on 6 March 1596, the States of Friesland decided on the "Foundation of a Chamber or Council of Admiralty for this Territory." On 5 May 1597, Hoitze Aisma, Feijcke Tetmans, Sicke van Dijckstra, and Frans Jansz were entrusted with creating the Frisian Admiralty board. Organisational structure On 14 June 1597 the States-General of the Netherlands, the highest confederal executive power of the Republic, approved a proposal in which the foundation of a Generaliteitscollege was decided upon; this replaced an earlier navy board, the Collegie Superintendent, of which Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange (Admiral-General since 1588) had been the head, but which had been dissolved in 1593 as a result of disputes between the provinces. The Generaliteitscollege was to be a loose cooperation, itself a mere formality without actual power, between five autonomous admiralties (the Zealand, the Frisian, the West Frisian, the Amsterdam and the Rotterdam) to be represented in it. Each admiralty also had its own hierarchy. The Frisian Admiralty was led by a college responsible for the appointment of civil servants as bailiffs and clerks. Furthermore, the States-General appointed for each admiralty a receiver-general, a secretary, and a public prosecutor. Friesland's admiralty was partly funded by the capital of another province, the city of Groningen (capital of the province of the same name), and so people from Groningen could also be admitted to the admiralty's positions (e.g. Admiral Rudolf Coenders), in return for its providing ships. The Frisian Admiralty was thus founded within a confederal context on 15 August 1597. The Dokkum Era The Frisian Admiralty was initially housed in the old raadhuis (town hall) on the corner of Hoogstraat on the Lange Oosterstraat in the city of Dokkum. This building had been bought in 1589 by captain Tjaerd Tjebbes for the sum of 900 gold guilders. The admiralty also took up residence in the Blauhuis, an impressive building with a striking slender tower. The city administration initially paid the rent, but from 1610 this was taken over by the Admiralty. In 1618 the institution moved to another building, which thereby acquired the name Het Admiraliteitshuis ("The Admiralty House"); it is the location of the present city museum of the same name at Dokkum. Contrary to what might be expected from its name, this museum is not devoted to the maritime past of the city. The period between the foundation and the Battle of the Downs is little