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Plan for closing the estuary of the Surinam river in times of war

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Plan for closing the estuary of the Surinam river in times of war

Wollant, Johann Friedrich Ferdinand

Title Leupe: Generaal defensie plan van Rio Suriname enz. geapprobeerd en geordonneert October 1784.

This map shows the ‘Obstruction Plan’, the closure of the estuary of the Surinam River in time of war, which was worked out in detail during and after the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, using the set-up which was first improvised in 1781-1782. -The map proposes a barrier over almost the entire width of the river, consisting of drifting bundles of wooden beams anchored to the bottom of the river, leaving only a single entrance near the Leyden redoubt. The construction of the barrier is worked out in detail in the drawing on the left side of the map.

The arrangement of blockade ships and gunboats between the Purmerend and Leyden redoubts is also depicted.

Scale-bars of 200 Rods of 12 feet = 118 ‘strepen’.

Please contact Nationaal Archief for reuse and copyrights.

Sources and literature

Heijer, H. den, Grote Atlas van de West-Indische Compagnie = Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch West India Company, II, de nieuwe WIC 1674-1791 = the new WIC 1674-1791 (2012)