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MaSS

stepping stones of maritime history

History

The Castel del Rey was a ship of the Dutch West India Company (WIC). When leaving New York, the ship ran aground near New Utrecht, near present- day Brooklyn. Initially, a lifeboat was able to approach the ship from the coast. But the weather worsened: it froze very hard and blizzards prevented further rescue efforts. The ship was reached a day later. Of the 145 persons on board, only four were still alive.

Previously, nine men had been rescued. The rest froze to death. The ship was probably overloaded in combination with the bad weather, which was fatal.

Among the dead was the ship's captain, Otto van Tuyl, from Gameren. He had fled to New York with his young family in 1663. This was because he stabbed someone in a fight in a café in Tuil (see under references).

A watercolor with a bird's eye view of the city of New York with ships on the foreground.
Nationaal Archief
New Amsterdam or New York, by Johannes Vingboons, ca. 1665

Description

Tonnage: 60 last (120 tons)
Master: Adriaan Claver, (1704), Otto van Tuyl (1705)
Armament: 18 cannon

People on board145
Length80 feet (24.4 m)
Width19 feet (5.8 m)
Draft12 feet (3.7 m)

References

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