A new History of Danish Seafaring


Good history books are corner-stones in the construction of our self-image - they form the basis for our conception of what was, and the departure-point from which we explain what is. But it is not unusual for the publication of a history book to be also a symptom of the fact that something is changing or disappearing - an attempt to preserve the memory of a past which is still felt to be relevant but which is on its way to extinction. As such, a history book is also a tool for holding onto our immediate past and for explaining to our descendants who we are and what formed us. The last history of Danish seafaring was produced in 1919, at a time when sailing-ship traffic was having to give way in earnest to steam-driven ships, and when wood was rapidly coming to be replaced by steel in ship-building. Both changes had far-reaching effects on Danish society. The new ships required much less manpower and completely different skills both for ship-building and for sailing. A whole culture related to wooden ships was virtually lost.

Today there is a different technological and social background to the changes taking place: global division of labour, container traffic, and the intransigent economic forces that have particularly affected small-scale seafaring, ferries and coasters. Even though the quantity of goods transported by sea is growing, the number of ships and of seamen is falling rapidly, at the global level, but even more markedly at local level in Denmark. Denmark's identity as a seafaring nation is a historical phenomenon, no longer a current one.

Against this background the initiative taken in 1992 by the Danish National Council for Research in the Humanities to support the writing of a new history of Danish seafaring is extremely welcome. The new history has the declared purpose of describing "all aspects of Danish seafaring from the earliest times until the present, seen in an interdisciplinary perspective combining e.g. issues from history, ethnology and archaeology". A total grant of DKK 5.1 million has been allocated for the preparation of this work, with the title "Dansk Søfarts Historie", and it is intended that it will be published by Gyldendals in seven volumes in the period 1996-98. The authors consist of selected archaeologists and historians from many branches of historical research in Denmark. Two of the authors of the first volume are from the National Museum in Roskilde.

    The editorial board consists of Professor Ole Feldbæk; Professor Hans Christian Johansen; Dr. Anders Monrad Møller, museum consultant; The editorial board consists of Professor Ole Feldbæk; Professor Hans Christian Johansen; Dr. Anders Monrad Møller, museum consultant; Flemming Rieck, museum curator; and Hans Jeppesen, museum director. The illustrations editor is Kåre Lauring, museum curator, and the layout will be by Jens Lorentzen. The list of authors and chronological sub-division of the seven volumes is as follows:

  1. Period until 1588, ved Flemming Rieck, Ole Ventegodt, Bjørn Poulsen and Jan Bill
  2. 1588-1720: Ole Degn and Erik Gøbel
  3. 1720-1814: Ole Feldbæk
  4. 1814-1870: Anders Monrad Møller
  5. 1870-1920: Anders Monrad Møller, Henrik Dethlefsen and Hans Chr. Johansen
  6. 1920-1960: Hans Chr. Johansen and Frank A. Rasmussen
  7. 1960-1993: Hans Jeppesen, Hans Chr. Johansen and Svend Aage Andersen

Jan Bill


Jorn.Sjostrom@natmus.min.dk
Copyright © 1995 The National Museum of Denmark
Last Updated august 6, 1995