Letters on West Africa and the Slave Trade. Paul Erdmann Isert�s Journey to Guinea and the Carribean Islands in Columbis (178

First Letter: Guinea 10 November, 1783

35 First Letter Christiansburg 10 November,1783 ‘Ea quae scimus sunt pars minima eorum quae ignoramus.’ Linnæus.1 You know,dear friend,that on 2 July this year I boarded a company ship called ‘Prinz Friedrichs Hofnung’ as a passenger, to make the journey from Copenhagen to the Danish possessions here.2 With this our goal we weighed anchor the following morning. Near midday we saw the well known island Wheen [Ven], residence of the famous astronomerTycho Brahe,and soon after that,Helsingør [Elsinore].3 This sea journey inThe Sound ||p.2|| is the most attractive in he world,especially in the summer when one can clearly observe on both sides the blessed tracts of Zeeland [Zealand] and Schone [Skania]. Since the wind was unfavourable and the weather was foggy we did not dare to venture into the open sea but remained at anchor. I took advantage of the opportunity to go ashore at Helsingør to see the superb Fort Kronenburg [Kronborg Castle], by means of which our nation can force other nations to pay duties when they pass from the North Sea towards the Baltic Sea, or in the reverse 1 ‘Those things which we know are the least part of those which we do not know’. 2 ‘Prince Frederik’s Hope’. 3 Tycho Brahe (1545-1601), the Danish astronomer, was given the island of Ven in The Sound in 1576 as a fiefdom by King Federick II. On the island he built two observatories,’ Uranienborg’ above ground and ‘Stjerneborg’ underground, both equipped with excellent instruments of his own design and construction. 36 LETTERS ON WEST AFRICA AND THE SLAVE TRADE direction.4 You ought not to expect a detailed description from me since there are available more detailed descriptions than any I can give.5 The number of ships usually lying in port here is outstanding. I have counted 150. After a period of six days we set off, sailing slowly, and soon found ourselves in the Kattegat.Since we were becalmed we fished and caught many varieties of fish, such as gurnard,a mackerelb and Willinge.||p. 3|| I amused myself by watching a species medusa [jelly fish] that has a purple disc and is very common in that area!6 Since the wind was not all favourable for us, we stayed in the North Sea for nearly four weeks, and even when the wind occasionally came from a favourable direction it was always so weak that we could make only very slight progress. In these interludes we caught various kinds of fish, among them a species of shark.c a Cottus Scorpius Linn. [sea scorpion] b ScomberThynnus Linn c Squali [dogfish] 4 The name‘Kronenborg’,which Isert used,is one of the variant forms of the name employed over centuries.The original building was a fort called Krogen [The Hook], built on a hook-like promontory where Zealands’s north coast forms nearly a rightangle to the south coast.The name was,perhaps,a play on words since the fort was built to collect toll from passing ships. Because the Sound was the shortest route from the Kattegat in the North Sea to the Baltic and in addition was very rich in fish, control over those waters was a bone of contention from the fourteenth century up to the nineteenth century.The conflicts were finally resolved by treaty in 1857 when Denmark was paid a single final compensation of 67million kroner, and all nations have enjoyed the right of free passage from that time. Kronborg Castle itself has undergone many changes in the course of time.Built as a forttress in 1574 on the ruins of ‘Krogen’ it has evolved into an impressive castle which is now an important museum.The National Maritime Museum is also located within the walls of Kronborg. 5 The sources to which Isert referred may have included the following works:Boeson, Den ved Øresund BeliggendeAnnseelige Stad Helsingørs Beskrivelse,Aalborg 1757;John Atkinson TheTariff or Book of Rates and Duties … Glasgow, 1770;T.A De Marieu, Tableau des driots et usage… du Sund, Copenhagen 1776. ( I am indebted to Henning Henningsen for this information. ) 6 Willinge may be whiting.The ‘species of medusa’ refers to a jellyfish. 37 FIRST LETTER The sharks were accompanied by two to four small fishes,a variety small salmon, which the crew call ‘pilot fish’ or ‘guides’ and which are never...