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from Stockholm via Gothenberg, Sweden. "The Swedish government did its best to encourage Swedes to migrate to America to strengthen the colony, but colonists were as much a problem for the third expedition as they were for the second. Not enough interest could be generated to induce Swedish families to pull up stakes and leave their homeland. Then a new idea took shape. Why not punish those forest-burning Finns for disobeying Swedish laws by sending them to America?
"While the effort was being made to round up itinerant Finns, an incident occurred involving four Finns sentenced to have their property confiscated and to serve in the Swedish army for burning the forests. The four agreed that if they were released from service in the army they would go to New Sweden, and permission was given for their transfer. Their property was supposed to be restored if they appeared at Gothenburg ready for the voyage.
"When the Charitas left Stockholm there were thirty-five persons aboard, including Lieutenant Kling and his family. Some were Finns and others Swedes, although their ethinic identities were not stated. Apparently individual arrangements were made with each prospective colonist; some were to be paid by the company as employees; some went on their own; some were given a small cash bounty before boarding the vessel. It was a rare instance where the names were recorded and general comments made about the persons themselves. Those comments have been abbreviated below to give the reader some understanding of the character of the colonists on that expedition: (list of various trades and names . . . ESKEL LARSSON, a deserter from the army, sent for punishment . . .
"The personnel and animals sailed from Stockholm to Gothenburg.
"On that voyage the Kalmar Nyckel served principally as a carrier of personnel and a warship to protect the Charitas from freebooters. Neither vessel carried gold or silver, but their animals and cargoes constituted commodities that a privateer could seize and readily sell in the Caribbean Islands. The two vessels left Gothenburg in July, the Kalmar Nyckel under the command of Andrian Jansen, a Dutchman from Saardam, and the Charitas under the command of Jan Jochimsen from Kappell Schleswig-Holstein . . .
"The colonists at Fort Christina were overjoyed on November 7, 1641, to see the two Swedish vessels entering the mouth of the Minquas Kill, and Ridder [commander of the fort] was delighted when the cargoes were unloaded with foodstuffs, bags of seeds, tools, building supplies, merchandise for the Indian trade, and the long-awaited farm animals. Almost everything he had requested was on the vessels, and, generally speaking, the new colonists provided most of the skills then needed. [For the new arrivals] New log cabins were built outside the fort on plots selected for settlement, and new land cleared and prepared for spring planting . . ."