Groninger Nicolaes (also called the Groningen Sint Nicolaes, or some variation of that name). One cause for concern is that Brandt's biography, on page 26, mentions Captain Degelcamp and a ship named Gelderland. If that is in fact an independent source, we have two sources for Laurens Degelcamp commanding a ship named Gelderland (spelled Gelderlandt in 17th Century Dutch).

The Stad Groningen en Ommelanden

I started looking again at what references that I had for the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden, the ship commanded by Joost Bulter that was sunk by gunfire at the Battle of the Gabbard. The list of 23 June 1653 just says that the captain was Joost Bulter and was a ship of the Stad en Lande. A list dated 20 May 1653 includes the ship and says that the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden carried 38 guns and had a crew of 110 men. A list of 26 May says that the captain was Joost Bulter and that the ship was a private ship of Groningen.

An alternative theory about Joost Bulter

Let us suppose that both the list dated 16 May 1652 and 28 November 1652 are correct. The 16 May list says that Joost Bulter commanded a ship hired by the Groningen Directors (Directors of Stad en Lande). The 28 November list says that the ship Prins Hendrick was a Directors ship from Friesland or Groningen. The other two ships listed were definitely hired by the Directors at Harlingen in Friesland, so that would mean that the Prins Hendrick was hired by the Groningen Directors. By August 1652, Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer commanded the Prins Hendrick. Suppose that in July, the Prins Hendrick was one of the ships which were assigned new captains. That could allow Joost Bulter to have commanded the ship in May. By December 1652, he was listed as captain the ship Stad Groningen en Ommelanden. To go even further in theorizing, suppose that the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden was originally named Kameel as a merchant ship and was renamed on being purchased by the Admiralty of Friesland. That could mean that the picture on the tafferel was still a camel. My theory about the origin of the name in the published literature is that there is a drawing by Willem van de Velde de Oude that mentions the Kameel as the name of Joost Bulter's ship and that the origin was the picture on the tafferel. I just wanted a plausible story that might explain the evidence that we have. I don't particularly think that my explanation is the answer, but I thought that I would add it to the discussion.

The ship of the Directors of the Stad en Lande

The lists that define the fifty Directors' ships show that there were two ships to be hired by the Harlingen Directors in Friesland. The lists also say that the Directors of Groningen or the Stad en Lande should hire one ship in 1652. The list of captains from 16 May 1652 gives Joost Bulter as the captain of the ship hired by the Stad en Lande. A list from late 1652 gives the three ships of the Friesland and Groningen Directors as the Vergulde Pelicaen, the Sint Vincent, and the Prins Hendrick. The accuracy of these lists is in dispute, so you would have to form your own opinion on the subject. If Witte de With's mention of a kapitein Belevelt in September 1652 actually refers to Joost Bulter, then that is a further complication. Witte de With's journal dated 17 September 1652 lists kapitein Belevelt with the ships of the Admiralty of Friesland. We also know that kapitein Wagenaer commanded the Prins Hendrick with De Ruyter's fleet in the Channel in August and September 1652. Sadly, we just need to find more information or the right source to unravel the mystery.

A mystery to me that I just realized that I had

I was reading a document today from May 1652 that said that Joost Bulter commanded a Directors' ship of the Stad en Lande (Groningen). All the lists say that there was one ship hired by them among the fifty Directors's ships hired in 1652. The question is which ship that was as far back as May 1652. Was it the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden with what seems to have been the original 28 guns or was it a different ship?

Amsterdam small ships in September 1652

I have one list, dating from 21 September 1652, of Amsterdam ships that includes small ships, including those that the English call "Watt Convoyers". The name actually refers to the small ships that were convoyers in the Wadden Zee, the protected Dutch coastal waters. These are the ships listed (for some reason, I am having trouble reading the men's names, so I am likely to have them wrong):

Ship               Commander         Guns Crew
Orangeboom         Bomven Goet        8   34
Princes            Adriaen van Veede 12   24
Adelaer            Arent Warnaerdtsz 12   24

Ylst               Willem de Veer    10   26
Valck              Roelof de Veer    10   18
Huijs te Raephorst Bitter van Reede  10   18
Prins Willem       Roelof Schut      10   13

Odd 12pdr guns

Two of the guns carried by the 38-gun Zeeland ship Hollandia in late March 1653 were abnormally light bronze 12pdr guns. There is no indication that they were chambered, but perhaps they were, as they weighed only 634 and 651 pounds.

The Three Days Battle references

I was looking in Vol.IV of Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen for references to the Three Days Battle. I had hoped to see references to the Lias Admiraliteiten or something else that would be recognizable. Almost all the references are to The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, or to the Hollandsche Mercurius for 1653. There were no references prefixed by "L.A.", which is Dr. Elias's notation for references to the Lias Admiraliteiten. There are a few references to "Brandt" and to the "Hare Hoog Mogenden", with dates. I also know that the Onstelde-Zee has a description of the battle with some accurate names of ships that are not otherwise published. For example, the names of Johannes Regermorter's ship (Leeuwinne) and to Jacob Cleijdijck's ship (Meerman).

Slangers and halve slangers

In one Dutch document from 1665, the 12pdr guns are referred to as "slangers" and the 6pdrs are "halve slangers". I had thought that they might be slings, but I am not sure that is correct. Iron guns are often described as "gotelingen" and large bronze guns as cartouwen (24pdr) and halve cartouwen (18pdr). Often, they are just called "pieces" (stukken).

No. 40 in the list of ships at Vlissingen on 23 June 1653

I have consulted with Carl Stapel on the subject of ship number 40 in the list of ships at Vlissingen on 23 June 1653. The ship is described as being hired by the Amsterdam Directors and having 30 guns and a crew of 120 men. The captain is listed as "Bartold Simonssen" and the ship is described as being missing. Ship number 41 in the list is the Gulden Pelicaen, commanded by Captain "Baert Timons Soudaen" and is missing. We think that the ship listed as 40 is a mistake and a duplicate for number 41. The only ships hired by the Amsterdam Directors that are not listed here were lying in the Texel. Perhaps there should be some other ship listed at 40, but I don't believe that the listing is correct.

The Amsterdam ship Zutphen

I have this very elegantly written document from 1653 that is another list of Amsterdam ships during the First Anglo-Dutch War. The ship Zutphen (also called the Groot Zutphen ) is in the list with some rather different data:

The ship named Zutphen, commanded by Captain Jan Pietersz Uijttenhout
Length:     125ft
Beam:        30ft
Hold:        13ft
Deck Height:  7ft

Guns: 20-12pdr, 12-6pdr, and 4-4pdr
Crew: 130 men
In service from July 1651

The list of Amsterdam ships in service in the year1642

One page that I have shows the first part of a list of Amsterdam ships in service in the year 1642. Many ships and captains are familiar names:

