Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1
1783-02
11. Depart de Gottenbourg a 8. heures du matin. Nous arrivames á Copenhague le 15. à 8 heures du soir.1
Times of departure and arrival vary slightly from the main entries (above).
JQA's return to The Hague from Copenhagen, sketchily presented in this and
the following two entries in his Diary, was marked with numerous delays, which
characterized his entire journey from St. Petersburg. Arriving in the Danish capital on 15
Feb., he decided to go to Kiel by boat to avoid bad roads and an expensive fare. But after
he had waited for nearly three weeks for a good wind, the harbor froze up and he was
obliged to go to Hamburg by land. Arriving there on or about 10 March, he stayed for nearly
a month before traveling to Bremen, where he remained four days before continuing his
journey to Amsterdam. During his stay in the two German cities, he studied the commercial
life and concluded that Hamburg would “carry on hereafter a great deal of Trade with
America.” JQA arrived in Amsterdam on 15 April and settled in The Hague at his
father's residence, the Hôtel des Etats Unis, on 21 April (JQA to
JA, 20 Feb.,
Diary
and Autobiography
, 3:ix–x).