Eyewitness Accounts of Slavery in the Danish West Indies; also Graphic Tales of Other Slave Happenings on Ships and Plantations

St. Thomas, Virgin Islands: Isidor Paiewonsky, 1987. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Format is approximately 7.25 inches by 10.75 inches. ix, [3], 166, [2] pages. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrations. Sources. Index. Inscribed and dated by the author on the title page. One page of positive review statements laid in. Isidor Paiewonsky, historian, author, publisher, businessman, was the premier chronicler of Virgin Islands history. "There is no question that he was the leading V.I. historian. He had a wealth of knowledge. The V.I. is certainly a better place because he was here for a time." Sen. Lorraine Berry said in a statement late Monday afternoon, "Paiewonsky could honestly be called a 'Renaissance man,' so diverse were his talents as a historian, a poet, a businessman, a horticulturist and, most of all, as a humanitarian of the highest order." Through first-hand accounts and dozens of illustrations, this important book graphically documents the growth of slavery in the Danish West Indies, from its inception through the abolition movement in the nineteenth century. This includes an authentic and exciting tale of a pirate ship, La Trompeuse, and the havoc it wrought on merchant vessels along the African coast and in Caribbean waters. Finally tracked down by the British frigate, H. M. S. Francis, Capt. Charles Carlile, La Trompeuse was set on fire and destroyed in the harbor of St. Thomas, July 31, 1683. Sunken Treasure involves the pirate governor of St. Thomas, Adolph Esmit, (1682~1684), and his attempt to regain status with the Danish King and Court by interesting them in the wreck of the Spanish galleon, Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion, laden with treasure, which hit a reef and sank off the northern coast of Hispaniola, Oct. 31, 1641. Esmit's attempt was too late. Weeks earlier, a British expedition, headed by Capt. William Phips, had located the wreck, Jan. 20, 1687, and recovered a considerable amount of treasure. The third phase tells the tragic tale of Gabriel Milan who succeeded Adolph Esmit as governor of St. Thomas. 1684~1687.