Ship              Captain                        Guns Crew
Gelderlandt       Liedekercken                   30   90
Der Goes          Cornelis van Braeckel          30   90
Graeff Willem     Magnus Marcus                  30   90
Groeningen        Aucke Balck                    30   90
Edam              Jan Jansz De Lapper            30   90
Gouda             Hendrick Schrevels             30   90
Bommel            Sijbrant Barents Waterdrincker 28   80
Omlandia          Jan Gerbrants Eijdijck         28   80
Hollandia         Cornelis Gerrits Hasevelt      28   80
Utrecht           Willem van Niehoff             28   80
Westvrieslandt    Ewout Jeroensz de Moije        24   80
Overijssel        Jacob Troncquoij               26   85
Vrieslandt        Evert Anthonisz                24   85
Amsterdam         Pieter Luijte Koppelsack       28   85
Aemilia           Sijmon Thijsz Caddeus          24   85
Prins Willem      Jan van Galen                  28   85
Zutphen           Anthonis van Salingen          24   85
Zeelandt          Jacob Huijrluijt               26   85
Middelburch       Jan Pietersz Uijttenhouwt      24   85
't Waeckende Hert Elias van de Base              16   85
 ('t Wakende Hart)
Leijden           Jacob Anthonisen               24   70
Swol              Davidt Jansen Bondt            20   70

The Maecht van Dordrecht from the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1633

One of the most interesting pages in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1633 is for the ship Maecht van Dordrecht. The page says that the ship was built in 1632 was 300 lasts in size. 300 lasts sounds a bit like an approximate number, rounded off, rather than exact. A lot depends on what your constant is, but the dimensions could be 136ft x 34ft x 14ft, with a constant of 217 (300 lasts = 136 x 34 x 14 / 217). The page gives the crew as only being 90 men, which seems small for such a large ship. The armament is listed, as well: 2-chambered bronze 36pdr, 2-bronze 24pdr half-cartouwen, 2-bronze chambered 24pdr, 2-bronze 18pdr half-cartouwen, 4-bronze 12pdr slings, 10-bronze chambered 12pdr, and 2-copper (composite) 5pdr steenstukken, 13-iron 18pdr, and 6-iron 12pdr guns. As I understand Nico Brinck, he says that the so-called copper guns were not cast but were beaten metal, a composite of copper, lead, and iron.

The Zeeland ship Milde Maarten

I really would like to know the dimensions for the Zeeland hired ship Milde Maarten. Captain Claes Jansz Sanger commanded the Milde Maarten at the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort) on 12 and 13 June 1653. He was moved to the Westcappel, which was sunk at the Battle of Scheveningen (or Terheide) on 10 August 1653. Jan Matthijszoon commanded the Milde Maarten at Scheveningen and on the voyage to Norway and back from September to November 1653. We know the armament of the Milde Maarten on 23 June 1653. Like the Liefde, the armament was almost all 6pdr guns. There were 4-12pdr bronze guns, 2-6pdr bronze, and 20-iron 6pdr guns. The crew was nominally 100 men. In late May 1653, Vice-Admiral Johan Evertsen had been on board the Milde Maarten.

The Sint Jan and Sint Joris

The Zeeland hired ships Sint Jan and Sint Joris were both armed to a similar plan. The Sint Jan was the ship commanded by kapitein Laurens Lispensier and the Sint Joris was a Scots frigate commanded by Jacob Wolphertszoon. They both had 2-9pdr guns and a main battery of 6pdr guns. They both also had 4-4pdr and 2 or 4-3pdr guns. By my standards, they were both lightly armed. The Sint Jan was assigned to Michiel De Ruyter's fleet in the summer of 1652 and fought in the Battle of Plymouth. The Sint Joris operated with Tromp's fleet and made the voyage to the Shetlands in July and August. I was amazed to see just how many Dutch ships in 1652 and 1653 relied primarily on a lower tier of 6pdr guns. From the published literature, I would have thought that they all had a lower tier of 12pdr guns, which was still lighter than the typical English ship, which was said to have at least some 18pdr culverins on the lower tier.

Some information about Zeeland ships and captains in 1652 from Ron van Maanen

Ron van Maanen sent me some information from the Generaliteitsrekenkamer 1586-1799 nr.957 rekening 1652 admiralty Zeeland that he said that I could use on the blogs. This is my interpretation of what Ron wrote, and if need be, I can correct it as needed:

The fishing boat den Otter was hired from Adriaen Laurenssen, a merchant at Zierikzee. One month hire cost: 66 pond Vlaams 13 schellingen 4 grote Vlaams. Vlaams = Flemish, pond=pound.

The Rode hart was hired from Rochus Jobssen, a merchant at Zierikzee for 125 pond Vlaams for one month.

Jacob van Hoorn, "bookholder" of the St. Johan (or St. Jan), commanding officer Laurens Lispensier, was paid 85 pond Vlaams, 16 schelling for damage in the the fight. The St. Jan had been hired from Jacob van Hoorn for a monthly rent of 220 pond Vlaams 16 schellingen 8 grote Vlaams. The St. Jan had been with Michiel De Ruyter's fleet at the Battle of Plymouth.

The squadron arrangements in Tromp's fleet on 31 May 1652

Dr. Ballhausen had made a gallant attempt at the composition and organization of Tromp's fleet in the opening battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War on 29 May 1652. He made some mistakes, but they were understandable. You might well assume that all the Zeeland ships were in Jan Thijssen's van squadron and all the Noorderkwartier ships were in Pieter Florissen's rear squadron, but you would be mistaken. In fact, on 31 May 1652, the van had four Zeeland ships, five Amsterdam Directors' ships, and two Noorderkwartier Directors' ships. The rear had nine Noorderkwartier and Noorderkwartier Directors' ships, but also had two Amsterdam Directors' ships. Tromp's center squadron had the fleet flagship Brederode and the Rotterdam Directors' ship commanded by Ruth Jacobsz Buijs, four Noorderkwartier and Noorderkwartier Directors' ships, and the rest were Amsterdam Directors' ships. The primary reason that the fleet was as strong as it was, was because the Directors had promptly hired their ships and had them ready for sea.

The 2007 Weblog Awards

Kevin Alyward has opened nominations for the 2007 Weblog Awards.

Kevin is proprietor and founder of the Wizbang! blog.

One Noorderkwartier armament plan for 116ft ships in 1654

Many of the Noorderkwartier ships that served in the First Anglo-Dutch War carried an odd assortment of guns. They seemed to have whatever was available at the time that they were armed. At least two 116ft long ships, the Hoorn and the Enkhuizen, had main batteries of 8pdr guns, supplemented by a smaller number of 12pdr guns. They also had some guns of lesser calibers, from 6pdr down to 3pdr guns. Many of the Rotterdam hired ships were armed on a similar pattern.

Allert Jansz Tamessen and his two sons

Carl Stapel has been telling me more about a Noorderkwartier captain Allert Jansz Tamessen and his two sons, Pieter Allertszoon and Claes Allertszoon. I can't give away details, but I already know a good bit about the men. The First Dutch War confuses Allert Jansz Tamessen, of the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier and Allert Janszoon, captain of the Vlissingen Directors' ship Arend. Pieter Allertszoon, son of Allert Jansz Tamessen, commanded the ship Hoorn at the Battle of Dover on 29 May 1652 up to the Three Days Battle in early 1653, when he was killed. Claes Allertszoon, his brother, had commanded the Nieuw Casteel (14 guns) in 1652. He was appointed to command the Hoorn, after his brother's death. He appears in Witte de With's journal as captain of the Hoorn from May 1653 up to the voyage to Norway from September to November 1653. An oddity is that the old spelling of Hoorn was Hooren. The journal and a document from February 1653 spell the name that way.

