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. He was making a fortune, and was ennobled in 1715.

Ingela had met Lars when they were children, as the farms of their parents were next to each other. They had five children, and she is believed to have been not only his wife but also his companion in his professional life, and the brain behind a lot of his plans as a privateer and pirate. They both ran the affairs from their base in Gothenburg. When her husband died in 1718, Ingela took over his Privateering (and his alleged Pirate empire), continued its business and also expanded it during the remaining war. 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, and in 1729 was buried with her first husband in Onsala.

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