Battle of Copenhagen naval art
prints by artist Ivan Berryman.
The Battle of Copenhagen, 2nd April 1801 by Ivan Berryman.
The key to Nelsons victories always lay in his meticulous planning and the Battle of Copenghagen was no exception as he used his fleet to first destroy the Danish floating defences so that his bomb vessels could be brought up to bombard the city itself. The Danes eventually capitulated, but they had fought hard and over 2,000 men had died on both sides before the end of the battle. In this view, HMS Elephant, carrying the flag of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, dominates the scene as the battle gathers intensity. British ships depicted, left to right, are the Glatton (54), Elephant (74), Ganges (74) and Monarch (74)
Item Code : DHM1377
The Battle of Copenhagen, 2nd April 1801 by Ivan Berryman. - Editions Available
The history of nations has plenty of instances to offer of the very trifling causes by which war may be brought about, but none, perhaps, of such utter insignificance in its import as the incident that was answerable for that great Baltic drama whose central brilliant feature was the Battle of Copenhagen. There were, of course, political motives at work influencing and urging on the plucky little Scandinavian Power; that mad and brutal Russian monarch the Emperor Paul severely forced the Court of Denmark into an attitude of hostility, from which it would doubtless have far sooner refrained. But the direct causa belli was as follows: -
On the 25th of July 1800, a British squadron, consisting of three frigates, a sloop, and a lugger, fell in with a large Danish forty-gun frigate, the Freya, which was convoying two ships, two brigs, and two galliots. Denmark was at that period a neutral Power; England was engaged in conflict with every very nearly half of Europe. Orders had been given for British officers to search the ships of neutral Powers for contraband of war, with which there was reason to suspect our foes were being liberally supplied from these sources. In the exercise of his undoubted right, Captain Baker, of the twenty-eight gun frigate Nemesis, the senior officer of the little British squadron, hailed the Freya, and stated his intention of sending boats to board the vessels under convoy. Captain Krabbe, of the Dane, replied with warmth that if any such attempt were made he should unhesitatingly open fire upon the boats. This attitude could, of course, be productive of but one result; both threats were put into execution, and a general action ensued. The Freya was overpowered by the superior force against which she had to contend, and was obliged to submit; and the whole of the vessels, including the convoyed ships, made sail for the Downs, where they anchored, the Danish frigate, by command of Admiral Skeffington Lutwidge, keeping her colours flying. Unhappily, the affair had not passed off without bloodshed. The British loss was two men killed and several wounded; the Danes likewise had two men killed and five wounded.
