English Captain: John Cole

John Cole served in the Parliamentarian and Commonwealth navies. In 1647, he commanded a hired merchantship, Mayflower (one of several of that name). He was in the Summer Guard for 1647. In 1650, he commanded the Peter of Waterford, another hired merchantship. The Peter of Waterford seems to have been a small vessel with a crew from between 40 and 50 men, from her position in Derrick's list. From 1652 to 1653, he commanded the hired merchantship John (of London) (34 guns). He went to the Sound with Andrew Ball in September 1652. During the Battle of Portland, his ship was in the Tilbury Hope, as he was not able to get men for the crew. A few weeks later, they were sent to the Downs. From there, the John and Elizabeth were sent to the coast of France to look for stragglers from the Dutch convoy, and captured what they found. Apparently, the Swan was sent along, as well. Anderson does not list him at Scheveningen, but he was obviously there, as John Cole was killed in the battle. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, "English Fleet-Lists in the First Dutch War," The Mariner's Mirror, Vol.XXIV No.4, October 1938.
2. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
3. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.IV, 1910
4. C.T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.V, 1912.
5. Charles Derrick, Memoirs of the Rise and Progress of the Royal Navy, 1806. (yes, I have a copy)
6. J. R. Powell, The Navy in the English Civil War, 1962.

English Admiral: The Earl of Warwick (Robert Rich)

Robert Rich, the Earl of Warwick served in the Parliamentarian navy during the English Civil War, and in the navy before that. In 1642, he was Admiral, with his flag in the 2nd Rate James, in the Summer Guard. From 1642 to 1643, he flew his flag from the 2nd Rate Henrietta Marie, and was in the Winter Guard for 1642. In 1643, he was Lord High Admiral, with his flag on the 1st Rate Prince Royal (later renamed Resolution), in command of the Summer Guard. From 1644 to 1645, his flagship was the 2nd Rate James (50 guns and a crew of 260 men) again. He was Admiral of the Summer Guard in 1644. In May 1644, he arrived at Lyme with a squadron bringing supplies for the Parliamentarian forces. The Earl inspected the place, after the end of the siege. He was also present at Taunton in June. In 1648, he was still Lord High Admiral, with his flag on the 2nd Rate St. George. After the revolt in 1648, when many ships went over to the Royalists, he blockaded the Royalists at Hellevoetsluis. The Earl of Warwick was suspected of plotting treason, although it was actually William Batten who was doing so. He could not stay on, as he opposed the execution of King Charles I, and supported negotiations. He was replaced by the appointment of the Generals-at-Sea. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
2. Michael Baumber, General-at-Sea, 1989.
3. J. R. Powell, The Navy in the English Civil War, 1962.

English Captain: Joseph Cubitt

Joseph Cubitt served in both the Commonwealth and Restoration navies. In 1653, he commanded the Dutch prize Tulip (32 guns). He fought at the Battle of Portland and the Battle of Scheveningen in her. He missed the Gabbard. He still commanded the Tulip in September 1653. From 1653 to 1664, he commanded the 4th Rate Portsmouth. By December 1653, he was in the Portsmouth (42 guns), cruising between the Isle of Wight and Cape Barfleur. He was appointed as Captain in 1661, in the Restoration navy. He probably died before 1673. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, "English Fleet-Lists in the First Dutch War," The Mariner's Mirror, Vol.XXIV No.4, October 1938.
2. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
3. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol. VI, 1930.
4. David Syrett, R. L. DiNardo, The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660-1815, 1994.

The Battle of the Downs might make a good Privateers Bounty scenario

The Dutch OOB would be a challenge, and we would have to invent a lot of data about Spanish ships, but the Battle of the Downs might make an interesting Privateers Bounty scenario. We could make more use of the archaic-looking merchant ship 3D model for the Dutch, in particular, as they had many small ships. The model has a beakhead and a high stern. One good thing to try, that I just thought of, would be to correlate the list of captains in C.R. Boxer's book about Tromp's journal in 1639 and the data in J. C. de Jonge's Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, Vol. I, in the appendices.

English Captain: John Crowther

John Crowther served the Parliamentarian navy. From 1645 to 1647, he commanded the 3rd Rate Entrance and was Vice-Admiral, Ireland. He was in the Winter Guard for 1645, but is not listed as Vice-Admiral. He was in the Summer and Winter Guard for 1646, and is listed as Vice-Admiral. From 1647 to 1648, he commanded the 3rd Rate Bonaventure, and Anderson says that he was still Vice-Admiral, Ireland. He was in the Summer and Winter Guard for 1647, in Ireland (for summer 1647, he was in the Irish Guard and in the Irish Squadron for winter). In 1648, he was Vice-Admiral, Irish Guard, in the Summer Guard. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
2. J. R. Powell, The Navy in the English Civil War, 1962.