The Noorderkwartier convoyers funded in 1648

This list may be disputed, but according to this list from 28 November 1652, the convoyers funded in 1648 for the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier were:

Hoorn, 32 guns                 kapitein Pieter Allertszoon
Prins Maurits, 28 guns         kapitein Cornelis Taenman
Wapen van Monnikendam  24 guns kapitein Arent Dirckszoon
Kasteel van Medemblick 26 guns kapitein Gabriel Theuniszoon
Wapen van Alkmaar      24 guns kapitein Gerrit Nobel
Sampson                26 guns kapitein Willem Ham

The 42nd ship in the Dutch fleet on 29 May 1652

I assume that the entire list of 40 captains, with their ships, with Tromp's fleet on 31 May 1652 were present at the battle on 29 May. As I have mentioned, they were in three squadrons, with the van commanded by Jan Thijssen, the center by Lt-Admiraal Tromp, and the rear by Schout-bij-Nacht Pieter Florissen. I have a photograph of the 31 May list, which I took at the Nationaal Archief on 8 May 2007. The 41st ship would have been the Middelburg Directors' ship Sint Laurens (30 guns), commanded by Bastiaan Tuynemans. The Sint Laurens was taken by the English on 29 May. Since Joris van der Zaan, who commanded the ship Groningen (38 guns), is included in the 40 names, I would imagine that the 42nd captain was Jacob Huyrluyt, who commanded the Zeelandia (36 guns), which was one of the two convoyers who were escorting seven Straatsvaarders, when the encountered Anthony Young's small squadron off the Start on 12 May. Since Joris van der Zaan joined the fleet, I would imagine that Jacob Huyrluyt had, as well. That is only my estimate, however.

The ship Stad Groningen en Ommelanden

I have an older page showing information about the Friesland ship Stad Groningen en Ommelanden that gives the armament as only 28 guns and the crew as 110 men. The ship was still commanded by Joost Bulter and has the same dimensions as later. Later in 1653, the ship carried 38 guns and was sunk by gunfire at the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). Perhaps the ship in its earlier guise was with the fleet at the Battle of the Kentish Knock, where one list gives the captain as being named "Belevelt" in Witte de With's journal.

The Noorderkwartier ships that were convoyers funded in 1648

The list of ships that were funded at the peace in 1648 for the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier surprised me. I had always assumed that Cornelis Pietersz Taenman's ship, the Prins Maurits, was one of the 100 ships hired in 1652. According to this one list, the accuracy of which could be disputed, says that the Prins Maurits was one of the convoyers funded at the peace with Spain in 1648. The Dutch rebellion against Spain ended concurrently with the end of the Thirty Years War. The list of Noorderkwartier ships that were in this category might be of interest:

Adm   Ship                   Guns  Commander
N     Hoorn                  32    Pieter Allertszoon
N     Prins Maurits          28    Cornelis Pietersz Taenman
N     Wapen van Monnikendam  24    Arent Dirckszoon
N     Casteel van Medemblick 26    Gabriel Theuniszoon
N     Wapen van Alkmaar      28    Gerrit Nobel
N     Sampson                26    Willem Ham

Familiar ship names

The list of ships employed by the Admiralty of Rotterdam, dated 7 March 1652, still interests me. The portion of the list that includes fluits and pinnaces is particularly fascinating. I am not sure if the ships named are those of which I have heard, but maybe some are:

The fluit ship, the Coninck Davidt
Dimensions in Maas feet:       90ft x     21ft x      9-1/2ft x  4ft  18 guns
Dimensions in Amsterdam feet:  98ft-2in x 22ft-10in x 10ft-4in x 4ft-4in

The fluit ship St. Jacob
Dimensions in Maas feet:       92ft x     20ft x      8ft x      3-1/2ft  16 guns
Dimensions in Amsterdam feet: 100ft-4in x 21ft-9in x  8ft-8in x  3ft-9in

The fluit ship Graaf Sonderlandt
Dimensions in Maas feet:       96-1/2ft x 20-1/2ft x  10-1/4ft x 4ft      20 guns
Dimensions in Amsterdam feet: 105ft-3in x 22ft-4in x  11ft-2in x 4ft-4in

Captain "Belevelt" revisited

The only place that I have seen the name of a Friesland captain named "Belevelt" is in Witte de With's lists from September 1652. In this one list, from 25 September, which has the section labeled "Admiralty Ships of Friesland", there are the following entries:

                          Crew   Guns Weeks of Victuals
Capn. Belevelt
Capn. Wickelma             108   29   13
Capn. Degelcam              77   28   11
Capn. Adriaen Bruijnsvelt  103   28   13

Our working hypothesis is that "Belevelt" is a corruption of Bulter, Joost Bulter's last name. I find that explanation pretty unsatisfying, however.

The Jonas

The ship Jonas, hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam in 1653 was quite unusual, in may ways. The ship had length and width of about 136ft x 27ft. The crew on board in late June 1653 was 106 men. The Jonas carried just 26 guns: 3-12pdr, 4-8pdr, 11-6pdr, 6-5pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. There was 4000 lbs of gunpowder. On the list of 22 June 1653, the captain's name was spelled "Joris Coleri" (Joris de Caullerij).

The listing for Johannes Michielszoon's ship always seemed strange to me

In the list of ships, which just has captains' names, guns and crew figures, published in The First Dutch War, Vol.I, the listing for Johannes Michielszoon shows a Zeeland ship with 20 guns and a crew of 100 men. There are no names for ships except for some fireships. The list is almost identical to the list published in Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet that listed the fleet that went to the Shetlands in July and August 1652. I had long wondered at the name of the ship, described in one place as "a fast-sailing storeship". I know now that his ship was the fluit Haes, hired by the Admiralty of Zeeland, but I had wondered if this was the ship captured by the English and which served as a storeship for a while under the name St. Augustine. I had not read The First Dutch War, Vol.IV carefully enough, since the ship survived the Three Days Battle, despite Johannes Michielszoon being killed. His ship continued in service with Jan van Hoessen as captain, with 20 guns and a crew of 90 men.

Jonas en de Walvisch

Dr. Ballhausen had parroted the ship name "Jonas en de Walvisch" (Jonas and the Whale) from the Oud-Holland Vol.17 article about Willem van de Velde de Oude in the First Anglo-Dutch War. There is apparently a notation to that effect on a van de Velde drawing. The note has to refer to two ships: the Jonas (26 guns and a crew of 110 men), a ship hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam, and the Walvisch (30 guns and a crew of 104 men), a ship hired by the Amsterdam Directors. These figures are from Witte de With's journal from late May 1653.

Noorderkwartier ships in the Mediterranean Sea in 1652

The Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier contributed three ships to the fleet sent to the Mediterranean Sea in 1652. The original purpose was to protect Dutch shipping against the North African pirates. Very quickly, at the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War, the primary purpose became fleet action against the English squadron. The Dutch very much believe in Mahan's principles: that defeating the enemy's fleet was the primary goal naval operations. Once you did that, you simplified the process of protecting your merchant shipping. The three Noorderkwartier ships are well known: the Prinses Roijaal (36 guns), the Eendracht (41 guns), and the Jong Prins (28 guns). The Battle of Monte Christo was fought on 27/08/1652. Captain Albert Cornelisz 't Hoen, captain of the Prinses Roijaal, was killed in the fight. Cornelis Barentsz Slordt, captain of the Jonge Prins, survived both the Battle of Monte Christo and the Battle of Livorno, on 14 March 1653. This a large van de Velde drawing of the Battle of Livorno from the Rijksmuseum.

