Albert

"Albert was now approaching his sixtieth year. A rich but rather lonely man, he missed the society ofReuben and Arthur and secretly grieved over the defection of the brother with whom he had shared his boyhood. E. D. Sassoon & Co. had started to compete significantly in opium and Indian yarn. According to reports from Shanghai, they were also investing heavily in real estate. In Fenchurch Street, London, they had quickly opened an office, first managed by Jacob and then by his younger brothers who each served his time in China in the traditional fashion."

"Additionally, I can add a fourth potential threat, which never actually became so serious. Johan Bonnier, brother of Albert, commonly called Joja and perhaps undeservedly regarded as something of the black sheep of the family, early on told me that I would now get the job he had strived for his whole life. This was a clear program statement that I somewhat underestimated at the time, as it was indeed a declaration of war. On the DN ship, there was thus a loose cannon that could be fired or explode at any time and place. This would happen a couple of times during and after my tenure."