One biography of Thomas Rainsborough

Andrew found this biography of Thomas Rainsborough, who was both the navy and army during the English Civil War at the Spartacus Educational website. The Blogger editor has captured the links in the text. It starts off: "Thomas Rainsborough, the son of Captain William Rainsborough, was born in about In 1610. A strong opponent of Charles I and after the outbreak of the Civil War he served in the parliamentary fleet. In 1643 he was given command of the Swallow, a 34 gun ship. Soon afterwards he helped General Thomas Fairfax in the defence of Hull.

Rainsborough joined the army and took part in the capture of Crowland in December, 1644. When the New Model Army was formed he was given command of a regiment. He fought at Naseby and participated in the sieges of Bridgwater, Sherborne and Bristol.

A radical in politics and religion he was elected to represent Droitwich in the House of Commons in 1646. In October 1647 Rainsborough took part in the Putney Debates. The debate was based on An Agreement of the People, a constitutional proposal drafted by the Levellers. Senior officers in the New Model Army such as Henry Ireton argued against the idea of universal suffrage. Rainsborough, was the highest ranking officer who supported the Levellers."

I had seen R. A. Barker's website in the last 6 months

Richard Barker has been a contributor to The Mariner's Mirror, and he has a website. I was reminded of him while I was searching for a Mariner's Mirror index online. Richard Barker has a partial index, which I think is still useful (since I don't have any index). I had been excited when I found a reference to an R. C. Anderson note in the 1946 volume (which I have a copy) about the English 2nd Rate Swiftsure in Dutch service. I was disappointed when I checked the reference, however. I know more new information than he published, although he did correct an error in Vreugdenhil's list of Dutch ships from 1938. There are two sources of information to which I have access. Jan Glete had given me a copy of papers he had found in France in the library and archives. There is also information in Brandt's biography of Michiel De Ruyter. At least from May to July 1672, Thomas Tobias commanded the Oudshoorn, which was the renamed Swiftsure. The Oudshoorn carried 76 guns and was 159ft x 39ft in Amsterdam feet. Her crew varied from 290 sailors and 70 soldiers to 316 sailors and 15 soldiers. Brandt says that she only carried 70 guns.

English Captain: Richard Badiley

Richard Badiley served in the Commonwealth navy. From 1649 to 1650, he commanded the 3rd Rate Happy Entrance (46 guns). In May, he was appointed commander in the Downs. In March 1650, he sailed from the Downs with Robert Blake for Portugal, in pursuit of Prince Rupert's squadron. In June, he was sent to Cadiz, with 8 ships, to resupply. In October, Blake sent Badiley home with most of the ships. From 1651 to 1653, he commanded the 2nd Rate Paragon, and from 1652 to 1653, he was commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean Sea. He was dispatched to the Mediterranean in late 1651. He fought in the Battle of Elba (Monte Christo) with mixed results. In March of 1653, his forces were engaged in the Battle of Livorno (Leghorn) with bad results. Henry Appleton's squadron was almost destroyed, and Badiley withdrew his squadron from the Mediterranean. He was exonerated, and stayed at sea. From 1653 to 1654, he was appointed Rear-Admiral with his flag on the 2nd Rate Vanguard. From 1654 to 1655, he was Rear-Admiral with his flag on the 2nd Rate Andrew. He returned to the Mediterranean with Robert Blake in the fall of 1654. In March 1655, his ship was the last one of out of Porto Farina, in an action with the Tunisians. In 1656, he was appointed Vice-Admiral of Blake's fleet in place of John Lawson, with his flag on the 1st Rate Resolution (86 guns). He returned to England with Edward Montagu in 1656, with the treasure from the Plate fleet. He did not serve after the Restoration, as he was too strong a Republican, but he was not arrested, either. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, "The First Dutch War in the Mediterranean," The Mariner's Mirror, Vol.49, No.4, November 1963.
2. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
3. Michael Baumber, General-at-Sea, 1989.

My gaming philosophy

I don't believe in trying to find loopholes in rulesets so as to be able to "game the system". Instead, I believe that you should try to follow the spirit of how things actually worked/happened. I have generally applied that philosophy to miniatures gaming, but I would like to think that my solo gaming with Privateers Bounty is done in a similar spirit. I have tried to setup balanced scenarios for the Anglo-Dutch Wars that capture the balance of the real forces, despite having to scale them to the limitations of the game (about 82 total ships).

