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The Dutch ship, the Prinses Aemelia was first mentioned in 1649 [LMWD, p.7], and was an Amsterdam admiralty ship. We don't know definitively what the Prinses Aemelia's dimensions were, but we could guess that they were similar to the Amsterdam ship Overijssel, also a 28-gun ship. They were:

The only information available indicates that there may or may not have been up to four 18pdr or 24pdr guns [Zeewezen I, p.767]. The lower deck main battery is likely to have had ten to twelve 12pdr guns. Ships from other Dutch admiralties could have had 10pdr guns, but Amsterdam had only six 10pdr guns on inventory in 1635 [Vloot, Appendix II] and eight in 1654. The rest of the lower deck battery probably was 8pdr guns. The upper deck guns and guns in the upperworks were probably 6pdr or 4pdr guns. Amsterdam did not have any 3pdr guns in inventory, during this time. [Vloot Appendix II]

In the summer of 1652, the Prinses Aemelia was commanded by Willem van der Zaan. After his brother, Joris van der Zaan, was killed at the Battle of Portland, in February, 1653, he took over his brother's ship, the Amsterdam admiralty ship, the Campen, 40 guns, crew 140 men. At that time, Jan Ter Stege (or Ter Stegen) assumed command of the Prinses Aemelia. In March, 1653, the Prinses Aemelia carried 28 guns and had a crew of 100 men. [1DW4, p.309]

The Prinses Aemelia was captured by the English at the Battle of the Gabbard (the sea battle near Nieuwpoort, or the "Two Days Battle", as known by the Dutch). [Schetsen V, p.94] The Prinses Aemelia's captain was Jan Ter Stege, but his lieutenant, Jan Franszoon Smith, commanded the ship at the Gabbard. In the note in [Schetsen], volume V, page 94, Dr. Elias called the ship the "Prinses", but the Prinses Aemelia was the ship commanded by Jan ter Stegen. This is just another example of names being slightly altered.

Often, Dutch ships were called by their common "nickname", so that ships named "Edam" were called the "Zwarte Bul" (after the black bull of Edam, usually carved on the taffrail). Lists of Men of War, Part IV, lists ship number 291 on p.17, a "Prinses" that was lost in 1653. This is another indication that, sadly, the information in this list must only be taken as one input into analysis from multiple sources. Ship number 76, called "Aemelia", 28 guns, from 1649 (only an estimate).

Footnotes and Bibliography:

• [1DW4] ed. Atkinson, C.T., First Dutch War, Vol.IV, Navy Records Society, London, 1909.
• [Schetsen] Elias, Johan E., Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van ons Zeewezen, Vols. I-VI, Martinus Nijhoss, 's-Gravenhage, 1916-1930.
• [Vloot] Elias, Johan E., De Vlootbouw in Nederland in de Eerste Helft der Zeventiende Eeuw, 1596-1655, N V Noord-Hollandische Uitgeversmaatschappij, Amsterdam, 1933.
• [Zeewezen] de Jonge, J.C., Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, 5 Vols., Haarlem, 1858-1862.
• [LMWD] Vreugdenhil, A., Ships of the United Netherlands, 1648-1702, Society for Nautical Research, London, 1938.