Danish Sailors, 1570-1870

This chapter addresses Danish maritime history over 300 years, from 1570 to 1870. It reports ship and crew sizes in the Danish merchant marine, deep-sea fishery and whaling industries, and describes the voyage patterns of the merchant marine. While the article acknowledges the wealth of existing literature on shipping routes and cargoes, types of ships, and political aspects of Danish participation in international shipping, it also recognises that Danish sailors and their lives have been allotted little room in literature on Danish maritime history. Therefore, this article attempts to ask who the sailors were, and employs research into their nationality, ages, wages and range of experience. The chapter also looks at the role Danish sailors played in European and overseas maritime trade markets.