Table 4

Ammunition, accessories and tools for weapons in the Generale Eis, category 'for the constable-major/artillery.' For details see below.

Product unit 1656   1657   1658   1659   1660   1661   1662   1663  
Ammunition
Bar shot and chain shot, assorted piece 2000 14000 48000 44000 16000 11000 10000
Round shot, small (1 to 16 pounds) Piece 16000 88000 48800 24000 24000 22000 4000
Round shot, large (18 pound or more) Piece 7000 37000 11400
‘Baskogels’ Piece 2000
Grenades, all kinds Piece 10500 450
Hand grenades Piece n.s. 4500 4000 6000 2000 3000 2000
Chain shot Barrel 12
‘Hollants lont’ (fuse rope) Case 150
Scrap for the cannon Barrel 6
Accessories
Entire bars(?) Piece 12 10
Copper powderhorns, 12 to 24 pounds   Piece 300
Ramrods, assorted, all calibres Piece 492
Powder lanterns Piece 100
Assorted powder funnels Piece 36 36
Powder horns (large and small) Piece 200 300 400
Wooden powder horns, all calibres Piece 168
Tools for weapons and ammunition
Musket bullet molds Piece 48 24
Bullet molds for small firearms Piece 48
Drills (to drill the cannon) Piece 240 24 200
Files (all kinds) Piece 228 144 72
Wood graters Piece 24
Drills (for the drilling of muzzles) Piece 72

Source for the data is the Generale Eis for the years 1656-1663, to be found in voc Archive 13473. Please note that the subcategories here applied are my own: there are no categories like “entire melee weapons” in the text of the actual Eis, which lists all needed items in a seemingly random order. In addition, not by far all goods listed in the Eis are included in these tables, which in that case would have become intolerably long and intransparent. As tools for making powder alternately show up in the category “for the armoury” and under “for the powder makers”, I have left those out here. In addition, materials that rarely showed up in the tables, in very small amounts, or did not seem particularly interesting to include in statistics are not listed. Products that have been left out for this reason are copper and iron thread, nails and screws, and needles and other sewing materials (mostly for making cartridges.)

As to the translation of the various products’ names: I have put quite some effort into this but I am no weapon’s expert. In addition, the Eis uses various names for several products. Where I was almost certain that two names signified one product, I have merged these. In some cases, it was however impossible to discover the distinction between categories. For example, ‘langscherp’ is a name that usually signifies chain shot or bar shot, but ‘draadkogels’, chain shot, is in many cases a separate category. Similar problems arose with all the various types of powder horns, which I have just left separate. In some cases, I suppose one would have had to work at the Company warehouses to be able to know what product was actually requested. The tables are therefore less exact than might be desirable, and only give an impression of the products requested and sent. Anyone who wants to use these data for his own research and finds my selection, categorizations and translation rather too sketchy, is welcome to contact me for my ‘raw material’, i.e. untranslated, uncategorized tables listing all products, plus notes.

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