Peter Tordenskjold
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Peter Jansen Wessel (alt. spelling Peder), better known as Tordenskjold (lit. "thundershield"), but also known as Peter Wessel, Peter Tordenskjold, or Peter Tordenskiold, (October 28, 1691-November 20, 1720), was an eminent Norwegian naval officer in the service of the King of Denmark-Norway. He rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral in the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy for his services in the Great Northern War. In Denmark as well as in Norway he is considered one of the greatest naval heroes.
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[edit] Early life and career
Born in Trondheim in Norway, he was the tenth child of alderman Jan Wessel. Peter Wessel was a wild, unruly lad who gave his pious parents much trouble, eventually stowing away in a ship bound for Copenhagen. Here, the king's chaplain Dr Peder Jespersen befriended the boy and sent him on a voyage to the West Indies, and finally procured him a vacant cadetship. After further voyages, this time to the East Indies, Wessel was, on the July 7, 1711, appointed 2nd lieutenant in the Navy and shortly afterwards became the captain of a 4-gun sloop Ormen (The Serpent), in which he cruised about the Swedish coast picking up useful information about the enemy. He also commanded the 6-gun vessel Lindorm, and earlier, was 2nd on the 26-gun frigate Postillion.
[edit] Exploits in the Great Northern War
In June 1712 he was promoted to the 20-gun frigate Løvendals Gallej, against the advice of the Danish admiralty, which considered him unreliable. His patron was the Norwegian admiral baron Waldemar Løwendal, who was the first to recognize the young man's potential as a naval officer. Wessel was already renowned for two things: the audacity with which he attacked any Swedish vessels he came across regardless of odds, and his unique seamanship, which always enabled him to escape capture. The Great Northern War had now entered upon its later stage, when Sweden, beset on every side by foes, employed her fleet principally to transport troops and stores to her distressed German provinces. The audacity of Wessel impeded her at every point. He was continually snapping up transports, dashing into the fjords where her vessels lay concealed, and holding up her detached frigates.
On 26 June 1715, near Lindesnes, he encountered the frigate Olbing Galley, pierced for 36 guns but carrying 28, which had been equipped in England for the Swedes and was on its way to Gothenburg under the command of an English captain, Bactman (?). Wessel instantly attacked her but in the English captain he met a tough match . The combat lasted all day, was interrupted by nightfall, and renewed again indecisively the following morning, until Wessel and Bactman both ran out of ammunition. His crew suffered 7 killed and 21 wounded over about 10 hours of fighting.
Wessel’s free and easy ways won him many enemies in the Danish navy. He was accused of unnecessarily endangering his majesty’s war-ships in the affairs with the frigate and he was brought before a court-martial. But the spirit with which he defended himself and the contempt he poured on his less courageous comrades took the fancy of King Frederick IV of Denmark-Norway, who cancelled the proceedings and raised Wessel to the rank of captain. When, in 1715, the return of the Swedish King Charles XII of Sweden from Turkey to Stralsund put new life into the dispirited Swedish forces, Wessel distinguished himself in numerous engagements off the coast of Swedish Pomerania and did the enemy considerable damage by cutting out his frigates and destroying his transports. On returning to Denmark in the beginning of 1716 he was ennobled under the title of Tordenskjold ("Thundershield"). When in the course of 1716 Charles XII invaded Norway and laid siege to the fortress of Fredrikshald, Tordenskjold compelled him to raise the siege and retire to Sweden by pouncing upon the Swedish transport fleet, laden with ammunition and other military stores, which rode at anchor in the narrow and dangerous Dynekil Fjord, utterly destroying the Swedish fleet with little damage to himself (See Battle of Dynekilen),
For this, his greatest exploit, he was promoted to the rank of post captain, commanding the Kattegat squadron - but at the same time incurred the enmity of his superior officer Admiral Gabel, whom he had failed to take into his confidence. Tordenskjold’s first important command was the squadron with which he was entrusted in the beginning of 1717 for the purpose of destroying the Swedish Gothenburg squadron, which interrupted the communications between Denmark and Norway. Owing to the disloyalty of certain of his officers who resented serving under the young adventurer, Tordenskjold failed to do all that was expected of him. His enemies were not slow to take advantage of his partial failure. The old charge of criminal recklessness was revived against him at a second court-martial before which he was summoned in 1718, but his old patron Admiral Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve again intervened energetically in his behalf and the charge was quashed.
In December 1718 Tordenskjold brought to Frederick IV the welcome news of the death of Charles XII and was made a rear-admiral for his pains. Tordenskjold’s last feat of arms was his capture of the Swedish fortress of Carlsten at Marstrand, when he partially destroyed and partially captured the Gothenburg squadron which had so long eluded him. He was rewarded with the rank of vice-admiral.
[edit] Death by duelling
Tordenskjold did not long survive the termination of the war. On November 20, 1720 he was killed in a duel with a Livonian colonel, Jakob Axel Stael von Holstein. He fought von Holstein in a duel using nothing but a decorative rapier, whereas von Holstein was armed with a solid steel longsword (called a "Karolinerverge", a "Carolean sword"). Tordenskjold refused to back out, even though his sword was ridiculously inferior. This duel was encouraged by a dispute with von Holstein, whom Tordenskiold offended by labeling as a cheater at gambling. He mentioned the Hydra from Greek mythology, and asked the man if he were the owner of it. This dispute turned into a fight, which Tordenskiold won. When Stäel tried to pull a sword, he was unsuccessful, and Tordenskjold used the pommel of his own sword to beat him up. Stäel demanded a duel, and it was agreed that it were to be fought with pistols, a weapon that Tordenskjold was very skilled with. Instead, Stäel cheated and had it arranged so that it would be fought with swords instead - he tricked the man keeping the firearms to travel away, believing that the duel was cancelled. Tordenskjold only had his ceremonial rapier and was run through by his adversary, the blow slicing two arteries wide open. He stumbled a couple of steps backwards, and died in the arms of his servant Kold.
His corpse was brought to Copenhagen and was buried in the Church of Holmen without much ceremony, because dueling victims were not allowed a Christian burial according to Danish law of the time.
[edit] Influence
Although - Dynekilen excepted - Tordenskjold's victories were of far less importance than Sehested's at Stralsund and Gyldenløwe's at Rügen, he is certainly, after Charles XII, the most heroic figure of the Great Northern War.
He is mentioned by name both in the Norwegian national anthem and the Danish royal anthem.
The young admiral has been memorialized in a variety of fashions. His life has been retold in fiction and on film; the 1910 Danish motion picture Peter Tordenskjold was based on the novel by Danish writer Carit Etlar (1816-1900).
In 1993, Adam and James Price launched the two-act musical Tordenskjold with Oeystein Wiik as Peter Wessel. The musical has since then been performed in Gladsaxe, Aarhus, and the Danish Royal theater in Copenhagen.
The Royal Danish Navy has named several ships after him, including an early 20th Century coastal battleship, and the Niels Juel class corvette KDM Peter Tordenskiold (F356).
The Royal Norwegian Navy has also named ships after him and the Royal Norwegian Naval Training Establishment in Bergen is named KNM Tordenskjold.
Statues of him have been erected in Trondheim, Stavern, Oslo and Haakonsvern.
In the United States, Tordenskjold Township in the state of Minnesota was settled in 1871 by Danish brothers who named it after him.
[edit] External links
[edit] Books
- Adamson, H. (1959). Admiral Thunderbolt.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
