Trials and Travels of Willem Leyel: An Account of the Danish East India Company in Tranquebar, 1639-48

On November 8, 1639, Willem Leyel left Denmark as commander of the ship Christianshavn. He was bound for the Danish colony of Tranquebar with its fortress Dansborg where he was to take charge of all trading operations of the first Danish East India Company. The voyage, however, became a seemingly endless nightmare of difficulties and disasters. When Leyel finally reached Tranquebar almost four years later, he found the fortress in a state of complete disrepair, with the former governor having run off with everything of value. But despite having only a few men in his service, hardly any capital, and almost no possibility of communicating with the managers of the Company in Copenhagen, Leyel managed to turn things around. He befriended local princes and established a profitable trade with their kingdoms, at times even resorting to piracy in order to preserve Tranquebar in Danish hands. Drawing on Leyel's own letters and papers located in The National Archives in Copenhagen, author Asta B