English Captain: William Kendall

William Kendall served the Commonwealth navy. From 1650 to 1652, he commanded the Mary flyboat (24 guns). From 1652 to 1654, he commanded the French prize Success (38 guns). He fought in the Battle of Portland in the Success. At the Battle of the Gabbard, he was in John Lawson's squadron. John Lawson was Admiral of the Blue. His ship was in the Thames during the Battle of Scheveningen. He was having trouble manning his ship in early August, and asked the Admiralty Council for help. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, "English Fleet-Lists in the First Dutch War," The Mariner's Mirror, Vol.XXIV No.4, October 1938.
2. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
3. C.T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol.V, 1912.
4. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol. VI, 1930.

I really wish that we could fight battles with large numbers of ships

I'm not sure what it will take, but I would like to be able to fight the Battle of the Gabbard, the Battle of Scheveningen (Terheide), and the Battle of Lowestoft with actual numbers of ships (not limited to a total of 82). If we did have the ability to fight such battles, we would have to be prepared to mostly not be controlling individual ships. There is just to much to do for a single person to control 106 ships (as at the Gabbard). At best, you should be able to set policy for what to do, and then user-side AI should help. The main difficulty is that the present, state-of-the-art in PC's is insufficient to do all the work involved and still update the display.

English Captain: James Abelson

James Abelson served in both the Commonwealth and Restoration navies. Fropm 1653 to 1656, he commanded the 5th Rate Mermaid (24 guns). In 1656, he commanded the 4th Rate Kent, but he resigned for some reason. He was back as a captain in 1660, when he commanded the Grantham. James Abelson was killed in action on 3 June 1665 (at the Battle of Lowestoft). Frank Fox must have his name wrong, as he lists "John Abelson", captain of the Guinea, as killed. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
2. Frank Fox, A Distant Storm: the Four Days' Battle of 1666, 1996.
3. David Syrett, R. L. DiNardo, The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660-1815, 1994.

English Captain: Edward Popham

Edward Popham had served in the navy prior to the Civil War. In 1636, he was flag lieutenant to Sir John Pennington. In 1637, he was captain of the 6th Rate Fifth Whelp, when she sank off Guernsey. In 1639, he commanded the Unicorn (not the second rate, but a hired merchant ship). In 1640, he commanded the 3rd Rate Antelope. In 1648, he was assigned as captain of the Swallow, but she went over to the Royalists. In 1649, he commanded a string of ships, all for a short time: the 2nd Rate Charles, the 4th Rate Adventure, the 3rd Rate Entrance, and the 2nd Rate George. In 1650, he commanded the 2nd Rate Andrew and then the 1st Rate Resolution. In 1651, he was captain of the 2nd Rate James, when he died. He was appointed one of the three Generals-at-Sea. Of the three (Robert Blake, Richard Deane, and Edward Popham), Popham was the only experienced naval officer. In 1648, he was assigned to the Summer Guard, but did not actually serve at sea, according to Michael Baumber. Robert Blake was offering Popham encouragement in late 1649, as he was reluctant to serve. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
2. Michael Baumber, General-at-Sea, 1989.

The nasty thing may be that it is not possible, with state of the art technology, to do 17th Century battles with a game

The owner of a small game company that does a good bit of business in the more modern naval wargaming arena wrote about the issues involved with larger numbers of ships, even on his 3GHz+ machine with 2GB of RAM. The problem is that a game can't keep up with the necessary "frame rate" with more than something like 50 ships. I guess that Privateers Bounty being able to handle something like 82 ships is doing better than you might expect. There are several battles (the Battle of the Gabbard and the Battle of Scheveningen, as well as the Battle of Lowestoft) where there were more than 200 ships present. That is clearly beyond the realm of possibility, given where we currently are, with technology. To do even what Privateers Bounty does, it is necessary to use low-vertex count models that rely upon their skins more than on the detail in the model. I suspect that the situation will get better, but we are a ways off from being able to do the large battles. I have wondered if the reduced speed in age of sail combat might help the size issue, but I am not sure that it is true. The raw numbers seem to be an issue, and the amount of calculations involved, regardless of the movement.