Cornelis Loncke's ship the Faam

Cornelis Loncke commanded a ship hired by the Admiralty of Zeeland in 1652 and up to the Three Days Battle in 1653. The Faam was a 115ft-long ship that seems to have been extremely lightly armed. While the Faam carried 30 guns, only four were 12pdr. The rest were 6pdr, 4pdr, and a pair of 3pdr guns. The Faam was with Michiel De Ruyter's fleet from July 1652 up to September. They were assigned to convoy ships up and down the Channel. In August, they fought a battle with Sir George Ayscue's fleet which was intended for both commerce protection and to attack Dutch shipping. The Faam is one of a group of Zeeland ships that had a main battery of 6pdr guns. While many published sources credit Dutch ships with a lower tier, or main battery, of 12pdr guns, that was not uniformly the case with hired ships. The 12pdr guns were mentioned as not comparing well with the widespread use of culverins (18pdr) by the English.

Witte de With's squadron in 1652

I really wish that I could fill in more detail about Witte de With's squadron in 1652. Admittedly, I have a good bit of information, but I have very little about the Rotterdam ship Hollandia and the Noorderkwartier ship Vergulde Schel, in particular. I do not have much about their operations prior to August 1652:

The Squadron of Vice-Admiral de With 

of Rotterdam

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                Sources
Vice-Admiral       Witte Cornelisz de With          R        36   150  Prinses Louise      raedt, 1DW2
kapitein           Jan de Haes                      R        24    91  Gulden Beer         raedt, vloot

of Amsterdam

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                Sources
commandeur         Auke Balck                       A        46   150  Vrijheid            raedt, 1DW2, 1DW4
kapitein           Jan Jansz Boermans               A        28   100  Prins Willem        raedt, 1DW1, 1DW4
kapitein           Albert de Graeff                 A        32   110  Hollandia           raedt, 1DW1, 1DW2, 1DW4
kapitein           Gillis Matthijsz Campen          A        24    80  Goude Leeuw         raedt, 1DW1, 1DW4
kapitein           Barent Cramer                    A        28   100  Edam                raedt, 1DW1, 1DW2, 1DW4

of Zeeland

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                Sources
kapitein           Pieter Gorcum                    Z        24    85  Sandenburgh         raedt, cs, jonge1, staet54

others

Rank               Name                             Adm/Dir  guns crew Ship                Sources
kapitein           Teunis Vechterszoon              NQ       24    80  Vergulde Schel      raedt, 1DW4. ball
kapitein           Hendrik Ernestus de Bertrij      R        24    97  Hollandia           raedt, vloot, schet2, schet4

This is the key to my notes:

Key:

Sources:

1DW1 = The First Dutch War, Vol.I
1DW2 = The First Dutch War, Vol.II
1DW3 = The First Dutch War, Vol.III
1DW4 = The First Dutch War, Vol.IV
1DW5 = The First Dutch War, Vol.V
1DW6 = The First Dutch War, Vol.VI
ball    = Dr. Ballhausen’s book
rdhb  = Rotterdamsche Historiebladen
schet2 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.II
schet3 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.III
schet4 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.IV
schet5 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.V
schet6 = Schetsen uit de Geschiedens van ons Zeewezen, Vol.VI
vloot = De Vlootbouw in Nederland
vreug = A. Vreugdenhil, Ships of the United Netherlands 1648-1702
glete = Jan Glete’s notes on Directors’ ships 
dir    = Director’s ship documents from the Nationaal Archief from 1652 and 1653
     1-undated but from March 1652 or later with a table
     2-12 March 1652
     3-27 March 1652
     4-30 March 1652
     5-8 November 1652
     6-10 January 1653
     7-27 January 1653
     8-28 January 1653
     9-30 January 1653
     10-8 February 1653
     11-18 March 1653
     12-undated but from early 1653
     13-4 April 1653
 
Sources (Continued):

ont = Onstelde-Zee
raedt = Pamphlet of Hendrik de Raedt (about the voyage to the Shetlands)
26Feb52 = Admiralty of Rotterdam, 26 February 1652
zdir = Zeeland Directors ships pages from the Zeeuws Archief
fleet1 = list of the fleet 15/24 July 1652 from the Nationaal Archief
fleet2 = list of the fleet 19/20 September 1652 from the Nationaal Archief
staet54 = Staet van Oorlog te Water for 1654
paintings = Michael Robinson, Van de Velde Paintings
cs = communication from Carl Stapel
salt = Francis Vere, Salt in their Blood: The Lives of the Famous Dutch Admirals, 1955.
jonge1 = J. C. De Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, Vol.I

Admiralty/Directors:

A         = Admiralty of Amsterdam
A-Dir   =  Amsterdam Directors
Ed-Dir =  Edam Directors
En-Dir  = Enkhuizen Directors
F          = Admiralty of Friesland
HA-Dir = Harlingen Directors
Ho-Dir  = Hoorn Directors
Mi-Dir  = Middelburg Directors
Mo-Dir = Monnikendam Directors
NQ   = Noorderkwartier (Noorder-Quartier)
R      = Admiralty of the Maze (or Rotterdam)
R-Dir = Rotterdam Directors (includes Delfshaven)
Ve-Dir  = Veere Directors
Vli-Dir  = Vlissingen Directors
Z          = Admiralty of Zeeland
Zi-Dir  = Zierikzee Directors

Hendrick Jansz Camp's ship

At De Sneuper, the author listed Hendrick Jansz Camp's ship, in 1652 and into 1653 as the Groningen. That seemed very plausible to me. Sadly, as we collected more information from the Nationaal Archief in The Hague, we found out that Hendrick Jansz Camp commanded a 36 gun hired ship named Wapen van Nassau. The Wapen van Nassau was 130ft long. The Wapen van Nassau seems to have been discarded sometime after the Three Days Battle in 1653, where Hendrick Jansz Camp was apparently killed. The Wapen van Nassau seems to have had a lower tier of 12pdr guns and an upper tier of 8pdr guns. The quarterdeck was probably armed with 6pdr guns and there were also 2-3pdr guns for sniping.

