Plan for a battery at the mouth of the Suriname River

Title Leupe: Plan of platte grond van Brandspunt, met derselver nieuw geprojecteerde Battery en Wagthuys..

The small battery Piet Hein was constructed on Braams Point in 1796 as the last fortification at the mouth of the Surinam River before the British occupation in 1799. -It was armed with six 18-pounders.

The plan for the battery was already some thirty years old, as this project plan by artillery cadet Jacob Gerrit Dircks shows.

Dircks Jr probably made the map on the orders of his father Abraham Dircks, who was Director-General of Fortifications and Buildings in Surinam between 1766 and 1772; see also his ground plans of redoubt Purmerend (VEL2044B and VEL2108).

For an impression of the completed battery see VEL1998.

Even earlier, this strategically situated point had functioned as a look-out post, the first to be able to spot approaching ships and pass on the message to Nieuw Amsterdam and Paramaribo.

Profile through A.B.

North is below, but not indicated.

Scale-bar of 150 Voeten Rhijnlands = [approximately 1 : 350].