wacky people char made up rheship's co mpany and rhe scientific parry. D ensm o re has a deft couch and uses elegant turns of phrase in his vivid descriptions of people we'll never meet and places we' ll never go . A n I rregular Sort of Life is a small gem worth raking rhe trouble to obtain. T OWNSEND H ORNO R O srerville, M assachusetts
The Slave Ship Fredensborg, by Leif Svalesen, translated by Pat Shaw and Selena W insnes (Indiana U niversity Press, Bloomington IN, 2000 , 244pp, illus, sources, ISBN 0-25 3-33777- 1; $45 hc) T he D anish slave ship Fredensborg wo rked the triangular trade fro m Copenhagen to Africa's G old Coas t and the D anish W es t Indies. A fourth leg was the link ro India established after 161 6 with the creSchooner Passage: Sailing Ships and the ation of the D anish East Indi a Co mpany. Lake Michigan Frontier, by T heodore J. Textiles and cowrie shells came to CopenKaramanski (Wayne Scare University Press, hage n from India and we re used as curDetroit MI, in association with T he C hi - rency in the G old Coast to buy slaves, who cago M ari rime Society, 2001 , 272 pp, illus, we re transported to sugar plancations on index, ISBN 0-8 143-2911-X; $34.95h c) rh e Danish islands of Sr. T homas, Sr. John The schooners char sailed rhe G rear Lakes and Sr. C roix. T hese islands became rhe for most of the 1800s proved surprisingly US Virgin Islands after their purchase in res ili ent against competition from steam 19 17 . Slaves worked on plantati ons whose power. Karamanski explores rhe survival o f raw brown suga r was carried ro Copenthese vessels in the midst of the 19th-cen- hagen where icwas refin ed in rowhite sugar, tury history of rhe Lake Michigan fronti er. whi ch was traded by D anish merchants for His most interesting points deal with eco- great sums of money. nomic and political matters such as the T he triangul ar trade wo rked well fo r the captains who made fortunes transporting merchants. Between 1670 and 1807 about timber and agricultural produces, che col- 3,000 voyages we re made between the W est laboration of politicians and merchants ro Indies and D enmark in about 260 ships develop Lake Michigan pores, and the ef- th at held passes to sa il the triangular route. fect of rhe Erie Canal on the growth of D anish-Norwegian ships ca rri ed nearly schooner trade and transportation . 85, 000 African slaves across rhe Atlantic. T he author builds th e story of these A nother 15 ,000 we re sold on the Gold ships from in fo rmation painstaki ngly as- Coast. The traffi c in slaves was abolished in sembled from newspapers of th at era. In 1803, alth ough slavery concinued in rhe the first three chapters-"The Evolu tion D anish West Indies until 1848. of rhe Lake Michigan Sch oo ner," "Th e The Fredensborg sailed rhe tri angular M aritim e Fronti er," and "Before the M as t ro ute in 1767-68, a journey las ting well and the Helm" -Karamanski skillfully ex- over a year. T he ship was en ro ute ro Coploits the growingliceratureon sailing ships penhage n when she struck rocks and sank on the G reat Lakes and abundant local along che southern N orwegian coast. Bur histories . In Chapter 4 , "Schooner C iry," death was stalking the ship earlier. Eleven about a quarter of the author's references percent of the 26 5 slaves aboard perished are ro contemporary newspapers, provid- on rhe three-month crossing from che G old ing a fascinating look in to 19th-century Coast ro the W est Indies. M ortaliryof crew C hicago growing into Sandburg's big- members was even higher at 38 percent. shouldered city. The fin al chapter d eals T he Fredensborgwas di scovered by local with shipwrecks and the sea lore of Lake dive rs in 197 4 who wisely in fo rmed offiMichigan . cials and the sraff of the N orwegian MariScholars will be fascin ated by som e of time Museum in O slo; laws are in place to the interesting political and economic ques- protect shipwrecks in No rwegian waters. tions touched upon , bur disappointed with T he most impress ive arti fac ts removed ini the lack of depth in th e discussion of these tially were elephant tusks. Dive r and auissues. Enthusiasts of the lore of sailing thor Leif Svalesen, who was later awarded ships in the G rear Lakes will get more than half of rhe rusks as a rewa rd, used docutheir money's wo rth. ments ac the D anish National Archives ro ANTH ONY J. PAPALAS w rite che histo ri cal part of the book. A Ease Carolina U ni versity seco nd part foc uses on the obj ects recovG reenville, N orth Carolina ered from rhewreck sice, an examination of
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