The reiterated appeals of Governor Printz to his superiors had begun at length to produce their effect, and Aug. 13, 1653, Queen Christina ordered the Admiralty to equip the ship “Vismar” for the expedition to New Sweden which had been projected (and for which “Svanen” had been selected) the previous year. Three hundred persons were to take part in it, and rigging was to be procured for the vessel which had been built on the Delaware. The same day, also, the College of War was enjoined to supply ammunition for the defence of the settlement. The College of Commerce, which was now fully organized, had, by her Majesty’s desire, assumed the direction of the colony, and the honor of restoring and actively conducting its affairs belongs to the President of that College, Erik, son of Axel, Oxenstjerna.
On the 25th of August Sven Schute was commanded to enrol fifty soldiers as emigrants, preferring such as possessed mechanical skill, sending them to Stockholm, besides two hundred and fifty persons, including some women, to be obtained in the forests of Värmland and Dal. Instead of the “Vismar,” the ship “Örnen” (the Eagle) was supplied by the Admiralty, which was ready to receive her cargo by autumn, and was put under the command of Johan Bockhorn, the mate of the ill-fated “Kattan;” while the West India Company fitted out “Gyllene Hajen,” which had borne the sixth expedition to New Sweden, to be commanded by Hans Amundson, who, as Captain of the Navy, was to superintend the construction of vessels and have charge of the defences of the colony. Schute was to accompany the expedition as “Captain in the country, and particularly over the emigrants to be sent out on ‘Örnen,’” both he and Amundson having been granted patents for land on the Delaware.[932]
Not aware that Printz had already left New Sweden, the Queen wrote a letter, December 12, permitting him to come home, but deprecating his doing so until arrangements could be made in regard to his successor; and the same day Johan Claesson Rising, the Secretary of the College of Commerce, was appointed Commissary and Assistant-Councillor to the Governor, at an annual salary of twelve hundred daler-silfver, besides receiving fifteen hundred daler-silfver for the expenses of his voyage, with the privilege of resuming his position in the College if he returned to Sweden.
He was also granted as much land in New Sweden as he could cultivate with twenty or thirty peasants, and received a Memoir from his sovereign, as well as Instructions from the College of Commerce, in twenty-four articles, signed by Erik Oxenstjerna and Christer Bonde on the 15th, prescribing his duties in the colony. He was to aid Printz in the administration of justice and the promotion of agriculture, trade, fishing, and so forth; and to endeavor to extend the settlement, encouraging the immigration of worthy neighbors of other nations. The Dutch were to be peacefully removed from Fort Casimir and the vicinity, if possible, care being taken that the English did not obtain a foothold on the Delaware; and a fort might be built, if needed, at the mouth of the river. On the way to America another commission was to be executed by Captain Amundson, in obtaining from the Spaniards at Porto Rico compensation for “Kattan.”
The final preparations for the departure of the ninth expedition to New Sweden were made under the directions of the book-keeper Hans Kramer, in Stockholm, and Admiral Thijssen Anckerhelm at Gottenburg, where “Örnen” remained for several months awaiting the arrival of “Gyllene Hajen” from the capital. This did not occur, however, until the close of January, 1654; and the ship having met with such disasters at Öresund as necessitated her stopping for repairs before she could continue her journey, “Örnen” was forced to sail alone. On the 27th of that month the emigrants, numbering (with women and children) three hundred and fifty souls, swore allegiance to their sovereign and to the West India Company, and on February 2 weighed anchor for the Delaware. No fewer than a hundred families, who had sold all their property in expectation of uniting in the expedition, were obliged to stay behind for lack of room. Besides Commissary Rising and Captain Schute, Elias Gyllengren, who had accompanied Governor Printz to New Sweden, sailed on this vessel, with the commission of lieutenant.