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On November 8, 1639, Willem Leyel left Denmark as commander of the ship Christianshavn 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, barely any capital and almost no possibility of communicating with the managers of the Company in Copenhagen, Leyel managed to turn things around – befriending local princes and establishing a profitable trade with their kingdoms, at times even resorting to piracy in order to preserve Tranquebar on Danish hands.
Drawing on Leyel’s own letters and papers located in The National Archives in Copenhagen, Asta Bredsdorff ingeniously weaves together the rich narrative strains in order to produce a moving and memorable account of Leyel’s exploits in the East Indies. The source material even allows for a reconstruction of several dramatic episodes down to the last detail.
The Trials and Travels of Willem Leyel offers a fascinating account of personal fortitude, courage and determination as well as a unique and fantastic glimpse of the conditions in Tranquebar at the time, of life at sea during the dangerous voyages and of Danish history in general.
Asta Bredsdorff, MA, was born in South India in 1925 and has, among other things, studied at the University of Columbia in New York. Her writings up to now include three books on English maritime history.
Pressen skrev
"Asta Bredsdorff har først og fremmest benyttet den ret omfattende samling af breve og papirer, der findes i Rigsarkivet vedrørende Willem Leyel, og som belyser både hans mange oplevelser i det Dansk Ostindiske Kompagnis tjeneste og de talrige besværligheder, der ramte kompagniet i de første årtier af dets eksistens. Det er blevet til en spændende beretning, hvor kilderne bringer os meget tæt på personer og begivenheder, der var ud over det sædvanlige, selv i 1600-tallets turbulente kapløb om de oversøiske kolonier."
- Poul Ulrich Jensen, historie-online.dk
"Og ja, der står en historiker bag, og det er et historisk værk, man sidder med i hånden. Men forfatterhåndelaget fejler bestemt ikke noget hos Bredsdorff, der synes at have læst i Grimbergs verdenshistorie mere end én gang. Og selvom nærværende anmelderudgave er på engelsk og derfor var på kanten til at komme med i dette selskab, lader vi nåde gå for ret. Værket findes i øvrigt også i dansk udgave, så hvis man ikke er til let læst historisk engelsk, kan man prøve at finde et dansk emsemplar. Anbefalelsesværdigt for den rette læser."
- Erik R. Brandt-Jensen, Søfart, 23. oktober 2009.
"While the early activities of the British, French, and Dutch in India and the East Indies are well known, comparatively little has been written about what the Danes were doing in that part of the world. In this memorable
book, maritime historian Bredsdorff shines a light on Danish colonial and trading activities in the 17th century by looking at the career of Willem Leyel, who ran the operations of the first Danish East India Company. ... Based on Leyel''s own papers and letters, this book opens a fascinating
window on a little known aspect of Danish and Indian history."
- Reference & Research Book News, November 2009.
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