Ole Feldbaek - The Battle of Copenhagen, 1801

First published 1985 by Politikens Forlag A/S
Copenhagen, Denmark
under the title Slaget p Reden

First published in Great Britain 2002 by
LEO COOPER
an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street, Barnsley
South Yorkshire, S70 2AS

Copyright Politikens Forlag A/S 1985/2003

9781783409471

A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.

Typeset in 11/13pt Plantin by
Phoenix Typesetting, Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

Printed and bound by
CPI UK

This book is based on considerably more sources, published and unpublished, than any previous account of the events culminating in the Battle of Copenhagen. The British and Danish sources are, naturally enough, the most prominent; but also included are Swedish, French, Russian and Prussian sources. They explain the complex major politics of the time, without which 2 April 1801 has no meaningful explanation.

The book was first published in Danish in 1985 and reprinted in 2001. HM Queen Margrethe II graciously awarded me the Amalienborg Medal and generously provided funds for the books translation into English.

There are others to whom I should like to express my thanks. The British Ambassador to Denmark, Philip Astley, and his Defence Attach, Commander Andrew Gordon Lennox, for all their support, and the committee of the 1805 Club in England for their encouragement and enthusiasm.

Maps and illustrations have been generously provided by the Royal Danish Naval Museum and by an anonymous fund; to them I also express my thanks.

And finally, to Tony Wedgwood for convincing me that the book should be translated. With his ability to keep one eye on detail and the other on the overall picture, his sure instinct for my language and mastery of his own, and his naval interest and background, he has succeeded in turning a Danish book into an English book.

We learn through stories, we remember things through stories and we view established facts in a different way through stories. This story, this history, has long been sadly lacking from the shelves if the Battle of Copenhagen, and the events leading up to it, were to be fully understood; it tells the same story but from a different viewpoint, that of the Danes, using source material that has never before been published. It is particularly fitting that the English translation was completed on 2 April 2001, the 200th anniversary of the battle.

Without the help, support and encouragement of many people, it would never have seen the light of day and to them I extend my sincere thanks.

First and foremost to Professor Ole Feldbk for allowing a job of work to become a game and being so generous in the freedom he gave me to relate his story in a different language.

And to my dear friend Commander Andrew Gordon Lennox RN, to whom I dedicate this work. He simply refused to accept that it would not happen and persuaded a chain of people, including Philip Astley, the British Ambassador to the Court of Denmark, to turn every stone to find financial support.

This duly came from Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henriks Foundation, to whom I offer my undying thanks.

To Colin White, then Deputy Director of the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth, for correcting my greatest blunders and sharing his encyclopaedic knowledge.

Finally, to Lieutenant Commander Ted Atkinson RNR, to whom naval history is an obsession, for locating Pen & Sword Books.

The morning watch on Monday 30 March was cold and grey on board the hulk Prvestenen . As was normal for the time of year, temperatures during the night had hovered uncertainly around freezing point. And the officer of the day, 31-year-old Lieutenant Michael Bille, was thanking his lucky stars for the providence he had shown in equipping himself with a thick, fur-lined coat a week before when he received orders to make himself ready, at an hours notice, to go to war.

He had appeared on deck at four, just as the guard ship Elefanten , moored in Kronlbet, had fired her duty shot to welcome the morning. At that time the ships company was still abed, slumbering in their hammocks, shortly to be rudely awakened to a new day. The people were shaken, hammocks lashed and stowed and breakfast almost over. There was a fresh wind blowing from the north. The sun was not yet up that trivial astronomical event would not take place until shortly before six but it was light enough to get ones bearings. Normally, at this time of year, Copenhagen Roads would be deserted; in the last month, however, it had become the arena of hectic activity.

In 1801 the Prvestenen was a reminder of glorious days long gone. She had been launched in 1767 from the Nyholm slips, with great festivity and celebration, the only three-decker in the fleet, a ship of power and pomp and pride bearing the name of the young king, Christian VII. Just over twenty-five years later, in 1793, the mighty 90-gunner was decommissioned; the upper gun deck was removed and the massive hull converted to a floating battery with an upper and lower gun deck. When the decision was made to moor her in the Kings Deep, the Admiralty had not seen it fitting for the ship to bear the kings name any longer and she was renamed Prvestenen . Which did not for one moment make her any the weaker she still had the most powerful artillery of any vessel moored in the Kings Deep. On the upper deck she sported twenty-eight 24-pounders. On the lower deck, where Michael Bille took charge at action stations, there were twenty-eight of the navys heaviest artillery pieces, the massive 36-pounders.