BILLE, MICHAEL.

Beqvem Skibs=Journal=Bog, (i Steentryk). Dens indretning og Brug.

Kjöbenhavn, Thieles Bogtrykkeri, 1837. 8vo. In later blue paper covered boards. Round title-label to upper part of front board. Upper part of spine missing the paper and front board partly detached. Stamp to title-page, otherwise internally fine. 20 pp. + 2 folded tables.

The rare first edition of Bille's work on how to keep a logbook.

Michael Johannes Petronius Bille was a Danish-Norwegian, and Prussian naval officer born 8 November 1769 in Stege on the Danish Island of Møn into a naval family which had produced and would produce Danish admirals.
Over fifteen years he also served as a teacher of mathematics and astronomy at the Seekadettenakademiet (Dansk Søværnets Officersskole). From 1807-1811, he served as a captain stationed in Kristiansand in charge of the gunboat squadron (Roflotillen). In 1812-1813 he commanded a French warship in the Scheldt. From 1815 he served as pilot inspector in Helsingør until he entered Prussian service in 1820.

In 1821 he began a very fruitful career as director of the Prussian Navigationsschule in Danzig. After three years he moved the school into a building that lay outside Danzig at the mouth of the Radaune River because the St. Jacob Church was inadequate. The school was then assigned to the war schooner Stralsund commanded by Longé. From 1825 the school also had the gunboat Danzig. Bille and the vessels were under the authority of the Ministry of War in Berlin. This may be seen as the beginning of the Prussian Navy.

Order-nr.: 58356