page_title: Jean Abraham Grill
section_title: In Canton
hierarchical_section_title: Jean Abraham Grill / In Canton
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Le port de Macao en 1787, au moment du passage de l'expédition de La Pérouse.
context_page_description: Jean Abraham Grill, sometimes called Johan Abraham Grill, was a Swedish merchant, supercargo, director of the Swedish East India Company and ironmaster at Godegård with several factories.
  Grill journeyed to China twice as the representative for the SOIC. He lived in Canton as well as Macao for a total of almost ten years, doing trade for the company during the arrival of three Swedish ships. In China he lived the life of an adventurer; survived a shipwreck, traded with other East Asian countries together with his partner Michael Grubb and smuggled opium from India to China.
  He returned to Sweden in 1768, a wealthy man and lived the rest of his life in Swedish high society, writing minor essays about his travels as member of the Royal Swedish Academies of Sciences and Music. He married Lovisa Ulrika Lüning and bought the Godegård Manor and several ironworks, which he renovated and improved. When Grill died in 1792, his wife took over his business and ran the ironworks and factories.
  His most notable legacy is the notes, correspondence, accounts, cargo lists and books he kept during his life. They are preserved in the Godegård Archive and in the Gothenburg University Library.
context_section_description: Grill followed his uncle Claes' advice and went to Canton as third supercargo on the Fredric Adolph in 1761, during the second carter of the SOIC. On 3 September 1761, the ship ran aground at the Pratas Islands in the South China Sea. The ship's captain, Daniel Shierman, did what he could to lighten the ship and tried to get it afloat again, but to no avail. Seven hours later the ship was a wreck, resting on the rocks and everyone aboard went into the boats. Twenty men stayed behind to guard the ship, while 122 men, including Grill, immediately set off for the nearest port. Five days later they landed on the Chinese mainland, in the "province of Catsi"  [sic], where they eventually got permission from the Chinese authorities to proceed to Canton. In Canton they met with the men left to guard the ship, now 17 in number, who had arrived two weeks earlier. Three expeditions with divers, one of them led by Grill, went to recover the cargo from the wreck. They managed to salvage about two-thirds of the silver, tin, iron, coral, lead and copper from the cargo, plus one cat and a dog.
  After the shipwreck, Grill remained in Canton as resident supercargo for seven years. As such he was the company's representative in Canton, contacting Chinese merchants as well as buying goods and cargo for the ships. He was supercargo for the arrival of three more ships of the SIOC: the Stockholms Slott (outward journey) in 1762, the Stockholms Slott (resident supercargo in Canton) in 1765 and the Cron Prins Gustaf (journey home) 1768. One of his tasks in Canton was to make sure that the Swedish factory at the Thirteen Factories was in good order and maintained. The Swedes rented factories or houses from the mandarins at other locations as well, but the one on 13:e Faktorigatan (the 13th Factory street) operated as their main building. Grills records of the Swedish factory are detailed and provide good insight into life in Canton at that time.
  He also started a successful private company in partnership with the older and more experienced Michael Grubb, one of the directors of the SOIC and founder of the first Swedish trading office in Canton. They traded in Canton and Macao, which technically was against the rules and regulations in the charter of the SOIC. Grill took advantage of the fact that his father was a director of the SOIC, and until his father's death shipped his own goods on board SOIC ships. From Europe the ships brought objets d'art, corals from the Mediterranean Sea, expensive clocks and other mechanical automatons known to the Chinese as sing-songs. Such goods were appreciated by the Emperor and the rich mandarins.
  The Grubb-Grill company used Chinese junks to trade with India, Java, Indochina, Philippines and Japan. From these places they traded in Japanese silk, pigments, spices, gold and silver treads, pearls and lacquerware. The most profitable product in that trade was opium, the smuggling of which became Grill's own private business. During his time in Canton he smuggled "considerable quantities" from India to Macao. It is documented that he in 1767 received a shipment of 150 chests of opium sent from Madras (now known as Chennai) by Jacob Hahr, another supercargo. Consequently, Grill became Sweden's first major drug runner.
  The resident supercargo was responsible for buying goods such as tea, porcelain, silk, arrack, sago and miscellaneous for the next ship arriving from Sweden. The SOIC traded mainly with the Chinese merchant Puankhequa, who had his factory next to the Swedish, and judging from their letters, Puankhequa and Grill became friends. Grill was entrusted with funds from the SOIC for buying tea and other goods during off-season when the price was at its lowest. He bought most of the tea from Puankhequa, and several contracts are preserved. However, he did not buy the tea from the Chinese merchant on the SOIC's behalf but instead bought it through his own company and sold it on to the SOIC at a slightly higher price. After some time the SOIC became suspicious and director David Sandberg was sent to Canton to inves
caption: Macao harbour, 1787
exif: {}