Profiles of the redoubt Purmerend

Title Leupe: Redoute Purmerent..

As part of the 1733 plan to improve the defenses of Surinam, Fort Nieuw Amsterdam would be supported by two auxiliary forts on the opposite banks at the mouths of the Surinam and the Commewijne. The first, the earthen redoubt Purmerend on the western bank of the Surinam, was commenced in 1748 to a design by Ensign Andries Lodewijk (Andreas Ludovicus) Calvi, who held the position of Acting-Inspector of Fortifications between 1744 and 1754. These profiles of the walls show Calvi’s design from 1748 or a little earlier. Once in service, Purmerend proved rather ineffective in a number of points. For instance, the points of the two tenailles Calvi had constructed on the river side were too small to support the required ordnance, and the moat and counterscarp with glacis were constructed so close to the bank as to be superfluous.

Scale-bars of [profile 1] 50 Rhineland feet = [approximately 1 : 255] / [profile 2] 30 Rhineland feet= [approximately 1 : 85].