The Brederode in the Battle of Dungeness

I continue to be interested in the story of the Brederode (54 guns) and the Battle of Dungeness. In the initial contact, Tromp had made for Blake's ship, the 2nd Rate Triumph and board, but was intercepted by the 3rd Rate Garland (this type was reduced to a 4th Rate by the 1660's) (44 guns). The Garland had a lower tier of culverins (18pdr guns). We don't know her exact armament, but we believe that the upper tier was armed with 9pdr demi-culverins and her upperworks had either demi-culverins, or more likely, 5-1/4pdr sakers. Tromp went alongside the Garland and started fighting. When the 36-gun Anthony Bonaventure came along and grappled the other side of the Brederode, Tromp was in trouble. This fight took place southeast of Dungeness Point, with the wind blowing from the west-northwest. The English were winning the fight until Johan Evertsen brought his ship, the Hollandia (38 guns) alongside the Anthony Bonaventure and boarded. The Dutch were able to capture the Anthony Bonaventure and then combined against the Garland, and took her, as well. In the fight, the Garland lost her rudder, which complicated taking her back to the Netherlands. The English ships and the Brederode suffered a great deal of damage. Both English captains were killed in the process. The Brederode was a heavily armed ship, almost a small 2nd Rate. She may have had almost a complete lower tier of 24pdr guns by this date. The upper tier was 12pdr guns, with 10-6pdr guns on the quarterdeck. The Hollandia had a very mixed armament. By June 1653, she had 2-36pdr guns, along with some 24pdr, 18pdr, and 14-12pdr guns. The guns in 1652 included 24pdr, 18pdr, 15pdr, 12pdr, 10pdr, and 6pdr guns. This was probably due to the shortage of guns available to the Admiralty of Zeeland. We can only speculate about the armament of the Anthony Bonaventure. I would hazard a guess the armament had a mixed lower tier of 18pdr and 9pdr guns, an upper tier, with an unarmed waist of 9pdr, and sakers on the quarterdeck. But that is just an estimate.

The Wapen van Rotterdam became the English Falmouth

The Wapen van Rotterdam was the ship commanded by Jacob van Boshuijsen. The Wapen van Rotterdam was taken in an English port at the start of the First Anglo-Dutch War and was put into English service as the Falmouth. The Wapen van Rotterdam was one of the ships built to the dimensions that were approximately 116ft x 27ft x 11ft in Amsterdam feet. The Wapen van Rotterdam carried 26 guns: 2-bronze 24pdr, 1-bronze 12pdr, 3-iron 12pdr, 12-iron 8pdr, 4-bronze 6pdr, and 4-iron 6pdr guns. In the Dutch service, the Wapen van Rotterdam had a crew of 70 sailors and 20 soldiers.

The little frigate Gelderland

From Vreugdenhil's list, you would think that Aert van Nes's ship, the frigate Gelderland, was a 116ft ship. This Gelderland must be the ship at number 23 in the list. That entry gives the dimensions as 106ft x 25ft x 9-1/2ft. The list treats those as if they were in Amsterdam feet, but they are Maas feet. This is the information from the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654, but that seems to be wrong. As far back as the list of 26 February 1652, the Gelderland is stated to have dimensions of 100ft x 23ft x 8ft and to carry 20 guns. This is the same general sort of ship as the Utrecht and Overissel, entries 60 and 49 in Vreugdenhil's list. From what I have seen from the Nationaal Archief, dating from 1652 and 1653, the 100ft size seems to be correct, as that is always given as the length of Aert van Nes's ship. That corresponds to dimensions in Amsterdam feet of 109ft-1in x 25ft-1in x 8ft-8in. The Gelderland carried 24 guns, consisting of 4-bronze chambered 12pdr, 2-bronze 8pdr, 8-iron 8pdr, 6-iron 6-pdr, and 4-iron 4pdr guns in 1652 and 1653. The Gelderland was actively employed through the First Anglo-Dutch War, and still showed up in a list dated April 1655. The Gelderland had been one of the forty convoyers funded at the peace with Spain in 1648.

Henry Cruzado's page with the list of galleys at Lepanto

I had not thought that such a thing would exist, but Henry Cruzado contacted me today and pointed out his list of galleys at the Battle of Lepanto, the great victory of the Christian Europeans against Turkey in 1571. I would think that would be extremely useful for anyone wanting to study the battle and, perhaps, do some wargaming.

The list of ships of the Admiralty of Rotterdam, dated 13 June 1652

I have this list of ships belonging to the Admiralty of Rotterdam that is dated 28 July 1652. The list includes both landsschepen and hired ships. The list says that the kapitein Ernestus de Bertrij's ship Hollandia (24 or 26 guns, according to the list) and the Beer (commanded by Jan de Haes) were destined for a convoy of East Indiamen. The ship Sphera Mundi, commanded by kapitein Veenhuijsen (written very hastily, and with large curls) was by the fishery fleet. This captain's name is usually written Venhuijsen, as it might be a shortened form of Sevenhuijsen.

Joris Caulerij's ship the Hoop was very lightly armed

For a 28-gun ship, Joris Caulerij's hired Amsterdam ship Hoop, was very lightly armed. The Hoop had a crew of 90 men and carried 4-10pdr, 4-8pdr, 12-6pdr, 6-3pdr, and 2-2pdr guns. The largest guns were not even 12pdr, but the non-standard 10pdr. The standard guns followed the grouping of 36pdr, 24pdr, 18pdr, 12pdr, 8pdr, 6-pdr, 4-pdr and 3pdr guns. There was one alternate series that included 20pdr, 15pdr, 10pdr, and 5pdr guns. There were also stray 16pdr, 14pdr, 9pdr, 7pdr, and 2pdr guns in use. The 7pdr may have been a Spanish caliber.

Dirck Scheij's ship the Achilles

I have a page that actually spells the name of Dirck Scheij's ship as Achilles, not Achillis. The page says that the ship carried 28 guns and had a crew of 102 men, sometime in later 1652. The armament is listed as 4-12pdr, 12-8pdr, 10-4pdr, and 2-2pdr guns. The Achilles was hired by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. This may have been a case of a ship that was sold in 1648, at the peace treaty with Spain and then rehired by the admiralty. Some of these ships were eventually repurchased, it seems.

The Bronze 18pdr from 1632

Several years ago, Nico Brinck, the Dutch 17th Century gun expert and marine archaeologist (and sea captain) sent me several of his drawings. One drawing shows a bronze 18pdr manufactured in 1632 for the "Admiraliteit van West-Frislant", as the inscription says. The gun has a weight marking of 3480 lbs. The inside bore measures 13.8cm (5.433 inches). The gun has a length of 265cm from the ring at the rear of the barrel (with a 23cm part extending back) to the muzzle. That makes the gun 104-1/3 inches or 8ft-8-1/3in in English feet. The length in Amsterdam feet is 9ft-4in.

No.40 in the list of 22 June 1653

I still have not decided which ship is meant by the entry at no.40 in the status list dating from 22 June 1653. This was a ship with 30 guns and a crew of 120 men. The captain was named Bartold Simonssen. This was an Amsterdam Directors' ship that was missing at the time that the list was compiled. This would not have been a ship that was actually lost at the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). The next ship in the list, No.41, was the Gulden Pelicaen, commanded by Barent Timonsz Soudaen, which was lost in the battle. the ship before, no.39, was the ship Burg (or Nassouw van den Burgh), commanded at this point by Lt-Commandeur Hendrick Adriaensz. Glas. The Burg now carried 38 guns and had a crew of 125 men. These were all Amsterdam Directors' ships.

The klein Zutphen on 22 June 1653

There were two ships named Zutphen that were owned by the Admiralty of Amsterdam in during the First Anglo-Dutch War. They were sometimes known as the Groot Zutphen and the Klein Zutphen. Hillebrandt Jeroenszoon de Moy commanded the smaller Zutphen in the Battle of the Gabbard (or Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). The Zutphen carried 26 guns and had a nominal crew of 120 men. The 26 guns consisted of 8-12pdr, 10-8pdr, 4-6pdr, 2-4pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. We are using the figures in the status list from 22 June 1653.

