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Danish Asiatic Company (Danish: Asiatisk Kompagni) was a Danish trading company established in 1730 to revive Danish-Norwegian trade on the Danish East Indies and China following the closure of the Danish East India Company.^[1] It was granted a 40-year monopoly on Danish trade on Asia in 1732 and taken over by the Danish government in 1772. It was headquartered at Asiatisk Plads in Copenhagen. Its former premises are now used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

History

The Danish East India Company was dissolved in 1729. Some of Copenhagen's leading merchants responded to the dissolution of the Danish East India Company by creating two trading societies, one for the Indian trade and another one for the new and promising China trade. On 20 April 1730, the two societies were merged to form the Danish Asiatic Company. The reformed interim company opened trade with Qing China at Canton. The first expedition went badly, with Den gyldne Løve lost with its cargo of silver off Ballyheigue, Ireland, on the outbound journey. Local landowners held the silver at their estate and pursued a salvage claim, but a gang of locals overpowered the Danish guard and made off with the hoard, causing a diplomatic row between Denmark-Norway and Britain.^[2] The Cron Printz Christian returned from the company's first successful expedition to Canton in 1732.

With the royal licence conferred in 1732, the new company was granted a 40-year monopoly on all Danish trade east of the Cape of Good Hope. Before 1750, it sent 27 ships; 22 survived the journey to return to Copenhagen.^[2] In 1772, the company lost its monopoly and in 1779, Danish India became a crown colony.

During the Napoleonic Wars, in 1801 and again in 1807, the British Royal Navy attacked Copenhagen. As a consequence of the last attack (in which the entire Dano-Norwegian navy was captured), Denmark (one of few Western European countries not occupied by Napoleon), ceded the island of Heligoland (part of the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp) to Britain. In the east, when news of Anglo-Danish hostilities reached India, the British immediately seized seven Danish merchant ships on 28 January 1808 that were in the Hoogli.^[3] Denmark finally sold its remaining settlements in mainland India in 1845 and the Danish Gold Coast in 1850, both to the British.

Management

Presidents

(1732–1743) Christian Ludvig Scheel Plessen
(1743–1759) Johan Sigismund Schulin
(1759–1772) Adam Gottlob Moltke

Board of directors

Members of the board of directors included:

1730–1743: Frederik Holmsted
1732-; Hans Jørgen Soelberg
1732–1739: Gregorius Klauman
1732–1743: Hans Jørgen Soelberg
1738-1843: Hans Nielsen Gram
1734-1740: Hermann Christian Müffelmann
1740–1744: Michael Fabritius
1751-1753: Anthony Raff
1753–1755: Anthony Raft
1739–1752: Olfert Fas Fischer
1744-1746: Herman Hinrich Könnemann
1744–1752: Joost van Hemert
1745–1754: Peter van Hurk
1747–1750: Herman Lengerken Kløcker
1753–1759: Johan Friderich Wever
1753–1767: Oluf Blach
1754-1758: Jens Werner Ackeleye
1758-: Johan Johan Frederik
1755–1766: Just Fabritius
1760–1768: Reinhard Iselin
1763–1770: Abraham Falck
1769–1772: Gysbert Behagen
1771–1775: John Brown
1661-: Jørgen Erich Scheel
1772–1775: Niels Ryberg
1772–1776 and 1780-1785: Conrad Fabritius de Tengnagel
1773–1775: William Halling
1773–1775: Peder Hoppe
1773-75George Elphinston
1773–1776: Frédéric de Coninck
1776–1779: Christen Schaarup Black
1776-1779Hans Georg Krog
Jens Krag-Juel-Vind
1777: Hermann Abbestée
1777–1783: Peter van Hemert
1777-1783: Otto Christian Haaber
1784-1788: Matthias Lunding
1784-1790: Johan Ludvig Zinn
1779–1785: John Brown
1783–1792: Erich Erichsen
1789-1812: Poul Skibsted
1784-1796: Laurentius Johannes Cramer
1791–1805: Johan Leonhard Fix
1792–1811: Carsten Anker, 1st director
1794-95: Otto Thott
1797: Christian Wilhelm Dunzfelt
1799-1807: g Frantz Wilhelm Otto Vogelsang6
1807-1833: Laurentius Johannes Cramer
1812–1819: Christian Klingberg
1816–1823: Conrad Hauser
1819–1843: Friederich Christian Schäffer
Herman Christian
1834–1836: René Pierre Francois Mourier
1837–1843: William Frederik Duntzfelt
Years unknown: Simon Hooglant
Years unknown: Friderich Christian Schäffer
Unknown: Peter Johan Alexei Conradt Eberlin
Unknown: Friederich ChristianSchäffer
Unknown: Rasmus Sternberg Selmer

