The Danish Asiatic Company, which sent ships to Asia for trade from 1732 to 1833, was in many ways a quite modern company.
The funds for the company came from stocks on the open market and although corruption and general swindling seemed more common than today, the company was generally driven after rational principles.
Therefore, a number of practices stand out as being pre-modern or at least in contrast to a business of the 21st century.
Take for instance the trumpeters, which suddenly appear on the Roll Books in 1748. Four trumpeters seems to be the norm, and they are payed the same as ordinary able seamen.
The trumpeters might have been on board the ships earlier, but this is the first time they appear in the Roll Books of ships going to China. The ships heading elsewhere in the East Indies seems not to bringing trumpeters, emphasising the prestige of the great Chinamen with their precious cargoes.
This naturally leads to several questions: What was their purpose, and why was it suddenly necessary to list the trumpters in the roll books?
A quote provided by curator, dr. Jacob Seerup at the Royal Danish Naval Museum gives a hint of the usage. The quote comes from the diary of the magister and scholar van Haven, who sailed on the ship GRØNLAND of the Royal Danish Navy in 1761:
“Han [kommandørkaptajn Fisker] maatte seyle Chinafareren forbie, som imidlertiid lod sig høre med Pauker og tre Trompetere. C. Fisker maatte for Ærens skyld ved sine to Trompetere lade besvare den andens Musik; dette varede næste en halv Time.
Det syntes uanstændig, at en Orlogs Mand paa 50 Canoner skulde kuns have to Trompetere, naar en Coffardie Mand paa 22 Canoner havde flere, og desuden en Pauker. Vor Commandeur Capitain syntes at skamme sig derved. Han sagde, at han vilde blevet liggende, om han havde vidst det forud.
Ieg troer at ikkuns en virkelig Commandeur i Søeetaten har tilladelse at føre Pauker om bord. Men enhver Chef kan ellers holde saa mange Trompetere som han vil. Det dependerer af hans egen oeconomiske Principiis.”
In short, the Danish naval ship passes a Chinaman and a battle of prestige takes place, where the Chinaman seems to have the upper hand with three trumpet players as well as a drum player, while the navy ship only mustered two trumpeters.
But is prestige the only function of the trumpeters? Was there another purpose, perhaps signalling, in battle and elsewhere? Or is the prestige of the sound of trumpets a handy tool when trading in China? Or is it just as much about national prestige, competing with other European nations in splendour, just like the cannons on the Chinamen, which seemed to be very important for saluting.
As the roll books show us, whatever the purpose was, the Danish Asiatic Company found it so useful, that they were willing to pay about 450 rigsdaler pr. voyage for the four trumpeters.
Another type of expense, that stands out from modern practices is seen above in the first concession for the Danish Asiatic Company in 1732.
Here the priests of the churches of Copenhagen as well as the church of Sct. Olai in Elsinore is to payed for praying for succesful voyages and the advancement of trade, a total of 106 rigsdaler to be payed every New Year.
Perhaps it was seen as a type of insurance? Or was a way of supporting a stable society?
I hope the coming months of archival work will unearth more of these interesting practices and perhaps even some more knowledge of how they were understood by the people of the 18th century.
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment if you have encountered similar practices in other companies or navies of the era.
Between Copenhagen & Canton 1730-1833 