Zacharias Allewelt (1682–1744) was a Danish sea captain and slave trader.

Early life

Allewelt was born in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

in 1682.Clemmensen, Tove, & Mogens B. Mackepran. 1980. ''Kina og Denmark 1600–1950: Kinafart og Kinamode''. Copenhagen: Nationalmuseet, p. 126.

Career

In 1725, he captained the galiot ''Den unge Jomfrue'' when it embarked on a trading voyage to the

Guinea region Guinea is a traditional name for the region of the African coast of West Africa which lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It is a naturally moist tropical forest or savanna that stretches along the coast and borders the Sahel belt in the north. Et ...

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

, where the

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 ...

purchased a group of

African slaves Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa. Systems of servitude and slavery were common in parts of Africa in ancient times, as they were in much of the rest of the ancient world. When the trans-Saharan slave trade, Indian Ocean sl ...

and then transported them to and sold them in the Danish West Indies. Allewelt also captained the ''Den unge Jomfrue'' as it repeated the voyage the next year; in total, he captained six slave-trading voyages. In the first half of the 1730s, Allewelt went into the service of the

Danish Asiatic Company Danish Asiatic Company ( Danish: Asiatisk Kompagni) was a Danish trading company established in 1730 to revive Danish trade on the Danish East Indies and China following the closure of the Danish East India Company. It was granted a 40-year mon ...

. In 1733, he thus served as

chief mate A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the shi ...

onboard '' Slesvig'' on the newly established company's second expedition to Canton. In 1735-38, he served as captain of the company's new ship '' Kongen af Danmark''. He later served as captain of ''Dronningen af Danmark''.Kirkebæk, Mads. 2001. The Voyage of the ''Dronningen af Danmark'' to China in 1742. An Example of the Early Danish China Trade. In: Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard & Mads Kirkebæk (eds.), ''China and Denmark: Relations Since 1674'', pp. 21–47. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.

Personal life and legacy

Allewelt married Gjertrud Andersdatter Dahll, a woman from Neskilen, in the village of

Eydehavn Eydehavn or Eydehamn is a village in the municipality of Arendal in Agder county, Norway. The village is located about northeast of the centre of the Arendal (town), town of Arendal, about northeast of the village of Saltrød, about south of th ...

in 1725. They lived alternately 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 ar ...

and Allewelt's farm on

Merdø Merdø is an island in Arendal municipality in Agder county, Norway. The island lies along the Skagerrak coast, near the entrance to the Galtesundet, the main shipping channel leading to the town of Arendal on the mainland. The islands of Tro ...

island off the Arendal coast. He died in Copenhagen in 1744. Allewelt was no doubt instrumental in arranging for his son Andreas Allewelt (1729/1739–1770) to join the Danish Asiatic Company in a very early age. The son sailed nine times to Canton as a company trader. On his first voyage on board the ''Prinsesse Louise'', in 1751, he served as a junior assistant. He later advanced to assistant in 1758, senior assistant in 1760, and finally 3rd supercargo on his final voyage in 1770. In Canton, Zacharias Allewelt commissioned local "face-makers" to create two life-size clay busts of him; one is now kept at the Aust-Agder Cultural History Center in

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

, Norway, and the other is located at the

M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark The M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark ( da, M/S Museet for Søfart) is a maritime museum located in Helsingør, Denmark. Established in 1915, its collections cover Danish trade and shipping from the 15th century to the present day. The museum was o ...

in Kronborg.Kent, Neil. 2000. ''The Soul of the North: A Social, Architectural and Cultural History of the Nordic Countries, 1700–1940''. London, Reaktion Books, p. 353.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allewelt, Zacharias 1682 births 1744 deaths 18th-century Norwegian businesspeople 18th-century Danish businesspeople 18th-century Danish sailors Norwegian emigrants to Denmark Danish Asiatic Company people Norwegian sailors Norwegian slave traders People from Bergen