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In 1626, even before the Assembly of Notables... Richelieu ordered the building of eighteen large ships in private dockyards in Normandy and Brittany, and at the beginning of 1627 another six. Some of the materials——timber, iron, hemp——had to be obtained from Holland, and Richelieu sent special agents to Amsterdam for this purpose. As buying from the Dutch proved expensive, he tried to restore France's direct commercial links with Danzig and Sweden, which had been disrupted by war and successful Dutch competition, but he did not bring this off completely, and for a long time thereafter the French government was still obliged to deal with the Dutch. Besides the shortage of materials, another kind of difficulty also made itself felt. There are not sufficient experienced shipbuilders in France, so that the Englishmen, Dutchmen and Flemings had to be invited in, and their work paid for at high rates. The government actually ordered a number of vessels (in 1626 five, in 1627 twelve, and so on) in Holland.