The third Danish East India Company was formed in 1732 by a Bremen merchant named Peter Baker with funding from King Christian VI of Holland and the king retained control over the company. The company’s ships generally traded between Dutch and other Northern European ports, China and the East Indies. On the outward journey they would carry up to six tons of silver and gold. The company’s early years were very difficult, losing one quarter of its vessels between 1735 and 1755.
The 26-gun wooden frigate Wendela sailed from Copenhagen for Tranquebar, a Danish trading post on the coast of India near modern day Chennai in the latter months of 1737. Aboard she carried a valuable cargo comprised of 79 bars of silver, 31 sacks of minted silver coins, sheet metal and pig iron, 1500 barrels of claret, 100 muskets, barrels of wine, ropes, copper wire, four tons of coal, two grindstones, material and hats, cooking pots, paper and wax, eight dozen drinking glasses, and 37,000 flints.
The last of the cargo was loaded on 21st October in Copenhagen and she set sail soon after but was not heard from again. First indications of her loss are contained in a 10th January 1838 letter written by William Irvine to Earl George Douglas Morton, Admiral of the Shetlands. Irvine was one of six famous `wrackmen’ of 18th century Britain and held a contract to recover silver from wrecks. The letter noted the discovery of bodies, masts and yards along the coast of Unst and identified the casualty as the Wendela lost on the night of 18-19th December. The wreck site was confirmed as the east part of Fetlar by a statement by William Bruce, Laird of Fetlar.
Wreck site at Heilanabretta, East Fetlar
On 13th January 1738, the Baillie of Fetlar informed Andrew Mitchell and Andrew Ross, the deputies of the Vice-Admiral of Shetland, that the vessel had sunk “in a very barbarous place” and that “some money” had been recovered by locals who had scrambled down the rock where she was wrecked. Inspections at the site reported that there was the prospect of the recovery of considerable treasure. Various salvage experts arrived at the scene, sending accounts (most probably inaccurate) of each other’s discoveries to the Admiral. The local population worked with grappling hooks and William Irvine arrived with a “diving machine“ (a weighted barrel) capable of reaching depths of 10 or 12 fathoms.
In modern times an investigation by Robert Stenuit in 1971, who believed some 18 or 19 bars of silver (weighing between about 800 and 1000lb) and between 2000 and 3000 coins from the wreck remained unaccounted for, explored the site. Any recoveries from the wreck providing any details of the history of the Danish East India Company, a little known or understood entity, would also be very interesting from an archaeological perspective. Underwater surveys between August and October 1971 noted debris from the vessel scattered in several layers among fallen rocks within twenty meters of the bottom of the cliff. The seabed was covered with traces of rust and round shapes of decaying metal. However, despite significant effort by divers within this area only a few silver coins were recovered.
Subsequent analysis based on the findings of the dives suggest the Wendela had touched the rocks near the SE corner of the basin, and was then caught by the swell and thrown onto the rocks to the North. She was then split open and broken in half. A few scattered objects were recovered across the basin with the major concentration towards the North side. Here, in depths between 5.5 and 8 metres, they located cannon, some concreted gold and silver coins and many iron nails. The best preserved coins formed a “most amazing portrait gallery of European royalty”, with an unexpectedly wide range of provenance. A rich assortment of gold coins was found dating from between 1609 and 1737. Sadly almost all of the recovered coinage was later sold at auction and mostly lost to history. The Shetland Museum holds a bell reputedly from the Wendela. Little is known about how much if any remains on the seabed in the estimated position 60° 35.85′ N, 000° 46.161’W at Heilanabretta, East Fetlar.
Bell reputedly from Wendela (Shetland Museum)
