ABSTRACT
From the personal point of view, catastrophes are often uncontrollable and unexpected incidents that inflict powerlessness and fear of the future in its victims. In this chapter, the personal catastrophe is caused by a sudden death within a burgher family and the fear of social decline and economic bankruptcy—in other words fear of losing the family credit. The chapter deals with the death of a shipmaster, Carl Johan Reinhold Thornberg. It explains how personal economic failures not only affected individuals but also spread much further into families, to relatives and to the surrounding communities. The chapter shows how other members of the local burgher community were morally obliged to help fellow men and women in time of economic turmoil and make sure that the reputation of the whole community remained undamaged by these personal catastrophes. In addition, the analysis of the communal misfortune illustrates the gendered division of the burgher community and their sources of livelihood.
