The ship Sint Laurens

After seeing my entry for the ship Sint Laurens, a West Indiaman hired in 1639 for service with the fleet, I wondered if that could have been the same ship hired by the Directors of Middelburg in 1652. We have the dimensions for the Sint Laurens: 137ft x 29ft x 14ft x ?. In 1639, the sint Laurens carried 32 guns and had a crew of 87 men. Adriaen Dommertszoon commanded the Sint Laurens in 1639. The ship hired in 1652 was armed with 30 guns and we think that it had a crew of 105 men. The captain, in 1652, was Bastiaen Tuynemans. If the Sint Laurens was a new ship in 1639, then the ship would have been capable of serving in 1652.

The picture of the Brederode under repair

I had decided quite a while ago that the drawing of the Brederode under repair must have been after the battle of Dungeness. My reasoning was that the ships shown in the harbor were Dungeness-related, such as the captured Garland. The other possibility is that the picture was of the Brederode after the Battle of Portland (or the Three Days Battle). I still believe that the Brederode took more damage at the Battle of Dungeness, when the ship was almost captured by the Garland and Anthony Bonaventure. I had not read about the Brederode having that much damage at the Three Days Battle other than the underwater damage that required constant pumping.

Dr. Simon Hart's papers from the Municipal Archive in Amsterdam

Carl Stapel had told me about Dr. Simon Hart's papers at the Municipal Archive at Amsterdam (or whatever they call it now). What we were interested in at the time were the ship contracts and inventories for ships hired for service by the Admiralty of Amsterdam in 1652 and 1653. Dr. Hart's papers actually include much more and I received the set in PDF files. I got my copies in December 2006. The ship contracts and inventories were from the notary archives. The reference for the Gouden Reael (or is it the Gulden Reael?) is GAA 883-471, Jan Volckertsz Oli # 1848. I have found the archive in Amsterdam easy to deal with, so anyone who has an interest in this topic should see if they can get the PDF files. Even better, if you have the means, is to get photographs of the originals from the notary archive. The PDF files included scans of photocopies, so the photographs are much superior.

A list from Thurloe's papers in The First Dutch War

I had the opportunity while I was working in Minneapolis to see an original set of Thurloe's Papers at the University of Minnesota library in a special collection: "The James Ford Bell Library". In Volume 5 of Letters and Papers Relating to the First Dutch War there is a list from Thurloe. The list is pretty much garbled from the original, which I believe that I have also seen. This was a list of Dutch warships near the Texel after the Battle of the Gabbard. I have tried to correct the list. The list includes the name Ganapan. My explanation for that was that it was a ship named the Sampson. The Dutch handwriting used a style for the S that is essentially the same as the G. The handwriting was sloppy enough, that when I first saw it, it appeared to say Ganapan.

The Admiralty of Amsterdam

Overissel         Jan van Campen           ready
Pelicaen          Jan Overcamp             ready
Engel Gabriel     Adriaan van den Bosch    ready
Hollandia         Evert Anthonissen        not ready, just 86 men
Groningen         Gilles Thijssen Campen   not ready, is repairing
Bommel            Pieter van Brakel        not ready, is in Balck
Gouden Reael      Adriaan van Loenen       ready
Windhond, frigate Jan Heertjes             ready
Brack, frigate    Jan Admirael             ready

Directors of Amsterdam

Keurvorst van Keulen  Sijmon Dootjes       ready

Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier

Lastdrager        Gerrit Munt              not ready, has but 60 men
Eenhoorn          Jan Heck                 not ready
Harder            Jan Backer               ready

Directors of Medemblik

Koning Radboud    Jan Rootjes              ready

Directors of Enkhuizen

Harderin          Dirk Gerritszoon Pomp    ready

Gun lists for the yacht Jager

The most accessible gun list for the yacht Jager that fought in the First Anglo-Dutch War is that from 6 December 1652, from the Collectie Johan de Witt, Inv.Nr.2774: 6-bronze 6pdr, 2-bronze 5pdr, 2-iron 4pdr, and 4-iron 3pdr guns. There does not seem to be a gun list included in the comprehensive fleet list from 23 June 1653. There is little about minor ships included in that list.

The list in Vol.I of The First Dutch War (Letters and Papers...)

If you are a First Anglo-Dutch War aficionado, you are probably familiar with the list of ships published in Vol.I of the Fist Dutch War. The real title is something like "Letters and Papers Relating to the First Anglo-Dutch War". The list is drawn from the Hollandsche Mercurius for 1652. The Hollandsche Mercurius was a paper published by Pieter Casteleyn. The publication was available in bound volumes, sometimes in irregular groupings of years. My volume that includes 1666 is very non-standard. I also have what seems to be a Seventeenth Century reprint without the illustrations for which the paper was known. One of the more notable ships that made an appearance in that list was the inland waters yacht Zeeuwsche Jager or Jaeger. The commander listed was Adriaan Janszoon den Oven (or den Goeyenden Oven). He commanded the ship Neptunus in the Battle of the Gabbard, where it was sunk, and he disappeared from view. I am unsure if he was killed or died in captivity, as so many Dutch captains did. The list gives the armament as 14 guns and the crew as 56 men. The contract for the Jager was dated in February 1643. The dimensions listed were 80ft x 19ft x 6-1/2ft. That later dimension seems to have been the hold, with no deck height given. The keel length was 70 feet. The dimensions are from an archive that is located at the Zeeuwse Archief in Middelburg.

The forty convoyers of 1648

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

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

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

Ships in Tromp's squadron on 15 September 1639

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

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