22pdr guns?

The Noorderkwartier ship Hollandsche Tuin, in the Staat van Oorlog te Water for the year 1633, is listed as carrying two chambered bronze 22pdr guns. The 22pdr is a very odd size. Most Dutch guns close in size to this fired a 24 pound shot. A very few fired a 20 pound shot. I had assumed that when I first saw this size mentioned that it was a mistake, but now I think it is correct. One of the old Rotterdam ships was listed as carrying 22pdr guns, and I had thought that it must be wrong, but it was probably correct.

Rotterdam ships

I realized today that the Rotterdam ship Zeekalf was probably the same size as the ship Dolfijn (or Dolphijn, in the archaic way of spelling the name). The Zeekalf is listed with different Rotterdam last figures, but when it is 180 Rotterdam lasts, that is about the same as the Dolfijn, built in 1631 or 1632. An ship size in Amsterdam lasts is about 1.3 times the number of Rotterdam lasts. For example, the small frigates Overijssel, Utrecht, and Gelderland, listed in Vreugdenhil as 100ft x 23ft x 8ft are said to be 90 Rotterdam lasts. Of course, those dimensions are in Maas feet of 12 inches (about 308mm). An Amsterdam foot is about 283mm and is divided into 11 inches of about the same size inch as those in the Maas foot. You can find my example of how to do the conversion at Kentishknock.com. I also list what seems to be the correct dimensions for the Dolfijn. My working hypothesis is that about the same dimensions were used for certain sizes of ships in lasts over an extended period of time. That may be wrong, but I have not found a way to check the hypothesis yet, as I lack Rotterdam ship dimensions for the 1620's and earlier.

Cromsters

I noticed this morning that two of the ships in service with the Admiralty of Amsterdam in November 1616 were cromsters. One of these served as a guardship on the Rhine, the Steur. The other was the Salm. They were both vessels of 45 lasts. This picture is from www.british-towns.net, which has some ship images.

Applying my theory about Rotterdam ships

Early this morning, I applied my theory about lasts and Rotterdam ships to the data that I had entered into my ship list the latter part of this week. The idea is that the last figures (gross tonnage) for Rotterdam ships is calculated from Maas feet. If you calculate from Amsterdam feet measurements, the figures are about 30 percent greater. Doing this has interesting results. For Example, the ship Hond, built about 1604, has the same dimensions as the ships Overijssel and Utrecht that found in the First Anglo-Dutch War (100ft x 23ft x 8ft in Maas feet).

In 1624, Rombout van der Parre commanded an Amsterdam ship

An interesting piece of trivia: Friesland captain Rombout van der Parre commanded the Amsterdam ship Oranjeboom (Orangienboom) in 1624. This was a vessel of 120 lasts that carried 16 guns and had a crew of 90 men.

The list of Zeeland ships from 1655

I just consulted this list of Zeeland ships from 1655. You will be hard-pressed to find mention of many of the more significant Zeeland ships. I already knew the answer, but I was looking for a sign of the ship Meermin listed by Vreugdenhil as number 41. The only mention that I have seen of a ship named Meermin (or Meerminne with the old spelling) was as an alternate name for the Zeeridder.

The Dutch ship Patientia

Jan Glete's list of the ships hired by Louis Geer to help the Swedes includes a ship named Patientia. The dimensions and guns suggest that this was the same ship hired in 1652 and then paid off. I would suggest that the Patientia was also the same ship hired in 1645 by the Nieuwe Directie van Amsterdam to be part of Witte de With's fleet. Jan Glete gives the dimensions as a length of 126ft and a beam of 26-1/2ft, very similar to the dimensions of the Patientia in 1652, although the Patientia is mentioned as 130ft in 1652.

Some datapoints: 1636, 1641, and 1645

We have three good lists from 1630's and 1640's. One is from 1636, from Dr. Graefe's book De Kapiteinsjaren van Maerten Harpertszoon Tromp (1938). Another is from a list dated 1641 of Amsterdam ships and captains. The third is the list of Witte de With's fleet in 1645. There is also some useful information in Dr. De Boer's book Tromp en de Armada van 1639. The question is always, "are these the same ship?"

I wish that I knew more about the Spanish Dunkirkers

Since a great many of the Dutch naval operations in the 1620 to 1640's involved the Spanish Dunkirkers, I would like to know more about the men and ships that operated from Dunkirk and Ostende. This Wikipedia article has some nice background information but no specifics.

In 1629, there were many 5pdr and 10pdr guns in the Dutch service

We are used to seeing the gun calibers that were used by the Dutch after 1648. These were mostly 3pdr, 4pdr, 6pdr, 8pdr, 12pdr, 18pdr, 24pdr, and a few 36pdr guns. In 1629, there were many 5pdr and 10pdr guns in service. For example, the Goude Raven carried 4-10pdr and 10-5pdr as part of its armament. There were also a few 15pdr and 20pdr guns used in the Dutch service.

Estimating dimensions for old Dutch ships

The ship lists of old Dutch ships only give the size in lasts. I have been running wild, estimating dimensions for the ships, mostly prior to 1648, for which I have not seen dimensions. I have gun lists for many of the ships, so I have the basis for wargame pieces with the estimated dimensions and gun lists. One issue is that many of the published last figures are incorrect for the ships like the Brederode.

My Sevenwolden wargame piece

This is my wargame piece for the Friesland ship Sevenwolden (38 guns) that served in 1653 and was sunk at the Battle of Scheveningen on 10 August 1653.

