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Saturday, May 27, 2006

We only know the dimensions of two ships hired by the Directors of the cities in the Noorderkwartier

There are only two ships in the service of the Noorderkwartier Directors for which we know dimensions. These are the Sint Jeronimus, hired by the Medemblick Directors, and the Halve Maen, hired by the Edam Directors. We know the dimensions for the Sint Jeronimus from Jan Glete's notes from his research in the Nationaal Archief in The Hague, when he was doing research for Navies and Nations. We have only an approximate idea of the dimensions of the Halve Maen in Amsterdam feet. We have the English measurements made after she was captured at the Battle of the Gabbard, and we have used our system for estimating the Dutch dimensions. This is what we know about the two ships:
Ship name          Directors  Captain                        Guns Crew Length  Beam  Hold
Sint Jeronimus  Me-Dir     Jan Pietersz Deught   30     110    116ft      28ft    11ft
Halve Maen       Ed-Dir      Hendrick Pieterszoon 30*  110*   130ft*   28ft*  12ft*
Sadly, too much of what we have listed about the Halve Maen are estimates, although the number of guns is based on an early list after she was captured by the English. Typically, upon first entering service, prizes retained their Dutch guns. The crew estimate is based on similar ships, such as the Vergulde Meerman (30 guns and a crew of 110 men), Jan Fredricksz Houcboot's ship, also hired by the Edam Directors. When first hired, Jan Pietersz Eenarm commanded the Sint Jeronimus, but he died suddenly in April 1652 and was succeeded in command by Jan Pietersz Deught, who had a similar enough name that he was not mentioned in any document or in the published literature that I have seen. We only know of the switch due to Carl Stapel's research in the "resoluties van de Staten van Holland van 1650 till 1659".

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