Drake ratios on Dutch Warships – Anglo-Dutch Wars

[NKL Aerotom]

Greetings all, I’ve been researching the ADW, having concluded my research on Lepanto and the Spanish Armada, but one thing I’m struggling to find information on is the ratio of drake guns to regular guns on Dutch warships. I found some decent sources of English ships, and can extrapolate from there for the rest of the English ships, but I’ve yet to find a single source on Dutch ships of the period.

From the English example I’ve found, it seems like all the broadside guns were Drakes, while the bow and stern chasers were regular long / heavy guns.
Here’s an example of an English ship from the period statted out for my upcoming age-of-sail game:

Anyone know of any good sources on specific positions of Dutch guns during this period?

Thanks in advance!

Tom Jensen - http://ostfrontpublishing.com/

[Tony Hughes]

As far as a good source, I can’t help, but it is possible to apply what is known about Dutch ships and consider what was likely.

Dutch vessels needed to be low draught and so could not take the same weight of armament as a deeper draught ship. To some extent this is reflected in a smaller number of guns and guns of smaller calibre than contemporary French & English ships BUT the difference is not always that great. This must lead to a conclusion that the individual guns would have been at least as light and possibly lighter than English guns. The Dutch could afford the best quality guns and these were generally a bit lighter than the average.

Conclusion seems to be that Dutch ships should have no lower a proportion of Drakes than English ones and possibly more (which is almost impossible seeing as the English have almost 100%) but would tend to have a lower shot weight overall for ships of similar numbers of guns.

 

[NKL Aerotom]

Sounds like a pretty good conclusion to me Tony, cheers for your thoughts! 🙂

Tom Jensen - http://ostfrontpublishing.com/

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