The Amsterdam ship Hollandsche Tuin on 22 June 1653

Joris Block commanded the Amsterdam ship Hollandsche Tuin at the Battle of the Gabbard (and at Scheveningen). This Hollandsche Tuin was a hired ship that carried just 24 guns, and these were small. The status document compiled on 22 June 1653 has some details:

No.18  Hollantsche Thuijn  Joris Block  97 men  24 guns
Length 116ft
Beam    25-1/2ft      79 men actually on board
Hold    12ft
Above    5-3/4ft

24 guns:  6-8pdr, 8-6pdr, 4-4pdr, 2-3pdr, 4-2pdr

The Amsterdam Directors' ship Sint Pieter from 22 June 1653

Gerrit Schuyt commanded the Amsterdam Directors' ship Sint Pieter in 1653. He fought in the Battle of the Gabbard on 12 and 13 June. I have this status document from 22 June that has some details of his ship:

Sint Pieter    kapitein Gerrit Schuyt

Length: 128ft  Beam: 28ft

Planned crew: 109 men  Actually on board: 96 men

Guns: 10-12pdr, 8-8pdr, 8-6pdr, and 2-3pdr

Of these, five 12pdr were unusable, as were four 8pdr guns.
Two of the 12pdr were burst as was one 8pdr gun.

The Sint Pieter had 2700 lbs of gunpowder.

The David en Goliat on 22 June 1653

These figures differ somewhat from what is usual. Perhaps they not exactly right, but the gun list is likely to be what the Amsterdam Directors' ship David en Goliat actually carried on 22 June 1653, and at the Battle of the Gabbard (Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort). The dimensions are listed as a length of 136ft, a beam of 32ft, and a height above hold of 6-1/4ft. The crew was intended to be 125 men, but we do not know how many were actually on board. The David en Goliat had 34 guns: 18-12pdr (3 damaged), 4-8pdr, 10-6pdr, and 2-3pdr guns. This information is from the status report after the battle.

I wondered one thing about Witte de With in 1652 and 1653

When Witte de With was restored to the service by 1651, he was given the Rotterdam ship Prinses Louise (36 guns) to use as his flagship. Except for the Battle of the Kentish Knock, when he temporarily used the big East Indiaman Prins Willem (56 guns) as his flagship, he continued to use the Prinses Louise. From 1645 until he returned from Brazil after the failed mission to restore the WIC control over Brazil, he had commanded the big Rotterdam ship Brederode (54 guns). From right before the Battle of Dungeness until after the Three Days Battle in 1653, he was ashore, sick, or at least emotionally drained. He was back by April 1653, but for the rest of 1653, he flew his flag on Amsterdam ships. He was originally using an admiralty jacht with 6pdr guns as the largest gun. But he moved to using the larger ship Leeuwarden (34 guns) as his flagship through April and into May 1653. The Leeuwarden was his flagship for the raid on Scarborough. He eventually moved to the much larger ship Vrijheid. He had also started to fit out and prepare the very large ship Huis te Swieten for use as his flagship, but was not ready by the Battle of Scheveningen, so he was in the Vrijheid. By September, he had the Huis te Swieten and used it for the rest of the year. By the spring of 1654, he was back in the Brederode, the Rotterdam ship. So why was he using Amsterdam ships for this period in 1653?

The retourschip Prins Willem, built in 1649

As I have written before, Herbert Tomessen, model maker extraordinaire with Artitec, believes that the VOC retourschip Prins Willem, built in 1649, was the same approximate size as the retourschip Oranje, which fought the Duke of York at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665. He thinks that the ships were about 170ft long and had a beam of 38ft. The famous model of the Prins Willem is in storage at the depot on the military base next to the Scheepvaart Museum. That is where Ab Hoving, the other great model maker and ship expert showed it to me. It was wrapped in plastic for protection while it was being stored. Apparently, there is some source that gives the length of the Prins Willem as being 181ft. Witte de With's journal gives the armament as 56 guns in September 1652. The Prins Willem was given back to the VOC in 1653 and went back into service making voyages to the Far East, and was eventually wrecked in 1662. The Prins Willem was a poor sailer and was difficult to steer, all of which made the ship a poor warship.

Odd names for the Dutch service

Today, I received photographs of documents of which I previously had only poor photocopies. The documents date from 1658. One document listed the six transport fluits that were taking soldiers to reinforce Copenhagen, which was under siege by Sweden. For the fluit Fruijtboom, two names appear: James Schot (Scott) and Captain Kirckpatrick (Kirkpatrick). These men appear to be Britons, serving in the Dutch army, each commanding a company of soldiers. James Schot is interesting, as Charles II's eldest son was named James Scott, later the Duke of Monmouth. He was Charles' and Lucy Walter's son, born in 1649. She died before the Restoration. James was not in the line of succession, although he thought that he should be. He was executed after the unsuccessful Monmouth Rebellion. The painting of James Scott looks something like Charles II.

Lt-Commandeur Hessel Franszoon

I have this document that I received yesterday from late July 1653. This list ships, captains, and crews, including how many men short they were. For the Friesland ship Graaf Willem, the captain is listed as being Lt-Commandeur Hessel Franszoon. I had thought that he was commander of another Friesland ship, the Sara, in place of Captain Hans Carelssen Beecke (or some such spelling). The hired Friesland ship Postpaert is also listed as being commanded by a Lt-Commandeur, in this case "t'jaert Douwes", as the document seems to say.

YouTube videos of Privateers Bounty 17th Century battles?

I am going to investigate how I might capture the video from using Privateers Bounty to run my Anglo-Dutch Wars and other 17th Century scenarios. I would run the scenarios from both sides (Dutch-English, Swedish-Dutch) and put the video on YouTube. I would demonstrate the various tactics that I employ. Privateers Bounty is a long way from being ideal, but it is the only thing that I have seen that will allow me to run these scenarios on my desktop computer.

The Windhondt and Brack in July 1653

Even though the two three-masted jachts, the Windhondt and the Brack were similar, in July 1653, there some subtle differences:

Windhondt             Brack
Capn. Heertjes        Capn. Jan Admirael

73 men, 12 men short  62 sailors and 15 soldiers

18 guns               18 guns
4-8pdr, 10-4pdr,      4-8pdr, 8-4pdr, 
2-3pdr, 2-2pdr        4-3pdr, 2-3pdr clockwijs

The list of captains from 14 June 1653

I just received a document that has a letter from Lt-Admiral Tromp and then has a list of captains in his fleet during the Zeeslag bij Nieuwpoort (the Battle of the Gabbard) on 12 and 13 June 1653. This was written just a day after the battle. After some of the captain's names is written the work "genomen" (captured). This list has the error that Jacob Claesz Duijm is named "Jan Duijm", as I have seen in The First Dutch War, Vol.V. As his name has the word "genomen", as well, it is clearly meant to be the captain of the Edam Directors' ship Vergulde Sonne (or Schellinkhout).

