Page 40 - Loss of the VOC Retourschip Batavia, Western Australia, 1629

BAT 3637 No. 24.
This gun has patches of abrasion on the muzzle, trun-
nions and base ring. In general, the abrasion is confined to the lower surface. Casting flaws are evident on the chase and around the muzzle. There is a narrow frieze behind the muzzle fillets and astragal. There is a decorative field in front of the second reinforce ring and ogee which consists of an ornate vase with scrolled vegetal tendrils. A pair of dolphins are seton the second reinforce. The flfstreinforce has a large medallion which consists of the lion of the United Provinces, rampan~ holding a sword and a bundle of arrows, and surrounded by a wreath set against the framework o f a pair o f crossed anchors . This is the badge of the Admiralty ofRotterdam . Belowe is the date 1603 or 1605-itis not clear if the number is a 3 ora5. Beneath the
date is a plaque with the inscription: ADMERALlTElT. RESEDER.
ENDE. TOT. ROTTERDAM.
In the area oftheplaque are the holes which were once the chaplets (the chaplets will be discussed below). Be- hind, is the vent field, with a square vent and two upright vent-cap lugs. On the base-ring is the inscription:
ICONRAET ANTONlSZ. ME. fECIT. I There is no evidence of a VOC stamp or the weight,
although the latter may have been worn away.
BAT 3627 and BAT 3640
These two Rotterdam Admiralty guns are both badly-
abraded: one is missing both its dolphins and most of the decoration; the other is missing one dolphin. The guns have a simple decorative frieze around the muzzle astra- gals. The decorative frieze in front of the second reinforce has an axial decoration resembling afleur-de-lis flanked on either side by tritons brandiShing a yataghan and buck- ler. Interestingly, the monster is not a true triton or mennan (half man, half fish) as it has the front legs of a horse. The frieze appears to be part ofa longer design, sincepartofthe buckler of another Triton appears on the other side of Aphrodite who is arising from her shell. The scene is taken from the classic Bolticelli painting of Aphrodite arising from the sea. Two well-fanned dolphins are mounted on the second reinforce. The badge or emblem of the Admi- ralty of Rotterdam lies above the plaque bearing the following:
ADMlRALITEIT. RESIDERENDE .TOT. ROTTERDAM. A. 1616.
The four chaplet holes appear off-centre: whereas on the Meurs guns, one of the holes appeared on the centre- line, these ones appear to be rotated by 45°. The touch-hole on the vent field is square, with the typical pair of locating lugs. The touch-hole has been cutout leaving a cubic space as avoid. This mustoriginally have been filled with an iron cube, no doub~ a repair to the hole. On the base-ring is the inscription:
IARENT VANDER P u r MEFECIT ROTIERDAM A. 16161
Remains of the weight 4450 A stamped on the ring indicate the gun was measured in Amsterdarn(?) ponts (2197 kg).
BAT3638and BAT3639
These two guns are the best-preserved of the bronze
guns, BAT 3638 being almost totally undamaged. The guns have a muzzle frieze enclosed by a pair of astragals and flllets. The frieze consists of scrolls supporting floral or vegetal pendants. Another frieze is set in front of the secondreinforce. This consistsofa bird(possibly an eagle) flanked by floral and vegetal wreaths and ribbons. On the ogee of the second reinforce is a square hole located on the top surface. The purpose of this hole is obscure; while it may be for an additional chaplet, the hole does not pene- trate the bore. It is assumed that the hole was originally
filled with iron, which has disappeared due to the electro- lytic corrosion effects in sea-water, of the dissimilar met- als. This will be discussed below. A pair of dolphins are mounted on the second reinforce. A medallion on the flfst reinforce consists o f crossed anchors with triton support- ers.Below,intwofriezesmadeupofthreesetsofastragals and fillets is the inscription:
ADMlRALITEIT. RESIDERENDE. T. AMSTELREDAM
A chaplet hole lies directly over the second row of the insCription.Thisisoneoffourholes,bu~interestingly, only two are visible. The other two show up as swellings on the outer surface, but can be confrrmed by probing the surface, the hole lying just a few millimetres below. An incised A VOC mark lies slightly to the right o f the centre- line below the inscription. In the vent field is a simple round touch-hale, with a pair of lugs for locating the vent patch. On the h=-ring is the inscription:
I HENRlCUS MEURS ME fECIT 16161 There is no evidence for the we:ght inscription which
is usually found on the base-ring.
Discussion
A similar gun to BA T 3627 and 3640, made by van der Put, is located in the Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum in Amsterdam. This gun has an overall length of3.84 m and a bore of 125 mm and is thus a lighter and longer gun, more on the style of BA T 3637. The gun is illustrated in Puype (1976),Fig.2.Calculationoftheboreofthesegunsinduim gives values of 5.8 and 4.9 Amsterdam duim for the 150 and 125 mm bores. Witsen (1671:501) gives a table of weight of shot against radius of bore in duim x 100. This indicates that the guns were probably 24 and 14 pont guns. The exact figures are 25 ponden for ISO mm and 14ponden for 125 mm (12.5 ponden for 120 mm). As such, these represent the heaviest class of gun on the Batavia.
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