'Det uslaste bland alla stånd' : Svenska skeppare och den långväga handelns vardagspraktiker under frihetstiden

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines the role of shipmasters in the long-distance trade of the Stockholm merchant house Carlos & Claes Grill during the period 1752–1761. Building on previous research on early modern trade networks and the concept of the social economy, the study approaches commercial networks from below by focusing on the everyday practices through which trust, information, and social relations were maintained in practice. The thesis is based primarily on letters written by shipmasters to the merchant house and investigates the practical challenges they encountered, the functions they performed within the Grill network, and their position within a wider transnational trading system. Two central functions can be identified. First, shipmasters performed a practical and organizational function by managing the concrete infrastructure of trade. Second, they performed a social and relational function by maintaining contacts, trust, and reputation within the merchant house’s transnational network. In this sense, shipmasters can be understood as go-betweens: actors who moved between Stockholm and foreign ports, between patrons and crews, and between formal institutions and informal practices. The thesis argues that Grill’s trade was not reproduced solely from the merchant house’s office in Stockholm, but through a multitude of everyday practices carried out by shipmasters in ports, correspondence, negotiations, and moments of crisis. They were therefore active co-producers of the practices and relationships that made early modern transnational trade possible.