Fleet

Details of some of these armed trading ships, often built by the Royal Danish dockyards as "handelskib, chinafarer", can be found at the Royal Danish Naval Museum website^[4] Two have a history record at Skibregister.^[5]

Cron Printz Christian (acquired from the DEIC in 1732)
Slesvig (acquired from the navy in 1732)
Grev Laurvig (acquired from the DEIC in 1732)
Vendela (acquired from the DEIC in 1732)
Fridericus Quartus (acquired from the DEIC in 1732)
Kongen af Danmark (built 1735)^[6]^[4]
Dronningen af Danmark (built 1738)^[6]
Prinsesse Louise (acquired 1738)^[6]
Prinsesse Charlotte Amalie (acquired 1738)^[6]
Kronprinsen af Danmark (built 1740, later renamed Cronprintz)^[6]
Christiansborg Slot (built 1742)^[6]
Sydermanland (acquired 1743)
Prinsesse Louise (acruied 1744, aka Lowisa)^[7]^[4]
Trankebar (bought 1744)^[7]
Dokken (bought 1742)^[7]
Fyen (acquired 1745, former ship-of-the-line)^[7]^[8]^[4]
Kronprinsessen af Danmark (built 1745)^[7]
Kongen af Danmark (built 1745)^[9]
Elephanten (acquired 1746, from Rotterdam)^[9]
Kronprinsen af Danmark (built 1746)^[9]
Dronningen af Danmark (built 1747) – renamed Dronning Sophie Magdalene i 1752^[9]^[4]
Prinsesse Wilhelmine Caroline (built 1750)^[10]
Dronning Juliana Maria (built 1752)^[11]^[4]
Kongen af Danmark (built 1755)^[11]
Dronning Sophia Magdalena (built 1761–62)^[12]^[4]
Fredensborg Slot (built 1764–65)^[12]^[4]
Rigernes Ønske (built 1766)^[13]^[4]
Kongen af Danmark (built 1768–69)^[13]
Dronning Caroline Mathilde (built 1769)
Bombardergalliot "Den Gloende" (built 1771)^[4]^[14]
Prins Frederik (built 1772)^[4]
Trankebar (built 1773)
Castellet Dansborg (built 1774)
Dronning Juliana Maria (built 1775)
Kronprinsen af Danmark (built 1778)
Prinsesse Sophia Frederica (built 1779)^[4]
Dronning Juliana Maria (built 1780)
Prinsesse Charlotte Amalie (built 1781)^[4]
Nicobar (built 1782)
Danmark (bygget 1782–83)
Prinsesse Lowisa Magdalena (built about 1782)
Nicobar (build year unknown) (NB two ships called Nicobar. Are they the same?)
Mars (built 1784)^[4]
Prinsesse Louise Augusta (bought in 1784 from Petersværft)
Dannebrog (rebuilt 1786)
Dronning Juliana Maria (acquired 1790)
Kongen af Danmark (built 1788)
Arveprinsen af Augustenborg (built 1789)
Norge (rebuilt 1797–98)
Christianshavn (acquired 1800)
Holsteen (acquired 1800)
Kronprinsen af Danmark (acquired 1801)
Kronprinsessen (acquired 1802)
Arveprinsen af Augustenborg (major repairs 1805)
Kanonchalup (built 1808)

References

^ Glamann, Kristof (1960). "The Danish Asiatic Company, 1732–;1772". Scandinavian Economic History Review. 8 (2): 109–149. doi:10.1080/03585522.1960.10411426.
^ ^a ^b Foreningen Trankebar. "Brev fra England Archived 16 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine".
^ "No. 16982". The London Gazette. 7 February 1815. p. 219.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Royal Danish Naval Museum -List of Danish Warships
^ Royal Danish Naval Museum - Skibregister
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Klem p 220
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Klem p 222
^ Record card for Fyen
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Klem p 224
^ Klem p 226
^ ^a ^b Klem p 228
^ ^a ^b Klem p 232
^ ^a ^b Klem p 234
^ Record card for Den Gloende

Citations

Knud Klem: Skibsbyggeriet i Danmark og Hertugdømmerne i 1700-årene; Bind I, København 1985; ISBN 87-88646-14-9
Knud Klem: "Den danske Ostindie- og Kinahandel" (Handels- og Søfartsmuseets Årbog 1943; s. 72-102)
Royal Danish Naval Museum website for Database > Avancerede > Set Skibstype to "Handelsskib" and Datering to appropriate dates> Søg (This works only if the language is set to Danish)
Royal Danish Naval Museum - List of Danish Warships Archived 2012-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
Royal Danish Naval Museum - Skibregister for individual ships record cards where they exist.