New Sweden. By doing so, he hoped to avoid paying the Dano-Norwegian Sound Tolls on all foreign merchantmen crossing the Sound. He engaged the former diamond cutter Peter Minuit to command the expedition, without the knowledge or permission of the WIC. Blommaert suggested to Oxenstierna to take part in the WIC, and organize from Gothenburg and trade on Spanish and Portuguese ports. Blommaert was interested in seizing Spanish ships, which sailed from the East or West-Indies to Cadiz or Seville, to make his expeditions and colonization more profitable. In November 1637 two ships belonging to the Swedish South Company with crew and settlers left Gothenburg. Because of a storm the ships could get around Scotland; after a month at sea one arrived at Texel the other at Medemblik. The damage was provisionally repaired; sails and victuals (butter, bread, and beer) needed to be bought. Having arrived on Swedes' Landing on 29 March Minuit acted as he had done before, he did not conquer the land by force but bought it legally from the Lenape or Minqua Indians. What happened next is not very clear. (It seems he was hardly involved in building Fort Christina). Minuit left the colony mid-June, 1638 and sailed to the Caribbean island of St. Christopher where he arrived in early July to barter salt, a ship's cargo of wine and liquor for tobacco. (Meanwhile Cornelis Jol attempted to capture the Spanish treasure fleet near Cuba with four ships but didn't succeed to the disappointment of Blommaert.) On 5 August 1638 Minuit drowned during a hurricane at St. Christopher (today's St. Kitts). About 20 ships drifted out of the harbour. One ship sank near the Azores, the Kalmar arrived without a mast. A second voyage, which departed on February7, 1640, and arrived at Fort Christina on April17, brought additional settlers for New Sweden. As the two expeditions turned out to be unprofitable for Blommaert, he withdrew in 1641. In 1639 Blommaert and Isaac Coymans sold tobacco and sugar; they were accused of cheating as there were a couple of stones in one of the cases and problems with the tobacco. In 1640 Portuguese Restoration War improved the situation for the Dutch. Blommaert was involved in mining in Dutch Brazil. In 1641 the Zwaanendael Colony was sold to Sweden; all the participants agreed on an equal share. A ship with 211 slaves arrived in Brazil. In 1642 with