In the early years of French Louisiana, Charles d'Arensbourg was the first commander and judge of the German Coast, the third oldest German settlement in the United States. His life in Europe has been told with scant details, myths and imaginations in Louisiana folklore for two hundred years. Was he a nobleman? Did he fight in the Battle at Poltava? Did the King give him his sword? Was he a mercenary soldier? What was the political scandal at the Swedish-Pomeranian mint that impoverished his family? Even his name and birthplace caused controversy. Embark on a journey of discovery as research identifies the true life and family of this Louisiana pioneer using numismatics and the histories of seventeenth and eighteenth century Sweden and Germany to follow d'Arensbourg through poverty, family tragedy, the Great Northern War and finally, his Atlantic crossing to the New World.