Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Danish ship Færøe

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Name
  
Agathe

Fate
  
sold 1666

Renamed
  
Færøe (1667)

Length
  
36 m

Launched
  
1653

Acquired
  
1666

Beam
  
27 ft (8.2 m)

The Færøe was a frigate constructed in the Netherlands in 1653 as the Agathe and purchased and renamed by the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy in 1666. Although the vessel was named for Norway's (and now Denmark's) Faeroe Islands, it is often erroneously "translated" as Pharaoh (Danish: Farao).

In 1671 and 1672, Færøe was the vessel used for the colonization of Sankt Thomas, the first surviving settlement in the Danish West Indies. Under the command of Captain Zacharias Bang, it was forced to put in for repairs at Bergen in Norway. The delay caused its support ship, the Den forgyldte Krone, to return to Copenhagen without meeting it. Færøe arrived and established its settlement on Skt. Thomas on May 25, 1672. From an original contingent of 190, – 12 officials, 116 company "employees" (indentured servants), and 62 felons and former prostitutes, – only 104 remained, 9 having escaped at Bergen and 77 having died in transit. Another 75 died within the first year, leaving only 29 to carry on the colony under Governor Jørgen Iversen Dyppel.

References

Danish ship Færøe Wikipedia