English Captain: William Batten

William Batten served in the navy under Charles I, in the Parliamentarian navy, in the Royalist naval forces, and in the Restoration navy. We first know of him in 1625, when he commanded the Captain Salutation privateer. In 1628, he probably commanded the 6th Whelp. In 1638, he commanded the hired merchantman Confidence. In 1642, he flew his flag on the 2nd Rate St. George, as Vice-Admiral. From 1642 to 1643, he flew his flag on the 2nd Rate Rainbow as Vice-Admiral of the Summer Guard and the Winter Guard in 1642. Later in 1643, he flagship was the 2nd Rate St. Andrewas Vice-Admiral of the Summer Guard. In 1644, his flagship was the 2nd Rate Constant Reformation (46 guns) in the Summer Guard and Winter Guard. From 1645 to 1646, he was back in the St. Andrew, still as Vice-Admiral. He commanded as squadron of 11 ships and 2 ketches in the 1645 Summer Guard. He in fact was still in the St. Andrew in the Summer Guard of 1646. From 1646 to 1647, he flew his flag from the 3rd Rate Leopard. He was in the Winter Guard for 1646 in the Leopard. In 1647, he was back in the St. Andrew as Vice-Admiral of the Summer Guard. In 1648, he went over to the Royalists with his flag on the 4th Rate Constant Warwick as Rear-Admiral. After the Restoration in 1660, he became Surveyor of the Navy. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
2. J. R. Powell, The Navy in the English Civil War, 1962.

I have used my Christmas gifts cards to buy books

I have greatly expanded my game programming-related library in the last week. I have also been scouting out about discounted 3D modeling tools. The key point is that if you are a student or teacher, you can get an educational discount for 3D Studio Max (especially if you shop around and can live with a one year license) and Rhinocerous ("Rhino").

English Captain: Francis Kirby

We have a limited amount of information about Francis Kirby. He served the Commonwealth navy. From 1650 to 1651, he commanded the Peter (10 guns). From 1652 to 1654, he commanded the Dutch prize Bear (46 guns and a crew of 200 men). He was in James Peacock's division at the Battle of the Gabbard. James Peacock was Vice-Admiral of the Red. He very likely fought in the Battle of Scheveningen, as well. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, "English Fleet-Lists in the First Dutch War," The Mariner's Mirror, Vol.XXIV No.4, October 1938.
2. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
3. C. T. Atkinson, Ed., The First Dutch War, Vol. VI, 1930.
4. J. J. Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy, 2nd Ed., 1987.

Egbert Meuwssen Kortenaer in the First Anglo-Dutch War

Egbert Meuwssen Kortenaer started the First Anglo-Dutch War as "Stuurman" for Tromp's flagship, the Brederode (54 guns). The flag captain was Abel Roelants. I had originally thought that Ebert Meuwssen Kortenaer might have commanded the Brederode at the Battle of the Kentish Knock, but I now believe that her commander in the battle was Abel Roelants. By May 1653, Abel Roelants was given command of Witte de With's old flagship, the Prinses Louise (36 guns). He also functioned as a Rear-Admiral (Schout-bij-Nacht), and he commanded a division. In at least one reference, he was called "Vader Abel". When Abel Roelants was promoted, Egbert Meuwssen Kortenaer becaome Tromp's flag captain. When Tromp was killed at Scheveningen, Captain Kortenaer guided the ship and Tromp's squadron through the remainder of the battle. Egbert Meuwssen Kortenaer was a favorite of people in high places, and by October 1653, he was a squadron commander of 16 ships, with Gideon de Wildt as his Vice-Admiral and Abel Roelants as Schout-bij-Nacht. Egbert Kortenaer also commanded his own ship, the Brederode.

English Captain: Anthony Archer

Anthony Archer served the Commonwealth navy. In 1651, he commanded the hired mechantship, the Merchant frigate (this was a 24 gun vessel of 200 tons). In 1652, he commanded the 6th Rate Paradox. From 1653 to 1654, he commanded the Fortune. From 1654 to 1656, he commanded the Pelican prize (perhaps the Dutch Vergulde Pelicaen). From 1657 to the Restoration in 1660, he commanded the 5th Rate Forester. In 1665, he commanded the hired merchantman Good Hope (34 guns), but while escorting a convoy with naval stored from Hamburg on May 20th, he lead them straight into the Dutch fleet. He had been drunk at the time he and his convoy were captured. That incident seems to have ended his career in the Restoration navy. Sources:

1. R. C. Anderson, List of English Naval Captains 1642-1660, 1964.
2. R. C. Anderson, Lists of Men-of-War 1650-1700: Part I English Ships 1649-1702, 1966.
3. Frank Fox, A Distant Storm: the Four Days' Battle of 1666, 1996.

We are taking another run at contacting Akella

Violet, builder and maintainer of KentishKnock.com, which is a major outlet for my writings and artwork, suggested that she could contact Akella for me, since they are also in Moscow. If they would actually be interested in allowing me and associates to modify Privateers Bounty for use in 17th Naval Warfare, it would be a challenge, as I am already overcommitted. It is such an important opportunity, however, it would force me to reorder my priorities, if Akella was interested. I suspect that I may lack credibility from a game programming perspective, to get the opportunity. Despite my background of 25 years in software development and 35 years around the edges of gaming, that might not be enough, in itself, to give them confidence.