Page 70 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters
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VOC’s Asian fleet. Their dimensions varied widely. The smallest were only to last whilst the largest appearing in th century VOC sources measured to last. th century draw- ings of yachts show that their triple masted rigging and semi-enclosed superstructure are iden- tical. All yachts were equipped with cannons, not only with one cannon in the bow, as on some sloops and Asian vessels, but also with a cannon firing sideways through gun ports. It appears that over time the differences between ships and yachts became more pronounced. In the beginning of the th century, vessels with a cargo carrying capacity of to last were often referred to as ships, whereas vessels of these dimensions were later more often called yachts. It is not clear whether this was a change in name only or also in design, although Fig -. Naval Battle for Goa . Östereichische Nationalbibiothek. The men-of-war Utrecht (ID) is prominent in this illustration, but others, the men-of-war Vlissingen (ID), the Ter Veer (ID) and the s’Gravenhage (ID), all of rate , are at the centre of the battle, as are the Homeward-bounders (Wapen van ) Rotterdam (ID) and the Harderwijk (ID). The smaller (war) yachts Texel (ID) and Bredam (ID) are seen to be outside of the battle with Portu- guese ships, as well as the three afbreekboots (prefabricated vessels) -on the right- Klein Amsterdam (ID ), Klein Enkhuizen (ID ), and the Dolphyn (ID). Notice that these three afbreekboots (prefab- ricated vessels) are small, but well armed copies of the larger yachts and do not seem to differ from the yacht de Valck (ID), of rate . Because of the large range of sizes of yachts and the fact that yachts of different sizes were used for different purposes, it was necessary to divide the category for yachts into the following rates: – Big yachts of last and more – Rate – Medium-sized yachts of to last – Rate – Small yachts, under last – Rate Generally the difference in function was as follows: The large yachts of rate had such a good defensive and offensive military capability and were so seaworthy, that they did not have to fear any single enemy or the sea conditions in normal heavy weather anywhere. Their action radius was thus not confined by these factors. It is important to note that these yachts were of the same size as the Dutch Admiralty ships in Europe (NA .., Liasses State General , there are some indications that ships had a larger beam than yachts of the same length cause the term ship was also used as a collective noun for vessels of all kinds, those vessels called ships as well as yachts have also been included in the rates for yachts. . Be- The development of the VOC fleet