Names: on 20 December 1652

Here is a list of names at the bottom of a letter signed by Dutch naval officers, dated 20 December 1652, with my expansion and corrections:

Written:                        Full Name:
M:Harperts Tromp                Maerten Harpertszoon Tromp
Johan Evertsz.                   Johan Evertsen or Evertszoon
Michiel Adr.de Ruijter          Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruijter
Augustijnus Balck               Aucke or Augustijn Balck (the more usual spelling)
G: de Wildt                     Gideon de Wildt
Cornelis Evertsen               Cornelis Evertsen de Oude
Capn. Gabriel Teunisz.          Gabriel Teuniszoon
Jan de Liefde                   Jan or Johan Evertszoon de Liefde
Gillis Jansz.                   Gillis Janszoon
Jacob Pouwelsz.                 Jacob Pauwelszoon Cort
Willem Nijhoff                  Willem van Nieuhoff
Cornelis Jansz. Poort           Cornelis Janszoon Poort
Jacob Pensen                    Jacob Adriaenszoon Pensen or Penssen
Hendrick de Munnick             Hendrick Janszoon de Munnick
Corstiaen Corstiaensz.          Corstiaen Corstiaenszoon de Munnick
Joris van der Saenen            Joris van der Zaan

Zeeland ships with Tromp's fleet in late July 1652

We continue to mine our latest photographs of documents. We now look at the list of captains, and their ships with Tromp's fleet in late July 1652, for Zeeland:

Admiralty ships of Zeeland

Captain                               Ship             Guns
vice-admirael Jan Evertsen            Hollandia        38
kapitein Gillis Jansz                 Zeeridder        28
commandeur Cornelis Evertsen de Oude  Zeeuwsche Leeuw  30
Adriaen Bancker                       Westcappel       26
Adriaen Kempen                        Amsterdam        30

Admiralty ships to be deducted from the Hundred

Captain                               Ship               Guns
kapitein Lambert Bartelsz             Eendracht          18
Johannes Michielsz                    Haes               20
Jacob Wolfertsz                       Sint Joris         23
Daniel Cornelisz Brachman             Abrahams Offerande 24
Dingman Cats                          Dolphijn           24

Directors' ships of Zeeland

Middelburch

Captain                               Ship             Guns
Jan la Sage                           Gulden Haan      30
Jacob Pensen                          Gouden Leeuw     30
Johannes Regermorter                  Leeuwinne        30

Vlissingen

Captain                               Ship             Guns
Jan Thijssen                          Lam              32
Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge            Vlissingen       26
Allert Jansz                          Dubbele Arent    28

Directors of Zierickzee

Captain                               Ship                 Guns
kapitein Cornelis Rocusz Fincen       Wapen van Zierickzee 34

Directors of Veere

Captain                               Ship               Guns
kapitein Jan Oliviersz                Wapen van der Vere 38

More ships from the late July 1652 fleet list

These are more ships from the late July 1652 fleet list. The list has only the captain's names, so I have supplied ship names and guns:

Directors' ships of Hoorn

Captain                    Ship           Guns
Jacob Pietersz Houck       Sampson        30
Pieter Ariens van Blocker  Liefde         28

Directors' ships of Enckhuijsen

Captain                    Ship                   Guns
Gijsbert Malcontent        Maeght van Enckhuijsen 28
Jacob Claesz Duijm         Vergulde Sonne         28

Directors of Medemblick

Captain                    Ship           Guns
Jan Pietesz Een-arm        Sint Jeronimus 30

Directors of Edam

Captain                    Ship                Guns
Jan Freddricksz Houckhoot  Vergulde Halve Maen 30

Directors of Monnikendam

Captain                    Ship           Guns
Jacob Claesz Boot          Swarte Beer    32

Some ships with Tromp's fleet on 24 July 1652

Today, I received a list of ships that were with Tromp's fleet on 24 July 1652. Here area some of those ships (the list only has the captains, so I have added the rest):

Admiralty ships of Rotterdam

Ship      Guns Crew Commander
Brederode   54 270  Lt-Admiraal Tromp
Overijssel  22  94  kapitein Cornelis Engelen Silvergieter
Gorcum      30 130  kapitein Jan van Nes Oude Boer Jaep
Utrecht     22  90  kapitein Leendert Ariens Haexwant
Schiedam    30 131  kapitein Dirck Juijnbol
Holland     30  95  kapitein Hendrick de Munnick

Admiralty hired ships to be deducted from the hundred

Ship      Guns Crew Commander
Roscam      26  105 kapitein Corstiaen Eldertsz
Maria       26  110 kapitein Quirijn van den Kerckhoff

Directors' ships of Rotterdam

Ship      Guns Crew Commander
Hollandia   26 105  kapitein Ruth Jacobsz Buijs
Jonas       36 125  kapitein Jan de Liefde
Meerman     30 120  kapitein Jacob Cleijdijck
Sint Pieter 29 110  kapitein Isaac de Jongh
Prins       38 110  kapitein Corstiaen Corstiaensz

Admiralty ships of Amsterdam

Ship      Guns Crew Commander
Vrede       42 160  commandeur Gideon de Wildt
Overijssel  26 100  kapitein Abraham van der Hulst
Dolphijn    26  95  kapitein Gerrebrant Schatter
Star        28  95  kapitein Jacob Paulussen Cort
Leeuwarden  36 140  kapitein Govert Reael
Hoop        28 100  kapitein Joris Colerij  to be deducted from the hundred
Groningen   38 130  kapitein Joris van der Zaan
Zeelandia   36 120  lt-commandeur Nicolaes Marrevelt
Keijser     26 100  kapitein Jan ter Stege  a hired fluijt
Amsterdam   34 125  kapitein Barent Pietersz Dorrevelt
Leiden      28 105  kapitein Cornelis Hola

I continue to be perplexed about Abraham van der Hulst's ship in early 1652

Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet says that Abraham van der Hulst commanded a Landsschip that was armed with 26 guns and had a crew of 100 men. He was with Tromp's fleet on the voyage to the Shetlands in July and August 1652. By September, Abraham van der Hulst took command of the 40-gun ship Groningen, formerly commanded by Joris van der Zaan. A letter from Johan Evertsen to the Admiralty of Zeeland, later in August 1652 gives the name of Abraham van der Hulst's ship as Overijssel. We also think that we know that Jan van Campen was busy, in early August 1652, fitting out the ship Overijssel that was built in 1650. That means that if Abraham van der Hulst commanded a ship Overissel, it was not the ship built in 1650. The only problem is that the only other obvious candidate was the ship Overijssel that Dr. Elias says was sold in about March 1652, if I have the date right.

Two Noorderkwartier ships sent to Brazil

From documents that I received today, I see that Allert Jansz Tamessen, commanding the Hoorn (or Eenhoorn) and Jan Adriaensz Backer, commanding the Hollandsche Tuin, had been in Brazil immediately prior to the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War. According to Vreugdenhil's list, the Hollandsche Tuin was built in 1636 and carried 36 guns. This may have been a 250 last ship (about 128ft x 31-1/2ft x 12ft). In 1636, the Hollandsche Tuin carried 32 guns and had a crew of 90 sailors and 20 soldiers.

