Battle of Copenhagen (1807)

The Second Battle of Copenhagen (or the Bombardment of Copenhagen) (16 August – 7 September 1807) was a British bombardment of the Danish capital, Copenhagen, in order to capture or destroy the Dano-Norwegian fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. The incident led to the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War of 1807, which ended with the Treaty of Örebro in 1812.

Britain's first response to Napoleon's Continental System was to launch a major naval attack on Denmark. Although ostensibly neutral, Denmark was under heavy French pressure to pledge its fleet to Napoleon. In September 1807, the Royal Navy bombarded Copenhagen, seizing the Danish fleet and assured use of the sea lanes in the North Sea and Baltic Sea for the British merchant fleet. A consequence of the attack was that Denmark did join the Continental System and the war on the side of France, but without a fleet it had little to offer.

The attack gave rise to the term to ''Copenhagenize''.

Background

Despite the defeat and loss of many ships in the first Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Denmark-Norway, possessing Jutland, Norway, Greenland, Schleswig-Holstein, Iceland and several smaller territories, still maintained a considerable navy. The majority of the Danish Army, under the Crown Prince, was at this time defending the southern border against possible attack from the French.

There was concern in Britain that Napoleon might try to force Denmark to close the Baltic Sea to British ships, perhaps by marching French troops into Zealand. The British believed that access to the Baltic was "vitally important to Britain" for trade as well as a major source of necessary raw materials for building and maintaining warships and that it gave the Royal Navy access to help Britain's allies Sweden and (before Tilsit) Russia against France. The British thought that after Prussia had been defeated in December 1806, Denmark's independence looked increasingly under threat from France. George Canning's predecessor as Foreign Secretary, Lord Howick, had tried unsuccessfully to persuade Denmark into a secret alliance with Britain and Sweden.

On 21 January 1807, Lord Hawkesbury told the House of Lords that he had received information from someone on the Continent "that there were secret engagements in the Treaty of Tilsit to employ the navies of Denmark and Portugal against this country". He refused to publish the source because he said it would endanger their lives.

The reports of French diplomats and merchants in northern Europe made the British government uneasy, and by mid-July, the British believed that the French intended to invade Holstein in order to use Denmark against Britain. Some reports suggested that the Danes had secretly agreed to this. The Cabinet decided to act, and on 14 July Lord Mulgrave obtained from the King permission to send a naval force of 21 to 22 ships to the Kattegat for surveillance of the Danish navy in order to pursue "prompt and vigorous operations" if that seemed necessary. The Cabinet decided on 18 July to send Francis Jackson on a secret mission to Copenhagen to persuade Denmark to give its fleet to Britain. That same day, the Admiralty issued an order for more than 50 ships to sail for "particular service" under Admiral James Gambier. On 19 July, Lord Castlereagh, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, ordered General Lord Cathcart at Stralsund to go with his troops to the Sound where they would get reinforcements.

During the night of 21/22 July, Canning received intelligence from Tilsit that Napoleon had tried to persuade Alexander I of Russia to form a maritime league with Denmark and Portugal against Britain. Spencer Perceval, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, wrote a memorandum setting out the government's case for sending forces to Copenhagen: "The intelligence from so many and such various sources" that Napoleon's intent was to force Denmark into war against Britain could not be doubted. "Nay, the fact that he has openly avowed such intention in an interview with the Emperor of Russia is brought to this country in such a way as it cannot be doubted. Under such circumstances it would be madness, it would be idiotic... to wait for an overt act". Historian Hilary Barnes notes that Canning had no knowledge of the secret articles of the Treaty of Tilsit. He argues that Canning's decision was "rash, calamitous, and lacking in understanding of the Danes and of Danish foreign policy."

The British assembled a force of 25,000 troops, and the vanguard sailed on 30 July; Jackson set out the next day. Canning offered Denmark a treaty of alliance and mutual defence, with a convention signed for the return of the fleet after the war, the protection of 21 British warships and a subsidy for how many soldiers Denmark kept standing. On 31 July, Napoleon ordered Talleyrand to tell Denmark to prepare for war against Britain or else Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte would invade Holstein. Neither Talleyrand nor Jackson persuaded the Danes to end their neutrality, so Jackson went back to the British fleet assembled in the Sound on 15 August. The British published a proclamation demanding the deposit of the Danish fleet; the Danes responded with "what amounted to a declaration of war".

As the first move in the campaign a division of twenty-nine vessels under Commodore Richard Goodwin Keats was detached to the great belt with instructions to seal the island of Zealand off from Funen and the west. Within a week some 200 miles of coast had been secured and the Danish army in Holstein prevented from passing into Zealand to lend support. The city of Copenhagen was left to its own resources to defend itself from a British force of 25,000.

