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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

3-1/2pdr guns in 1629

An interesting feature of the guns carried by the Rotterdam ship Postpaert in 1629 is that the ship carried two "Spanish" guns firing 3-1/2 pound shot. These would be roughly equivalent to English falcons. The Dutch also used guns firing 2-1/2 pound shot in the early 17th Century. These were similar to the English falconets in shot size.

Friday, September 11, 2009

22 pounder guns?

I have never seen a 22pdr gun before, but supposedly, Hillebrant Quast's ship, the Hollandsche Tuin, carried two of them in 1631. For a ship of 180 lasts, the Hollandsche Tuin was heavily armed, as it also carried 6-18pdr guns. The 22 pounders were bronze chambered guns, while the 18 pounders were bronze guns. A ship of 180 lasts might have dimensions of 120ft x 28ft x 11ft.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

The crew of the ship Sint Pieter in 28 October 1653

The ship Sint Pieter was hired by the Directors of Amsterdam in 1653. On 28 October 1653, the crew consisted of 68 officers and sailors, 29 ship's soldiers (marines), 5 land soldiers, and 6 boys. This is from a report signed by Captain Gerrit Schuijt.

A Dutch ship in 1616

There are gun lists for some ships in service in 1616 on page 750 of Vol.I of Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, now available from Google Books. My identification of the 36-gun ship at the upper left of the page is the Amsterdam ship Gulden Arend. This was a ship of 220 lasts armed with 2-24pdr, 4-18pdr, 2-12pdr, 12-8pdr, 2-6pdr, 6-5pdr, and 8-steenstukken shooting a three pound shot. The crew in 1616 was 90 men.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

I would like to find a college or university in the United States where there was interest in studying 17th Century Dutch naval history and warships. There is no one in my family who would be interested in continuing my work. I hope to have a good bit of time left, but I would like to find a home for what I have found by the time I am done with it.

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