Joachim Nettelbeck

Born in 1738 in Kolberg, Joachim Nettelbeck went to sea at a young age and spent much of his life in maritime trade. Accounts of his career describe wide-ranging voyages and also connect him to the slave trade, a part of his life that makes his legacy deeply complicated.

He is especially remembered for his role in the defense of Kolberg in 1807, when the town resisted Napoleon's forces. Later in life he became well known through memoirs and autobiographical writings, which presented his adventures in his own dramatic voice and helped shape his reputation as a stubborn, energetic citizen.

Nettelbeck died in 1824. Today he is remembered both as a striking witness to the seafaring world of the eighteenth century and as a figure whose life reflects the moral contradictions of his era.