Sound Dues - how calculated?

[Buba]

How were Sound Dues calculated?
How did they change over time?
The wiki says "1-2% of cargo value, self assessed, but Authorities had right to buy entire cargo at the quoted price" i.e. as to avoid/limit under-reporting.
However, elsewere I've found references that the Sound Dues used deck area as part of fee calculations, thus driving the use of tumblehome designs.

 

[Navn Ukjent]

The Sound Dues changed several times as time went on.

Eric of Pommern (king of Denmark) instituted the Sound Dues sometime between 1425 and 1429, and the rate was one English Noble for each large ship (smaller ships were not taxed). This was of course not popular, and several cities of the Hanseatic League managed to convince the Danes to reduce the rate for themselves.

King Christoffer of Bayern added a new tax to the dues in 1444, in the form of administrative fees to the duty office in Helsingør.

In 1472 King Hans added a tax for wine, and in 1475 a tax for salt was added. In 1508 there was also a change in the main Sound Due, so that ships with ballast paid less than loaded ships.

In 1517 King Christian II made a major change in the Dues, where ships now had to pay based on their tonnage (carrying capacity). It started out at one Gylden for every tenth "læst", which is an old measurment for ship volume. It varied according to the load and was not standarised between countries, which made things difficult. It can be approximated to 2.5 metric tons, but the actual measurment changed over time! In 1519 King Christian II also established some extra dues for each ship in order to pay for the lighthouse keepers.

In 1537 King Christian III changed things again, when he added a tax for copper, and in 1548 he changed the main Sound Dues to 1% of the value of the unprivileged goods. The admin fees and the lighthouse keeper fees were based on the ships tonnage, and there were still special dues for certain types of goods. In addition several treaties adjusted or removed the dues for various countries.

After this there were multiple changes to the Sound Dues, but it seems that it remained as a percentage of the value of the goods in addition to a fee based on tonnage and special taxes for some types of goods.

You can read more on the Danish Wikipedia page - Øresundstolden - Wikipedia, den frie encyklopædi
and you can look up the actual records of the Dues that were paid here - Sound Toll Registers online

 

[Buba]

Thanks!
Sadly no can read Danish
Looks that "deck area taxed" and its impact on ship design (Go tumblehome!) seems to be an urban legend?

 

[Navn Ukjent]

You can run the text through Google Translate and get the gist of it.

I did not see any mention of deck area taxed, but they were used in order to calculate the tonnage of the ships. To keep things simple, they implemented the following regulations in 1632:

et skib 100 fod langt over stavn, 23 fod bredt og 13 fod dybt til 100 læster
et skib 90 fod langt over stavn, 22 fod bredt og 11 fod dybt til 90 læster
et skib 84 fod langt over stavn, 22¼ fod bredt og 11¼ fod dybt til 80 læster
et skib 74 fod langt over stavn, 20 1½ qu. fod bredt og 12 fod dybt til 70 læster
et skib 70 fod langt over stavn, 21 fod bredt og 10½ fod dybt til 60 læster
et skib 64 fod langt over stavn, 20 fod bredt og 10¼ fod dybt til 50 læster
et skib 64 fod langt over stavn, 17 fod bredt og 9 fod ½ qu. dybt til 40 læster

The first number is the keel length, the second is the width and the third is the depth (in feet). The last number is the tonnage (læst).

I have not read about this changing ship design, and it seems unlikely that it would happen. The Danes were quick to adjust the Sound Dues when needed, and such a change in ship design would quickly loose any advantage.

 

[Buba]

Lovely!
Now the question - width ... but where?
If at deck and not waterline level, then there could be (some) truth to the Dues pushing tumblehomes.
But like you said the Dues were not set in stone and were modified often, so this almost certainly is an urban legend.

 

[Navn Ukjent]

It seems they used the average width and depth of the ship. In the 1670's they used the following formula for ships loaded with timber:

L x (B1+B2+B3) x (D1+D2+D3) / 242½ x 3 x 3

It seems they had three spots where they measured the width and the depth, and then multiplied those and divided by three. The number 242½ was used the get the correct dues at that time (for timber).