Ingela Gathenhielm

Ingela Olofsdotter Gathenhielm née Hammar, (11 September 1692 – 29 April 1729), was a Swedish privateer in service of King Charles XII of Sweden during the Great Northern War.

Biography

From 1711, Ingela was married to the privateer and pirate Lars Gathenhielm, who in 1710 had received permission from the king to attack and plunder ships from enemy nations on the Baltic Sea (and also, as it was said, often attacked other ships as well) and sold the valuables of the ship in Dunkerque (or Dunkirk) in northern France. Lars was making a fortune, and was ennobled in 1715.

Ingela and Lars lived on adjacent farms as children and met at young age. The couple married and had five children together. Ingela is believed to have been not only Lars' wife, but also his companion in his professional life, and the mastermind of their privateering and piracy. They ran their affairs from a base in Gothenburg. When her husband died in 1718, Ingela took over his privateering (and his alleged pirate empire) and continued its business. She was called the Shipping Queen.

Swedish privateering ended after the peace treaty with Denmark in 1720 and Russia in 1721. Ingela married the lieutenant Isak Browald in 1722. In 1729, she was buried alongside her first husband in Onsala, Sweden, beneath the tower of the church.

References

• https://web.archive.org/web/20100812142016/http://www.ericsonwolke.se/las_mer_lasse_i_gatan.htm
• http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=97619594-9250-4e8b-bd79-18262a683f31
• Göteborg - handbok för resande, Octavia Carlén 1869 s.125-130
• Berättelser ur Göteborgs Historia under envåldstiden, H.Fröding 1922 s.300-315
• Majornas Kyrkokrönika, Per Pehrsson 1926
• Det forna Majorna, Axel Rosén 1940
• Kronologiska anteckningar om viktigare händelser i Göteborg 1619-1982, Göteborgs Hembygdsförbund 1982
• Göteborg berättar, Bengt A. Öhnander 1991
• Göteborgs gatunamn, Greta Baum 2001
• Lasse i Gatan - Kaparkriget och det svenska stormaktsväldets fall, Militärhistoriker Lars Ericson/Historiska Media 1997 s.77-87
• Ingela Hammar, Rötter - Anbytarforum