Suchergebnisse

Der 1708 geborene Amrumer Seemann Hark Olufs wurde 1724 von algerischen Piraten im Ärmelkanal gefangengenommen und in Algier als Sklave verkauft. Am Hofe des Bey von Constantine in Ostalgerien machte der junge Mann eine erstaunliche Karriere; er stieg vom Lakai zum Schatzmeister und General auf. 1735 wurde er freigelassen. Er kehrte nach Amrum zurück und verbrachte dort den Rest seines Lebens. 1747 erschien ein autobiographischer Bericht über seine Abenteuer auf dänisch, 1751 eine Übersetzung ins Deutsche. Das vorliegende Buch ist eine wisenschaftliche Untersuchung von H. Olufs Lebensweg im historischen Kontext und enthält eine Edition der beiden Ausgaben mit Kommentierung. Kulturhistorisch interessantes Zeugnis. (I. Hanewald)

Das bestrickende, mit Schwarz-Weiß-Abbildungen versehene Büchlein passt in jeden Bestand. Anschaulich, gut gegliedert, stets auf den Punkt gebracht, mit vielen Beispielen aus ganz Europa, zeigt dieses Buch plastisch die Armut in der Frühen Neuzeit und die Art und Weise, wie die Gesellschaft damit umging. Mit Register und Glossar. Als Ergänzung zu R. Jütte (BA 7/00), der das Thema systematischer, aber ebenso breit behandelt. (2) (Jürgen Plieninger)

The article discusses regional networks of North Frisian sailors involved in maritime trade in the period from about 1750 to 1840. For the North Frisians who earned their livelihoods in maritime trade, a heyday began in the 1760s and continued until the Napoleonic Wars, after which the number of North Frisians employed in that business never again reached as high a level. In the eighteenth century, ocean navigation was already a "globalized" sector of the economy with an international employment market and international trade cycles which the sailors had to take into account. For the North Frisians, the four large Northern European ports - Amsterdam, Hamburg, Altona and Copenhagen - were particularly important. There have been numerous studies on whaling and how the North Frisians were involved in it, but hardly any investigations have been carried out on the degree of North Frisian involvement in maritime trade and the significance of the individual ports within that context. The signing-on records of the harbour authorities serve as a source since they permit differentiation according to the seamen's origins in the various North Frisian islands. The study begins with a quantitative analysis of the presence of North Frisians in the individual ports, and the share accounted for by each individual North Frisian island in the total number of North Frisians employed in maritime trade. This analysis provides an impression of the changing significance of the ports and the individual islands. Subsequently the regional connections between the captain and the sailors, and particularly between the captain and the mate is investigated in some detail. Close regional connections are indicative of regional networks, in which context differentiations are again made according to the individual ports and islands. A look at the totals shows that Amsterdam was the most important port between 1770 and 1789, but never really recovered from the slumps that came about in 1790-1794 and 1807-1814. In the early 1790s, Altona became the
distinctly predominant commercial port for the North Frisian sailors, and thus took over
Amsterdam's role in that respect. The individual North Frisian islands each had their own preferences with regard to their maritime activities (whaling, maritime trade, shoal navigation). This went hand in hand with preferences in the ports from which the seamen entered maritime trade. An analysis of the islands from which the captains recruited their sailors reveals that, here as well, there were regional interdependencies. The North Frisian sailors generally liked to sail with captains from their own island or, if that was not possible, a neighbouring island, and the captains recruited their crews on the basis of similar considerations. These preferences were facilitated in part by the geographical conditions and the division of the shallows into sub-regions. The regional relationships are particularly distinct with regard to the mates. Regional networks formed above all in places where sailors of the same origins met in significant numbers. The use of networks for finding employment was only possible in places where there was a sufficient number of sailors of the same origins. On the other hand, however, this system made it difficult to react to crises, since a sailor lacked a network of his own in other locations, and it was difficult for him to gain admittance to an already existing network of sailors of other origins. The presence of North Frisian captains was especially important, since they were most likely to sign on mates and sailors from their native region.

Beginning in the seventeenth century, a tradition developed on the Wadden Sea islands whereby rich captains had ornate gravestones made for themselves. In these maritime communities, ships - an identity-establishing motif associated with economic prosperity - were often depicted on the gravestones. Although for many seafarers whaling was the source of their affluence, whalers relatively seldom had whales depicted on their grave markers. Altogether a mere ten gravestones bearing whale depictions have been found on the Wadden Sea islands, and none on the mainland. Six of the stones are on Föhr, three on Ameland and one on Sylt. In this article, the stones are described and their function investigated. Five types of whale depictions can be distinguished. Four bear a connection to whaling, the source of the deceased persons' prosperity. On the gravestone on Sylt, however, the whale is merely an artistic detail with no relationship to whaling. The gravestones with whale depictions were all produced within the relatively short period between 1706 and 1800. The stones, visible to one and all in the cemeteries, later served to keep the legend of whaling and of the ship commanders' wealth alive.

In the year 1724, fifteen-year-old Hark Olufs sailed on the ship the Hoffnung (Hope), half of which was owned by his father and the other half by Ricklef Flor, the captain. The ship was sailing under the flag of Hamburg although the entire crew consisted of Danish subjects: three came from Amrum, as did Hark, one from the neighboring island of Föhr, three from the Elbe. The ship was sailing from Nantes to Hamburg to unload its cargo. Although these waters were considered to be safe, the Hoffnung was seized by a "Turkish" privateer near the Scilly Isles and towed to Algiers.