Southerly: Energy Special, Part 4: How Energy Allowed Britannia to Rule the Waves
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More seriously :)
I think you're right David this is a really interesting period for energy use. All the sailing nations were working tremendously hard to develop energy efficient transport (boats) to explore and exploit the world. One of the reasons the Dutch were so succesful was because of their remarkably efficient and robust merchant ships.
But the consequence of all that shipbuilding was a lack of wood and wood at the time was a major energy source. And as you point out England had an alternative that The Netherlands didn't have.
cheers
Bart -
When I read this I wondered if this accounted for the large number of windmills in The Netherlands, ie an alternative power source to wood, since coal was not available.
But a bit of googling shows that not to be the case. It's the fact that 50% of The Netherlands is below sea level that caused their widespread use of windmills.
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I'm glad you provided a link for that Brent, otherwise I never could have made the link between being below sea level, and having lots of wind.
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Bart Janssen wrote:
... the Dutch Navy really was the largest and most powerful in the world until the late 1700s...
Ha! This is a question that can only resolved by military means, Dr Janssen! I propose that our fleets meet at Cook Strait. Don't forget to bring your cutlass, you son of a Dutchman.
Er... my information was obtained from the fucking boring book 'A companion to Eighteenth-century Britain' by H.T. Dickinson. I've returned it to the library but I vaguely recall that he quoted size of fleet (number of ships, cannons, etc.) to back up his claim. I also seem to recall that the Chatham 'police action' (just a little Vietnam War joke, there) was part of the reason for the growth in the Royal Navy (note that I say: "... by the end of the 1600s"). So if you have any objections then send them to H.T. Dickinson (but I will try to look into the actual fleet numbers when I get a chance).
I was amused to see that the website of the Royal Navy describes the C17th wars against the Dutch as being fought with "mixed results".
Incidentally, a reason given by many historians for the success of British seapower is that Britain has no land borders (unlike, say Holland or France -- or indeed any other major Western European nation), and so could direct more of their military budget into the navy.
RE: Coal
I didn't mean to give the impression that coal wasn't available in the Netherlands. Dutch coal certainly existed, and, in fact, I seem to recall that the Netherlands has Europe's oldest coal mine. But it seems to have been more difficult (and therefore expensive) to extract than in Britain -- I presume because of flooding issues.Please note that I don't have any of this information at my fingertips any more, so don't quote me on any of my "I seem to recall" statements. I've read about 70 history books over the last couple of months (journal articles, too), and they're all beginning to merge together.
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Ha! This is a question that can only resolved by military means, Dr Janssen! I propose that our fleets meet at Cook Strait. Don't forget to bring your cutlass, you son of a Dutchman.
There are lower-tech ways of doing this...
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re Dutch coal
"Ok let me get this straight boss - when I goes home we have to pump the water out of the bedroom to go to sleep - and you want me to dig a hole in the ground and go down it?????"
re Dutch land borders
Heh I always viewed The Netherlands as the place the Dutch went to because they figured nobody would want to invade. Of course that's not entirely true after all the Germans did invade but really it's hard to imagine that strip of boggy coastline as of any strategic value to anyone with any brains at all.
re Re-enactments
Thanks Emma for the suggestion next time I'm down on the other island I'll try and get David to reenact the great sea battles, but I suspect the only problem will be trying to prevent the other nations from trying to intervene.But in true Dutch tradition you have to allow me some time before the battle to try and sell you some genuine guaranteed sure to fire cannons (no no no not damaged at all just an excess production run - of course they are best quality) and allow me to donate some of this fine beverage for your crew, the rumours about severe indigestion are all slander from our competitors.
cheers
Bart
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