Half model of the starboard, scale 1:50. Djambi/Admiral Zoutman. The model is made on the shipyard >1859-1861<. Built by Chief engineer HG. Jansen, brother of her later commanding officer.
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244927
During the American Civil War were more Dutch warships stationed in the Dutch West Indies as usually. Among these ships was in 1861-1862 the Djambi commanded by Marin Henri Jansen (1817-1893).(1) Jansen wrote that the Djambi was built, rigged and fitted out completely to his wishes. It was a cruiser suitable for small navies in times of war when coal bunkering elsewhere was an illusion, sails the main propulsion and enough storage capacity to have an huge endurance. He claimed that she was armed with 16 long 30 pdrs, the best guns available in those times. She was an excellent fast sailor and good manoeuvrable. Underway to the West Indies they passed an American clipper which beaten on speed. The American even fled being afraid of the suspicious black painted armed vessel. At that moment was the CSS Sumter just sent to see by the Confederate States as an commerce raider and presumably the American clipper thought that the Djambi was the Sumter. When the Djambi arrived at Surinam became know that the Sumter had been as Surinam and Curacao, both part of the Dutch West Indies.
In his opinion would the Djambi had been an excellent ship for the Confederate States to be used as a commerce raider. Yes, Jansen thought that such a ship would have harass the Union merchant shipping more as all Confederate cruisers since then together. These cruisers were to independent from coal bunkering and had a too small storage for victuals and other needed stores and so not able to stay long at sea.
Laid down at the navy yard at Amsterdam, Netherlands on 29 December 1858, launched on 31 October 1860, commissioned on1 June 1861 (?) and finally sold at Simonstad in 1874. With a displacement of 2.030 tons (A.J. Vermeulen) or a tonnage of 1.083 tons (Parliament papers) were her dimensions 58.00-62,84 x 12,25 x 5,50 metres. Wood-built. The coal bunker capacity of 340 tons allowed a range of 11 days. The horsepower was 250 hp allowing a speed of 8,5 knots. With a crew numbering 212-250 men consisted the armament of 8 long 30 pd guns and 8 rifled 16cm guns. The navy budget discussions for 1867 called her a large flush deck screw steam corvette. The ships of her type were suitable in times of war to secure an open connection between the Netherlands and her colonies, to act as commerce raiders and in the colonies successful act against troop transports and joined by our ironclads to prevent enemy landings. The design was described as a quite heavy armament, sufficient horsepower and good sailing qualities.
The newspaper Middelburgsche Courant dated 7 December 1858 referred to the Royal order dated the 1st no. 115 to call the screw steamship 1st class to be built at the navy yard at Amsterdam Djambi to commemorate the latest hostilities over there. The edition dated 16b October 1860 reported that the schooner steamship 2nd class Djambi was to be launched at the end of the same month. She was now not longer classified as a1st class but as a2nd class screw steamship. The Opregte Haarlemsche Courant reported her successful launching in the afternoon of the 31st. The Nieuwe Rotterdamsche courant dated 1 December reported that on the 3rd the Director/ Commander-in-chief at Amsterdam would put out tenders for the delivery of iron bulkheads needed for the holds and coal bunkers, and so on included the needed materials. The Het nieuws van den dag dated 28 October 1873 reported her arrival on10 September at Port Elisabeth (Algoa Bay) after being harassed during 7 days east off Cape of Good Hope by heavy storm causing especially damaged rigging. The intention was to depart on the 15th towards the Simons Bay. Finally the Sumatra-courant dated 21 February 1874 reported that at Nieuwediep the steam transport Zr.Ms. Java was commissioned at Nieuwediep commanded by captain lieutenant Van Mansvelt with the order to bring the crew [and the inventory] of the condemned Djambi back from South Africa to the Netherlands.
The discussions around the navy budget for 1874 (Tweede Kamer 1873-1874 paper 2VI sub.nr. 116) on 22 October 1873 made clear that when in 1870 the war in Atchin broke out already her condition was very unsatisfying. She was at that moment the largest vessel in the auxiliary squadron. Paper 2VI sub no. 34 gives a list for 1 August 1873 stating that she was to return home, that her hull and engines needed an examination but that her boilers were worn out.
The CSS Sumter was the former in 1959 built steamship Habana in April 1861 acquired by the Confederate States of American and on 3 June commissioned as the CSS Sumter. With a displacement of 473 tons were her dimensions 56 x 9,1 x 3,7 metres or 184’x 30’ x 12’. Her speed was 10 knots. Her armament consisted of 1-8” shell gun and 4-32 pounders/ Laid up in April in1862 was she sold on an auction on 19 December 1862 becoming the British-flagged blockade runner Gibraltar. Used as commerce raider she took 18 prizes.
Note
1. In 1925 published S.P. L’Honoré Naber his book titeld Gedenkschriften van M.H. Jansen, a biography of this interesting personality.Jansen became a personal friend of Maury and translated his book Physical Geopgraphy of the Sea. He was involved in the conversion of the Dutch ship of the line Neptunus into an armoured floating battery. Maury choose in the Civil War the side of the Confederate States and was sent to London by the Southern Virginia for buying for instance mines (called torpedoes). Via Maury Jansen even saw the drawings of the famous ironclad Merrimack. While the British arms industry though Jansen was a Southern agent doors were opened which normally stayed closed.
