Research Results

Page 5

James C. Bender has been working with some documents from the Nationaal Archef, in Den Haag.

Rotterdam Ships Overijssel and Utrecht
James C. Bender
May 17, 2003

Volume I of The First Dutch War reprints pages 32-34 from the Hollandsche Mercurius, 1652. The editor made name corrections and them commented on the list. Two ships from that list, belonging to the Rotterdam Admiralty, were those commanded by Cornelis Engelen Silvergieter and Leendert Haexwant. Unfortunately, captains' names typically are spelled in many different ways, and often, only the first and middle names are listed, omitting the last name. Even respected sources, such as the Hollandsche Mercurius are as likely as any other source to indulge in this practice. Both these captains were affected by this phenomenon. The names listed here are likely to be correct, which is all we can say.

The Society for Nautical Research publication, Lists of Men of War, in the Dutch section, lists dimensions as if they were all of the same measurement system. There is a mixture, as we see here, of Rhineland (Rijnland) feet and Amsterdam feet. G. C. Dik's book points out that the Dutch flagship, built in 1665, the Zeven Provincien, was measured in Rotterdam feet of 282.3 mm. I had thought that the Rotterdam foot was equivalent to the Rhineland foot, but this was obviously wrong. A nice side effect of applying the conversion for Rhineland feet to Amstedam feet to the ships in this list is that they now line up with the known "charters" for their contemporaries.

We shall compare the Rhineland and Amsterdam measurements (broadly rounded) for representative ships from the list:

Brederode, 53 guns

Rhineland length:	132 ft	Amsterdam length:	144 ft
Rhineland beam:	32 ft-4 in	Amsterdam beam:	45 ft
Rhineland depth:	13 ft	Amsterdam depth:	14 ft

Gelderland, 40 guns

Rhineland length:	118 ft	Amsterdam length:	125 ft
Rhineland beam:	28 ft	Amsterdam beam:	30.5 ft
Rhineland depth:	12.5 ft	Amsterdam depth:	13.5 ft

Princess Roijaal Marie, 34 guns

Rhineland length:	114 ft	Amsterdam length:	124 ft
Rhineland beam:	27 ft	Amsterdam beam:	29.5 ft
Rhineland depth:	12 ft	Amsterdam depth:	13 ft

Princess Louise, 36 guns

Rhineland length:	110 ft	Amsterdam length:	120 ft
Rhineland beam:	26 ft	Amsterdam beam:	28.25 ft
Rhineland depth:	11.5 ft	Amsterdam depth:	12.5 ft

Dolphijn, 28 guns

Rhineland length:	110 ft	Amsterdam length:	120 ft
Rhineland beam:	25.5 ft	Amsterdam beam:	27.75 ft
Rhineland depth:	12.5 ft	Amsterdam depth:	13.5 ft

Gorcum, 30 guns

Rhineland length:	106 ft	Amsterdam length:	116 ft
Rhineland beam:	25 ft	Amsterdam beam:	27.25 ft
Rhineland depth:	10 ft	Amsterdam depth:	11 ft

Gelderland, 20 guns

Rhineland length:	100 ft	Amsterdam length:	109 ft
Rhineland beam:	23 ft	Amsterdam beam:	25 ft
Rhineland depth:	8 ft	Amsterdam depth:	8.75 ft

There are many Rotterdam ships that these general dimensions, in the various lists, so we need to apply the same conversion to those, as well. The ships built in the First Dutch War building program (the two 30-ship programs) are probably all measured in Amsterdam feet (or the nearly identical Rotterdam feet of 282.3mm), so we need not apply any conversion there. For example, the new Dutch fleet flagship, built by Rotterdam, the Eendracht, 150 feet long, 38 feet in beam, and 15 feet in depth, is probably best assumed to be in Amsterdam feet. The conversion between Amsterdam and Rotterdam feet is about a tenth of one percent, so we can probably neglect the difference.

Another consequence of this is that the Aemelia drawing needs to be revised, as the assumption was that the Aemelia measurements were in Amsterdam feet. The Aemelia was known to be of the same (or similar) dimensions to the Brederode, so there will be replcement drawing, in due time.

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