The Amsterdam ships on 1 May 1654

One photograph that I received today shows a list of Dutch warships in the service of the Admiralty of Amsterdam on 1 May 1654:

Ship                      Captain                       Crew  Guns
't Huijs te Swieten       Vice-Admiraal De Ruijter      200   60
't Huijs te Cruijningen   Schout-bij-Nacht Tromp        180   54
't Huijs te Oosterwijck   Commandeur de Wildt           180   56
Amsterdam                 Capitein Verburgh             170   50
Stadt en Landen           Capitein Brakel               170   48
de Vrijheijt              Capitein Van der Hulst        170   46
de Vreede                 Capitein Ijsack Sweers        140   44
Campen                    Capitein Van der Zaen         140   42
Jeunieerde Provintien     Capitein Schaef               140   40
Staveren                  Capitein Evert Anthonisz      140   40
de Landtman               Capitein Verveen              140   40
Jaersveldt                Capitein Jan van Campen       140   40
Suijderhuijs              Capitein Dirck Scheij         140   40
de Maen                   Capitein Hendrick Huijskens   140   40
Groeningen                Capitein Gilles Thijsz Campen 140   40
Phesandt                  Capitein Lapper               110   32
Leeuwaerden               Capitein Ooms                 110   34

Sailed for Brazil

de Maeght van Enckhuijsen Capitein Roeteringh           125   34
Bommel                    Capitein Swart                125   34
de Windthondt             Capitein Jan Admirael         100   18

New Friesland ships: the Oostergo

On the 8th, I received a document with dimensions of the new Friesland ships. The document dates from early 1654. One of the entries is for the new ship Oostergo:

the ship Oostergo

Length:  140ft
Beam:     36ft
Hold:     14-1/2ft
Height 
between decks: 7-1/2ft

Crew: 200 sailors: 28 officers and 172 men
       50 land soldiers

Ships named Harder

Based on what I see, the ship named Harder (116ft long) that served the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier in 1653 and 1654 was a different ship from any Harder that served the Admiralty of Amsterdam. Ron van Maanen mentions an Amsterdam Directors' ship named Harder, of 114ft, that served in 1653-1661. He gives the same dimensions for a ship named Harder that served the Admiralty of Amsterdam from 1658-1666 and that was named Klein Harder (ultimately burned in action in 1666). At least, how I would usually interpret Ron van Maanen's entries is that when he says "Board Amsterdam" or "Board Hoorn", he means the Directors.

Tromp's flagship Brederode on 28 July 1652

This one document that I received back in early February 2007 lists Rotterdam ships and has dimensions and gun numbers. The entry for the Brederode is interesting for the dimensions. They are similar to those in the 26 February 1652 list of Rotterdam ships, and differ from those which have been widely published and which are in the Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654. The dimensions are in Maas feet: 132ft x 32ft-4in x 13ft. The Brederode is stated to have 53 guns on board, but no specifics. As we are usually interested in Amsterdam feet rather than Maas feet, we convert the dimensions: 144ft x 35ft-3in x 14ft-2in. The Brederode is the size of a small English 3rd Rate from the 1650's.

Rotterdam Directors' ships in 1652

I have this general problem in that I have very little information about Rotterdam Directors' ships in service in 1652. For one ship, the Erasmus, all I have is the name, and that the captain was Sijmon Cornelsz van der Meer. The Erasmus was sunk in June 1652. For the ship Sint Pieter, commanded by Isaac de Jongh, I have the guns (29) and the crew (110) and that is all. This Sint Pieter foundered during the storm off the Shetlands in early August 1652. The other Sint Pieter was originally commanded by Adriaen de Zeeuw, but from what I have heard from Carl Stapel, he must have been wounded in the action where the Erasmus was sunk and later died. Sijmon Cornelisz van der Meer was appointed to command that ship named Sint Pieter. This Sint Pieter carried 28 guns, but they were quite light, with just a few 12pdr guns and the rest were smaller. Ruth Jacobsz Buy's ship, the Hollandia, was also lightly armed. The Hollandia carried 26 guns and had a crew of 105 men. The Hollandia was armed similarly to the Sint Pieter. Jacob Cleijdijck's ship, the Meerman, was more heavily armed, as among the 32 guns, the Meerman carried 4-24pdr. Corstiaen Corstiaenszoon's ship, the Prins, also had 4-24pdr guns and was the most heavily armed, carrying 38 guns. The other Rotterdam Directors' ship was the Jonas, commanded by Jan Evertsz de Liefde. The Jonas was armed with 36 guns, of which over half were 12pdr while the rest were smaller. The Jonas was apparently discarded after the storm in the Shetlands, as by late 1652, Jan de Liefde was Witte de With's flag captain on the Prinses Louise.

Inventories of ships

I have wondered how Ab Hoving and those like him would use the inventories of ships that still exist. There are many inventories that exist for Dutch ships in late June 1653, following the Battle of the Gabbard (the Zeeslag van Nieuwpoort). There are more inventories from November 1653, following the great storm off the Texel where many ships were lost. In some cases, the inventories include gun weights, and more have the number of the various size shot carried.

A list from 14 December 1652

One list that I have is a list of captains in Tromp's fleet on 14 December 1652. The list actually covers the ships in the fleet for the Battle of Dungeness on 10 December. I find the list for the Admiraliteit van de Noorderkwartier particularly interesting. We can do a better job of listing the ships and guns that go with captain's names:

Adm  Ship                    Guns Commander
N    Monnikendam             36   Schout-bij-Nacht Pieter Floriszoon
N    Prins Maurits           28   kapitein Cornelis Pietersz Taenman
N    Wapen van Monnikendam   24   kapitein Arent Dircksz
N    Peereboom               24   kapitein Tijs Tijmensz Peerebom
N    Tobias                  30   commandeur Johannes Bourgoigne
N    Eenhoorn                28   kapitein Jan Heck
N    Lastdrager              28   kapitein Volckert Schram
N    Schel                   24   kapitein Theunis Vechterszoon
N    Casteel van Medemblick  28   kapitein Gabriel Teuniszoon
N    Wapen van Enkhuizen     30   kapitein Herman Munnekes

More thoughts about Abraham van der Hulst's ship in early 1652

From a letter written by Johan Evertsen, following the storm in the Shetlands, we see that Abraham van der Hulst's ship is named Overijssel. We know that Hendrick de Raedt's pamphlet says that the ship carried 26 guns and had a crew of 100 men. The mostly likely scenario, I believe, is that this was the Amsterdam ship Overijssel built in 1650. The other possibility is that this was the old Overijssel that Dr. Elias said was sold on 11 April 1652. Because of that, and because I have seen no information about a second Overijssel, the odds are that this was the new Overijssel. The story would be that after the storm in the Shetlands, Abraham van der Hulst passed the Overijssel to Jan van Campen, who had been fitting out a new ship, perhaps the Campen. Abraham van der Hulst took over the 125ft 40 gun ship Groningen from Joris van der Zaan. Joris van der Zaan gave up the Groningen and took over the newly constructed 128ft 40 gun ship Campen. The other possibility is that Jan van Campen was fitting out the new Overijssel, which had laid in dock since being completed in 1650. In this scenario, Abraham van der Hulst commanded the old ship Overijssel, despite the 11 April sale date. I guess that we need to know more before we can be sure which was the case.

From the Dutch arming plan for new ships in late 1653

I just posted the 58 gun and 52 gun arming plans at Anglo-Dutch Wars from this document from late 1653:

A ship of dimensions 134 or 136ft x 36ft x 14ft with 46 guns:

Lower Deck:
 4-bronze 24pdr
10-iron 18pdr
 8-iron 12pdr

Upper Deck:
 8-bronze 12pdr
 8-iron 8pdr
 8-bronze 6pdr drakes