188 / 213
In general, many of the soldiers of the garrison were billeted on the towns
people in the old days, and the ceremonial changing o f the guard took place at
the residence of the Commandant of the Artillery Garrison (ill. p. 1 1 7 ) .
A drill square was laid-out at the powder factory (ill. p. i i ^ j , and after
the »Palace Revolt« in 1 784 an alarm post was established here as a precaution
against riots.
O
,
D U R I N G T H E F L O U R I S H I N G P E R I O D O F C O M M E R C E
The Danish West Indian and Guinea Company was —at least as far as Christians
havn was concerned —short lived. The planters in the colonies of the West
Indies objected to the Company’ s methods and eventually the Crown took
over both its administrative functions and the plantations (ill. p. 1 2 1 ) . The
»factories« or trading stations in Africa were abandoned. The Company’ s
shipyard and harbour were acquired by the merchant-prince Wever, later com
ing into the possession o f his widow (ill. p. 123). The Company’ s plantations
in the Indies together with its sugar refinery on Christianshavn were acquired
by Count H. C. Schimmelmann (ill. p. 1 23) - a German merchant who was
ennobled by the Danish Crown for his services in reorganizing the economic
system of the country. His son, Count H. E. Schimmelmann (ill. p. 126), who
succeeded to his father’ s possessions both in Denmark and in its colonies, is
famed for the initiative he took in the suppressions of slavery. As a result of
his humane political activities, Denmark was first among the nations of the
world to set a date after which all trading in slave labour within its colonies
would become illegal (ill. p. 129).
In the latter years of the century, shipbuilding declined on Christianshavn
and the Napoleonic Campaigns in which Denmark evinced friendship with the
French, resulted in the virtual stoppage of Danish overseas commerce and
navigation. Several hundred Danish merchantmen were captured or destroyed
by the British and it was many years before the Danish Merchant Marine
regained its former strength. During the middle years of the 1 8th century,
numerous merchant ships were built in the yards of Christianshavn. During
this period one flourishing yard was that owned by C. Fabritius de Tengnagel
(ill. p. 1 3 1 ) , knight and merchant, the site of which, like that owned by Jan
van Osten mentioned earlier, is now covered by B &W machine shops. In
1 7 7 0 ’ s the Danish Government did much to encourage shipbuilding for over
seas trade, and even for whaling, (ill. pp. 1 32 , 1 3 3 , 13^, 137).
For more than a hundred years after the death of Peter Applebye his par
ticular area was, in fact, still officially known as the Englishman’ s Place (ill.
P- 139)-