Qualla: Fredensborg (slave ship)

Fredensborg (slave ship): Introduction

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The captain saved the logbook. When the frigate Fredensborg broke apart in a storm off Tromoya island near Arendal on 1 December 1768, Captain Johan Frantzen Ferentz and the ship's supercargo Christian Hoffman managed to preserve the vessel's journals along with their own lives. Those documents, combined with archives in Denmark and Norway, would eventually allow historians to reconstruct the Fredensborg's final voyage day by day, from Copenhagen to the West African coast to the Caribbean and back toward home. When divers found the wreck in 1974, the Fredensborg became the best-documented slave ship ever discovered, a vessel whose paper trail and physical remains together tell a story that Scandinavia has been slow to confront.

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Fredensborg (slave ship): Named for a Fort on the Gold Coast

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The ship was built in Copenhagen in 1753 and originally christened Cron Prindz Christian after the crown prince who would become King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway. She was fitted out from the start as a slave ship and entered the triangular trade, the route connecting Euro...

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Fredensborg (slave ship): The Middle Passage in Danish Hands

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Fredensborg departed Copenhagen on 24 June 1767 under Captain Espen Kioenigs and reached the West African coast on 1 October. At Fort Christiansborg and Fort Fredensborg, 265 people were loaded aboard as cargo. The ship sailed for the Danish West Indies on 21 April 1768 and a...

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Fredensborg (slave ship): Storm off Tromoya

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After delivering its human cargo at St. Croix, the Fredensborg loaded goods for the return voyage to Copenhagen and sailed on 14 September 1768. At some point during the journey, Johan Frantzen Ferentz replaced Kioenigs as captain. The ship never reached home. On 1 December 1768,...

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Fredensborg (slave ship): Found After Two Centuries

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In September 1974, three divers, Leif Svalesen, Tore Svalesen, and Odd Keilon Ommundsen, discovered the wreck off Tromoya. What they found beneath the water matched what the archives held on paper: the Fredensborg became the most completely documented slave ship ever located. Lei...

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