Ludwig Sebald Rühle from Lilienstern

Ludwig Sebald Rühle von Lilienstern (born May 13, 1763 in Herborn , † 1788 in Elmina (now Ghana )) was a military and commercial assistant in the Dutch service.

Ludwig Sebald Rühle von Lilienstern was born on May 13, 1763 in Herborn in what was then the Principality of Nassau-Orange as the son of Captain Carl Christian Rühle von Lilienstern. His uncle, Sebald Rau, taught as a professor of oriental languages ​​and antiquity at the University of Utrecht , which was probably also the reason that Ludwig Sebald began studying in Utrecht . Some time later, however, he broke off his studies and switched to the Dutch military. But here, too, the young man found no fulfillment, so that at the age of twenty-three he entered the service of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and moved to the West African Gold Coast as an employee to try his luck here.

Rühle found support in the preparations for this in the person of a Mr. Reytsma, with whom Rühle had already come into contact in Utrecht. On his mediation and with his company, he then traveled in 1686 via Leiden and Delft to Middelburg , from where a ship was supposed to take him to the Gold Coast . Mr. Reytsma also referred Rühle to a Mr. Fondel, a man with a lot of African experience, who provided Rühle with the supplies necessary for the trip. Mr. Reytsma advanced the money for the purchases, but presented Rühle with a depressing bill after he had been sworn in as a company assistant and received two months' pay in advance on the occasion.

Elmina Fortress in the 19th century

After a delay of several months, the ship “Die gute Hoffnung” finally set sail with Rühle on October 24, 1786, from Middelburg towards the Guinea coast . On January 2, 1787, the ship reached Elmina.

Rühle once set out full of adventure to find his fortune on the Gold Coast, but it was all the more sobering for him when he was confronted with the reality on Elmina and the chances of surviving here. Together with his friend, Captain de Wespe, who had accompanied him on this trip and who also took up his service on Elmina with him, Rühle moved into a room that was supposed to serve as accommodation for 16 people. But they were the only two here. The commandant died shortly before his arrival, and the commandant's deputy died a few days after his arrival.

The high mortality rate at the fortress was above all the result of inadequate care and poor hygienic conditions. Only once a year did the company send a ship with food and goods for the needs of its employees. One can assume that most of the food will have spoiled after a while. At that time, the drinking water on Elmina was only rainwater from cisterns , in which it was collected during the rainy season for the rest of the year. In this context, too, it was not insignificant that most Europeans had prejudices against the local population and the food they produce. Rühle also expresses himself very contemptuously about "the bread of the negroes" because they made it from "Turkish wheat" (corn).

So it happened, as it had to, just four weeks after his arrival Rühle, like his roommate, Captain von Wespe, fell ill with "coastal fever". Both succumbed to the disease. On the margin of the last letter Rühle sent to his father home, the note, probably from the recipient, can be read: "died in August 1788."

literature

• Hans Doderer: The journey of Ludwig Sebald Rühle from Lilienstern to the Gold Coast in 1786 . In: Nassauische Annalen - Jahrbuch des Verein für Nassauische Altertumskunde und Geschichtsforschung 105, 1994, ISSN  0077-2887 , pp. 131–142