A small English warship, circa 1652

This represents my first attempt in several years to make an English ship wargame piece. The ship is 100ft long on the gun deck. A representative ship would be the Hector, taken from the Royalists in 1644 and sold out of the service in 1656. The specifications for this ship are (as estimated):

Ship: Hector, 5th Rate prize
22-30 guns
LGD: 100ft
LK:   80ft
Beam: 25ft
Hold: 10ft
LK x B x D:         200 tons
LK x B x D x (4/3): 266 tons
LK x B x (B/2)/94 : 265-45/47 tons (burden)

Guns probably sakers (5-1/4pdr) and minions (4pdr) 
 (say 16-sakers and 8 minions)

I am in desperate need of better gun information for English ships in 1652 to 1654, if someone has some better information). I would settle for some representative gun lists.

A mistaken idea that I had in the past

Perhaps 15 years ago, before I had very much knowledge and information about Dutch warships in 1652-1653, I could only imagine what the ships were liked. From The First Dutch War, I knew that Michiel De Ruyter's flagship Neptunus in 1652 was said to be armed with 28 guns. I imagined that if there were so few guns, that the ship might carry larger guns on the lower tier. I got that idea from a book about sailing warships from the late 16th to the 18th Century that showed an armament for a Dutch ship from about 1600. The ship had perhaps 18 guns, but there were mostly larger guns, perhaps 18pdr. I had thought that the Neptunus might be armed like that: 18pdr on the lower tier and 6pdr and 8pdr on the upper tier and quarterdeck. In fact, the Neptunus was quite small and lightly armed. You have to wonder how De Ruyter survived the Battle of Plymouth in such a modest ship.

Wargame pieces

If you wanted to make Dutch wargame pieces for the First Anglo-Dutch War, you would have the field pretty well covered if you had standard pieces of 116ft, 120ft, 125ft, 128ft, and 130ft. There were a very few larger ships. You would need lengths such as 132ft, 134ft, 136ft, 141 or 142ft, and 144 or 145ft long ships. The large East Indiamen were much longer than that. The smallest might be 155ft or 160ft and many were 170ft. The idea that the largest were 182ft or so is controversial.

Noorderkwartier ships

The idea that Noorderkwartier ships that served in 1652 were the same ones that had served since at least the 1630's is appealing. If it is true, then we know a great deal about some ships that would otherwise be a mystery. We have Dr.Graefe's book, we have De Sleutels van de Sondt, and we have what we know about the Dutch navy in 1652. The dates are from my analysis of those from Ron van Maanen. This list could be enhanced more, but this was what I could quickly do.

Ship                Lasts Date Guns Crew 1637               1645                1652
Eenhoorn              200 1625 32   110  Jan Keert de Koe                       Allert Tamessen
Eendracht             300 1622 31   110  Jan Bleecker       
Eendracht             300 1639 41   140                                         Jacob de Boer
Hollandsche Tuin      250 1632 32    90  Lambert Halffhoorn  
Hoop                  150 1622 26                           SbN Halffhoorn
Koninck David         250 1632 34   100  Claes Ham
Medemblick            170 1640 26    80                     Gabriel Anthonisz   Gabriel Anthonisz
Sampson               240 1625 28    92                     kapt Schellinckhout Willem Ham
Wapen van Alkmaar     150 1638 24    80                     Jan Cappelman    
Wapen van Holland     200 1639 28    90                                         Herman Munnekes
Wapen van Hoorn       150 1636 24    87                     Claes Tesselaar
Wapen van Monnikendam 150 1640 26    80                     Arent Dircksz       Arent Dircksz
Wapen van Nassau      250 1631 38   100  Hilbrant Quast  

A question about the jacht Jaeger

The Jaeger, or Zeeuwsche Jaeger, was apparently built as a binnenjacht. The Jaeger played a significant role, especially with De Ruyter's fleet in the Channel, in 1652 into 1653. The entry in Vreugdenhil's list (No.350) gives a length of 60ft, which is too short. The Staet van Oorlog te Water for the year 1654 (July 1654) gives a length of 80ft. Given that Vreugdenhil would ordinarily use the data from the Staet, it is curious that he gave the wrong length. My question is: how was the Zeeusche Jaeger rigged? Was it a three-masted ship?

Progress report

The good news is that I am making progress on my new set of Dutch ship wargame pieces. Through the means of digital editing, I am making new ship drawings to the right scale. The best way is to do a detailed pencil drawing and then scan and print it. I would take that and ink it and color it with pencils. I then scan again and do editing. That takes too long, at least it takes longer than I have. This ship is a 128ft long ship to my own design.

I am making some new Dutch ship wargame pieces

I finally am making some progress on new Dutch ship wargame pieces. I am using a combination of Paint and the GIMP for graphic editing. I am working at a scale of 120 x 120 pixels per inch. My scale is set so that five pixels are two Amsterdam feet (what I said first one incorrect: five pixels = 1 foot). The ship drawings are really just symbolic, and not intended to be very realistic. I just don't have the time to do that sort of work. I am trying to mass-produce some new ship pieces based on what I have learned in the last two years.

Pieter Aldertszoon's ship up to early August 1652

The answer to the question "What ship did Pieter Aldertszoon command in the period from the beginning of the First Anglo-Dutch War up to early August" is answered in one letter that names captains and ship names. Pieter Aldertszoon is said to command the ship "Stadt Hoorn", or probably the same ship that he commanded up until the Three Days Battle in 1653, when he was killed.