Adolph Esmit was a Danish colonial administrator and slave trader who served as

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of St. Thomas in the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with ; Saint John ( da, St. Jan) with ; and Saint Croix with . The ...

from 1683 to 1684, and again from 1687 to 1688. He was born in

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

. His older brother

Nicolai Esmit Nicolai Esmit (also called Nicolay or Nicholas and Schmidt) was governor of St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies from 4 July 1680 - November 1682. He was born in Holstein. His younger brother Adolph Esmit succeeded him as governor of St. Thomas.B ...

preceded him as governor of St. Thomas.Bricka, Biografisk, 599

Biography

When Adolph's brother's was proclaimed governor in 1679, Adolph was in

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia ...

, but he quickly went to the West Indies, where he captained a

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...

. When there, Esmit led a faction of planters in opposition of his brother, and deposed him in the fall of 1682. Westergaard describes him as "shifty, shrewd, vain, and at times boastful, and an exceedingly exasperating neighbor to deal with." Meanwhile, his (likely English) wife Charity Esmit was in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

, securing the official proclamation of his inauguration as governor in 1683. During his rule, St. Thomas gained a reputation of being a haven for

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

such as George Bond. This was due in part to that when the fact that a sloop owned by a Briton was seized in the harbor of St. Thomas reached Governor Stapleton of

Nevis Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and ...

, he attempted having the sloop restored to its owner. He also required the delivery of seven white servants who had run away. Esmit was evasive, saying it was a free port. and Stapleton sent his deputy, Thomas Biss, who said "Sir, if your port is free, why did you seize the sloop? If some rogues have freedom here, why not all?" Esmit later offered to return the sloop, even after having sold it on auction.Westergaard, Danish West Indies, 30 Likewise, French pirate

Jean Hamlin Jean Hamlin (alternatively spelled Jean Hamlyn, fl. 1682–1684) was a French pirate active in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He was often associated with St. Thomas's pirate-friendly Governor Adolph Esmit. History Hamlin began his ...

, being pursued by

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

n governor Thomas Lynch's men, arrived on St. Thomas in the spring of 1682.Haring, Buccaneers, 137 Under the protection of Esmit, Hamlin made the island his base and proceeded to rob several English vessels. When Stapleton's men encountered Hamlin's ship in the harbor of St. Thomas, they set it on fire. Although Esmit complained, claiming that the ship had been seized for the Danish Crown, he secretly sold Hamlin a sloop and let him escape the English. Upon Esmit's arrival in Denmark, he was able to convince Danish West India Company that he could help them locate a sunken

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

silver transport, and thus avoided the consequences of his rule. He was proclaimed governor again in 1687. When it turned out that he would not be able to fulfill on his promises, and the citizens would not accept him as their governor, he was brought to Denmark again in 1688. Once there, Esmit managed to evade the impending trial by leaving for

Bibliography

* Waldemar Westergaard, ''The Danish West Indies under Company Rule (1671 - 1754)'' (MacMillan, New York, 1917) * ''C. F. Bricka'' (editor), Dansk biografisk Lexikon, first edition, 19 volumes, 1887–1905, Vol. IV. Online edition available: http://runeberg.org/dbl/4/ (page 599. Numbered as 601 in the online edition). * Philip Gosse, ''The Pirates' Who's Who'' (Plain Label Books)
Online edition available
* C.h. Haring, ''The Buccaneers in the West Indies'' (Plain Label Books)
Online edition available

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esmit, Adolph Governors of the Danish West Indies Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown 17th century in the Danish West Indies 17th-century Danish people Danish slave traders