The Warship Briele on the Maas before Rotterdam

By Ludolf  Bakhuysen, 1689

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

In the center of this painting is the Brielle, a 50-gun warship sailing by the Admiralty Buildings in Rotterdam. Her stern is decorated with a shield bearing the portrait of William III, Prince of Orange, with arms of England and Scotland on either side. The main mast is flying the flag of the Prince and a splitted pennant. To the right is a VOC yacht (possibly with Princess Mary, the Prince’s wife, on board) firing a salute. Two boats are accompanying the yacht, one of them is under the flag of the States-General. In the background one can see Rotterdam: the western and the eastern New Main Gate to the Leuvehaven, the St. Lawrence Church, City Hall and the old warehouse of the Admiralty.

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Schepen op de rede (Ships on the Roadstead)

By Willem van de Velde the Younger, 1658

This work by Willem van de Velde displays a calm scene of Dutch merchant and fishing vessels on a roadstead in a still weather. In the middle of the painting a yacht with a richly decorated stern  dominates the scene while small boats shuffle goods and passengers between humble looking merchant ships.

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The Frigate "De Ploeg" on the Ij in Amsterdam

By Ludolf Bakhuizen (ca. 1685-1695)

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

The Ij is a river, formerly a bay, that is known for being Amsterdam’s waterfront. On this painting Amsterdam is seen in the background behind merchant vessels and men of war including the frigate De Ploeg in the front.

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The Merchant Shipping Anchorage in the Texel with Texel Island and Oude Schild to the North West

By Ludolf Bakhuizen

National Maritime Museum Greenwich

The setting for the picture is the merchant shipping roadstead off the eastern coast of Texel, one of a group of northern islands guarding the entrance to the Zuider Zee. Texel Island can be seen ahead with the village of Oude Schild to the far right. The channel between the islands into the North Sea is on the horizon beyond the merchant ship furthest left. A group of three large ships is shown in the middle distance. To the left is a fluyt under sail with a larger ship passing, hidden beyond and to the right. Further back, a Dutch warship lies at anchor. Another fluyt lies at anchor on the far right. In the foreground, a group of small craft, typical of Dutch inland waterways, is tossed about by the boisterous weather. On the left, a wijdschip, with a weyschuit or punter, is lowering its sail in the immediate foreground. Another wijdschip is seen from the stern under billowing canvas, under the stern of the fluyt. On the right a kaag, a common type of ferry boat, is running before the wind with sprit-rigged mainsail and foresail.

The artist has intentionally arranged a cross section of coastal craft in the painting to demonstrate the significance of the sea. Bakhuizen was initially a calligrapher in his native Germany before moving to Amsterdam. There, he was inspired by the grisaille drawings of van de Velde, the Elder. Later, he was introduced to marine painting in oils in the studios of van Everdingen and Dubbels. He was a contemporary of van de Velde, the Younger and shared with him a concern for painting ships with accuracy and understanding. The painting is signed.

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Although the quay in the foreground of this imaginary Italian port is dominated by an obelisk, the monumental staircase crowned by classical sculpture which leads to the building to the left draws the viewer’s attention. This palace is not a real building but the lantern on top is a direct reference to Amsterdam town hall. To the right an imposing two-decker enters the harbour. Storck’s work exudes the silvery atmosphere of a sunny morning in the Mediterranean.

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In this largely imaginary view of Leghorn, where tall ships tower over a quay, an elegant lady on a white horse is about to depart. Three figures, gesturing theatrically, are also conversing or haggling over business. On the quay is a statue of Ferdinand I de’ Medici, who made Leghorn a free port. The monument, which still stands, was completed between 1595 and 1626 by Giovanni Bandini and Pietro Tacca, and became a symbol of the city.

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RETURN OF A FLEET INTO PLYMOUTH HARBOUR

By Dominic Serres the Elder, 1766

(Highest resolution available 4102×2439)

The recruited sailors had to be kept healthy. The circumstances required British ships to spend long periods of time at sea and in 1759 this problem was especially difficult. The French were planning an invasion of England and gathered their armies and transport craft at a wide and safe anchorage called the Morbihan. To start the invasion the French men-of-war  had to sail from the nearby Brest to Morbihan to collect the troops and escort the transport to the English shores. For the British it was critical to keep the French fleet on check and prevent it leaving Brest. Therefore a close and continuous watch was required. This meant that a fleet of 14,000 men had to be kept healthy at sea for weeks or even months in the western part of the Channel. Such a blockade was made possible by the existence of Plymouth dockyards, where damaged ships could return for running repairs. Also food, fresh water and other supplies could be easily sent to the blockading fleet. With Brest being the main target, Plymouth grew both in size and importance.

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VIEW OF THE ‘PONT-NEUF’ FROM THE CORNER OF THE ORDNANCE STORES

By Joseph Vernet, 1755

By 1750 France had only three working dry docks and none of them answered the growing needs of the French Marine. The double dock at Rochefort could not be accessed by any ship larger than the fourth rate because its position was too far up the narrow and winding Charente river, and the only other dry dock, that at Brest, had been poorly designed and would not dry out completely. There was a fabulous harbor and yard at Toulon in the Mediterranean, the subject of this picture but the Mediterranean is tideless which makes the design of dry docks extremely difficult. With no tide a dry dock cannot drain itself but must be pumped out, and it was not until 1774 that the Spanish solved the problem in their dockyard at Cartagena by installing a steam-driven pump. In the meantime French ships had to be careened – effectively pulled on their sides to expose their hulls. Moreover French ships had been built to escort merchantmen or capture enemy merchant ships rather than for fleet battles which were soon to be forced on them time and again by the resurgent Royal Navy.

This shows the ordnance stores of the Toulon dockyard. Lines of battleships are moored in the background, and in the foreground shot of every caliber are perfectly aligned. Some cannon are being cleaned while a group of officers and engineers hold a discussion.

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