WINTER OPERATIONS
17
the captain and crew transferred into the larger Stad Utrecht (48).52 The above-
mentioned discrepancy over the size of the Guinea force was because two ships had
been earlier earmarked for detached duty, but their mission was long-delayed. It
was not until early January that De Clerk and Verschuur were finally ordered to
escort a (much-reduced) outbound WIC Guinea convoy as far as Shetland and
return. Verschuur had widespread sickness amongst his men, so Gerbrandt Boes
{Klein Herder36, Amsterdam) was soon allocated to this mission instead. On 6
January these two left the Wielings to pick up the convoy at Goeree, where they
arrived two days later and took out their charges on 10 January. They left the
convoy 10 miles west of Shetland on 23 January, having had 'reasonably good
weather for the time of year' on the outbound voyage. On 3 February they were
off the Maas heading for the Wielings.53
Other problems affected the force's composition in January. Friesland had been
unable to prepare its contingent for the 'extra' 18 ships Oostergo (56) and Elf
Steden (46). Instead the Frisians were forced to continue their three ships that had
been in service since the summer: at the Vlie in early January, the crews of Westergo
(48, Viselaer) and Prinses Albertina (46, Bruijnsveld) mutinied over leaks in their
ships; both were recalled to be repaired and caulked. The crew of Zevenwolden (46,
Stellingwerf) were 'willing'; the ship was ordered to the Wielings via Hellevoet-
sluis.54 It is not clear when she joined. Worse was to follow. Two Noorderkwartier
capital ships {Gelderland, 60, and Oude Eendracht, 50) were iced in near to the
Texel through negligence; these were badly damaged and never joined the winter
fleet.55 In mid-January a Rotterdam ship and a Noorderkwartier ship joined; both
were small.56 Respectively, thpse were probably Delft (rejoining after another trip
with Cunaeus) and Jonge Prins (30, Jan Halffhoorn).
Two more ships were non-operational for a time: by 25 January De Vries
{Doesburg, 46) and Nieuwenhof {Ter Goes, 40) lay at the Vlacke, unable to go to
sea through widespread sickness in the crews. Many died on both ships; the sick
ness on Ter Goes started through the transfer of men from Verschuur's Wapen van
Edam. Both were out of action for at least three weeks. Amsterdam was unable to
send fresh crews - the Pampus shoal was certainly impassable due to ice; this prob
ably also indicates that the trekvaart from the city to the south was closed by ice -
as it was between Haarlem and Leiden.57
Apart from the capital ships we have already seen, many more were in the fleet (see
Appendix 1 and 2). Evertsen was in the Wielings aboard Hof van Zeeland (58) at
least as early as 24 January 1665.58
The situation at sea is somewhat confused by the possible presence of privateers:
the States General did not allow privateering until just after they declared war (24
January). With the severe cold, this news was not received in Zeeland until 2
February, by which time 11 privateering commissions had already been issued (at
least 6 to Zeelanders); another 25 were issued by 13 February (at least 21 to
Zeelanders), and 6 more by 17 February (4 to Zeelanders) making for a total of
at least 31 Zeeland privateers authorised whilst the winter fleet was active." It is
not known how many went to sea before the end of February, when the winter
fleet's operations ended.6" Zeeland privateers seem to have taken only one prize
before that date.61
