Conclusion
IN THEE STAITS SERVIS
141
ammunition accounts.113 David Thomsons education is unfortunately unclear at
present, but another educated Scot, James McDool of Aberdeen - he was cultured,
but lacked the skills to be paid as a prime seaman served on Den Visschers Herder
throughout the campaign of 1672. Another Scot, Robert Drayby, was her carpen
ter. 14
The clusters of British seamen around these two flag officers were not unusual.
Of Johan Evertsen's 51 personal followers listed aboard Het Hoffvan Zeelandt in
December 1664 there were only six foreigners. Two of these were English: Thomas
Richardson and Richard Kemp, both of London. The normal crew of the flag cap
tain Jan Matthijssen included another Englishman and five Scots (two of these
were Shetlanders), so that together, British comprised 4.2% of the flagship's total
complement.115 What about elsewhere? In Holland, with Tobiaszoon aboard
Gouden Leeuw in 1673, 91 (25%) of the flagship's crew and just over half the 49
petty officers were foreigners.116 Around 8% of the flagship's crew were British: 3%
Scots, 2% English, 3% Irish."7 A much higher proportion of the latter than yet
seen. The flag captain's nationality must have been a stimulant to British recruit
ment; though the majority of the Irish were marines (the marine commander was
Irish too), probably deliberately placed to enhance cohesion in the ship's compa
ny. Yet this was not the first time that the British captain had drawn seamen from
the Three British Kingdoms. The previous spring, Tobiaszoon attracted so many
British aboard the prize Oudshoorn (70, ex-Swijtsurethat they formed the major
ity of her crew; making her 'the best manned of any' of the Amsterdam ships.118
Tobiaszoon was probably seen as a 'lucky' captain an obvious asset when com
pleting the crews. He lived close to De Ruyter in Amsterdam.119 De Ruyter already
spoke Irish as a result of his merchant experience to Ireland in the 1640s as well
as English.120 This language ability must have enabled a closer relationship with
British officers and men. Given the personal networks evidence amongst these
senior officers, and the prestige men gained from serving on a hero's flagship, it is
not so surprising that 200 of the 600 crew aboard De Ruyter's De Zeven
Provinciën, 1673, were reported to be British.121
For sheer numbers of men, further research is necessary. However, if the initial
Zeeland results are extrapolated across the whole navy, figures of at least around
1,000 men are likely. For instance, taking the lowest result from Figure 1 above, if
we apply the 4.7% 1672 sample across the fleet manpower at the Dutch victory
of Kijkduin in 1673, the result is almost 820 men. When we apply Banckert's 5%
British in July 1665 (Figure 3) to the fleet manpower at Lowestoft a few months
earlier, the result is over 1070 men.122 This is without considering the heavier num
bers of British seamen passing through the larger ports of Amsterdam and
Rotterdam. With names 'Dutchified' in the payrolls, those British who gave non-
British origin are difficult to identify: this would tend to make the results of new
and more comprehensive surveys rather conservative. These extrapolated figures
suggest that the huge British contemporary estimates given near the beginning of
this paper were based on fact, even if exaggerated. The numbers concerned would
