TAMH: Trading Ports

Centuries - 16 | 17 | 19 | 20

Danzig in the 17th century

(Gdansk, Poland)

The Scottish colony in Danzig was well established by the 17th century. The English diplomat Chamberlain wrote to his friend Carlton in 1621 that there were about 30000 Scots in Poland.

Life was not easy. The town put trading restrictions on Scots and, in addition to complaints of rowdyism, the numbers being shipped out to Danzig led to James VI's proclamation in 1625

'Whereas the grite number of young boyes uncapable of service and destitute .. transported out ... to the town of Dantzik and there manie tymes miserablie in grite numbers dyeing in the streets have given quite scandall to the the people of these countries and laid one foull imputation on that our kingdom'.

It was bad for trade, he said, and no one not sent for or without means was to be taken.

The letter home of Francis Craw (in the source material section) clearly illustrates his homesickness and the role of Dundee ships in bringing mail to the Scottish community in the Baltic.

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