Tað strandaða skipið í Svínoy í 1804 – og dømir um smáhandil og loynihandil / The stranded ship in Svínoy in 1804 – and examples of small-scale shopping and smuggling

Abstract

Úrtak: Tann 14. februar í 1804 strandaði eitt stórt skip í Svínoy við dýrabarari last av klædnastoffi og tekstil. Nógv av hesum varð bjargað uppá land, áðrenn tað í eini ódn bleiv knúst. Skipið æt Venus frá Sundsvall í Svøríki; skipari var Sam. Dryselius. Men lítið og einki er skrivað um hesa hending, hóast sjáldan ella ongantíð er størri ella dýrari vørunøgd komin inn í landið. Hon bleiv seld á uppboði, og tað sum er skriv­að í ”Auctiónsprotokollina” gevur eina frálíka mynd av hesum, hvørjar vørur vóru í lastini, hvørjir persónar keyptu, hvat teir keyptu og hvat ið prísurin var. Meira enn 5000 lutir vórðu bjargaðir í land, og selt var tilsamans fyri meira enn 12.000 Ríkisdálar. (Til samanberingar: 1 tunna av bygg kostaði vanliga umleið 5 Rdl) Teir sum keyptu størstu nøgdir, mest embæt­is­menn, hava ikki ber keypt til egið brúk. – Grein­in skal í fyrsta lagi lýsa hendingina og hvat ið fór fram á uppboðssølunum. Harnæst verð­ur roynt at greina, hvagar ið alt hetta klædna­stoffið fór. Her verður gjørt vart við, at smá­søla innanlanda ikki var tað sama sum loyni­handil. Eitt, sum kann skjalprógvast, er at Poul P. Nolsøe ólógliga hevur útflutt eina nøgd av Manchester-stoffi til Norra. Men hildið verð­ur, at nógv av stoffinum, var selt í býti við bundn­ar troyggjur og síðan sent av landinum sum sendingsgóðs við skipunum hjá Kongaliga Handlinum.

Summary: On February 14th in 1804 a ship ran aground on Svínoy with a precious cargo of cloth and other textile commodities. Large amounts of these commodities were saved before the ship in a following storm was crushed. The ship was named Venus from Sundsvall in Sweden, and the captain was Sam. Dryselius. But, remarkably, very litle is written about this event, despite the fact that it was perhaps the largest and most valuable cargo ever brought ashore. It was, after a thorough registration of every item, put up for auction, and every detail of this is writen in a minute book which gives us a detailed picture of the content of the cargo, the list of persons that were buying, and what were the prices. More than 5000 items were saved and sold for more than 12.000 Rigsdaler (In comparison, the price of 1 barrel of barley was around 5 Rdl). The local officials bought the largest amounts, but it can not have been for their own consumption alone. – The article shall in the first place clear up the event and illuminate the auctions. The next problem is to attempt to follow how and where the commodities were forwarded. It is stressed that small-scale shopping is not the same as illicit traffic. One event can be documented. The skipper Poul P. Nolsøe brought an amount og Manchester-cloth to Norway, and sold it to a merchant there. This is undoubtly an incidence of smuggling. But the assumption is put forward that most of this cloth and textile was sold in exchange for sweaters that were shipped to Denmark as ”sendingsgods” (private commodities shipped by the Royal Trade Mono­poly).