On 12 August, the 32-gun Danish frigate '' Friderichsværn'' sailed for Norway from Elsinor. Admiral Lord Gambier sent the 74-gun third-rate and the 22-gun sixth-rate after her, even though war had not yet been declared. ''Comus'' was much faster than ''Defence'' in the light winds and so outdistanced her. On 15 August, ''Comus'' caught ''Friderichsværn'' off Marstrand and captured her. The British took her into service as HMS ''Frederikscoarn''.

Bombardment

The British troops under General Lord Cathcart were organised as follows:
* Cavalry Brigade: Major General von Linsingen, 1st, 2nd, 3rd Light Dragoons King's German Legion
* Artillery & Engineers: Major General Blomefield, 84 field guns and 101 siege guns
** John May's Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Artillery
** James Cockburn's Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Artillery
** Robert Birch's Company, 2nd Battalion, Royal Artillery
** John Taylor's Company, 3rd Battalion, Royal Artillery
** Charles Younghusband's Company, 3rd Battalion, Royal Artillery
** John Kattlewell's Company, 3rd Battalion, Royal Artillery
** Peter Fyers' Company, 3rd Battalion, Royal Artillery
** P. Meadow's Company, 8th Battalion, Royal Artillery
* First Division: Lieutenant General Sir George Ludlow
** Guards Brigade: Major General Edward Finch, 1/ Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, 1/3rd Regiment of Foot Guards
** 1st Brigade: Brigadier General Warde, 1/28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, 1/ 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameron Highlanders)
* Second Division: Lieutenant General Sir David Baird
** 2nd Brigade: Major General Grosvenor, 1/4th (The King's Own) Regiment of Foot, 1/ 23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers)
** 3rd Brigade: Major General Spencer, 1/32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot, 1/50th (Queen's Own) Regiment of Foot, 1/82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers)
** 4th Brigade: Brigadier General Macfarlane, 1/7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers), 1/ 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot
* Reserve: Major General Sir Arthur Wellesley
** Brigadier General Stewart, 1/43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot, 2/52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot, 1/92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, 5 coys. 1/95th Rifles, 2/95th Rifles
* KGL Division: Major General van Drechel
** 1st Brigade: Colonel du Plat, 6th, 7th, 8th Line Batts.
** 2nd Brigade: Colonel von Drieburg, 3rd, 4th, 5th Line Batts.
** 3rd Brigade: Colonel von Barsse, 1st and 2nd Line Batts.
** 4th Brigade: Colonel von Alten, 1st and 2nd Light Batts.

The Danish forces in the city amounted to 5,000 regular troops and a similar number of militias. Most of the civilian inhabitants of Copenhagen were evacuated in the few days before Copenhagen was completely invested.

On 26 August, General Wellesley was detached with his reserve and two light brigades of British artillery, as well as one battalion, eight squadrons and one troop of horse artillery from the King's German Legion (KGL) to disperse a force which had been sent to relieve the beleaguered city. On 29 August, at the rivulet of Køge, this significant British force swiftly overpowered the Danish troops, which amounted to only three or four regular battalions and some cavalry (see Battle of Køge).

The Danes rejected British demands, so the Royal Navy fleet under the command of Admiral Gambier bombarded the city from 2 to 5 September. In addition to the military casualties incurred by the Danish army, the bombardment killed roughly 195 civilians and injured 768.

The bombardment included 300 Congreve rockets, which caused fires. Due to the civilian evacuation, the normal firefighting arrangements were ineffective; over a thousand buildings were burned.

On 5 September, the Danes sued for peace, and the capitulation was signed on 7 September. Denmark agreed to surrender its navy and its naval stores. In return, the British undertook to leave Copenhagen within six weeks.

Ernst Peymann, the Danish Commander, had been under orders from the Crown Prince to burn the Danish fleet, which he failed to do, though the reason for his failure is unknown.

Thus, on 7 September Peymann surrendered the fleet (eighteen ships of the line, eleven frigates, two smaller ships, two ship-sloops, seven brig-sloops, two brigs, one schooner and twenty-six gunboats). In addition, the British broke up or destroyed three 74-gun ships of the line on the stocks, along with two of the ships-of-the-fleet and two elderly frigates.

After her capture, one ex-Danish ship of the line, ''Neptunos'', ran aground and was burnt on or near the island of Hven. Then, when a storm arose in the Kattegat, the British destroyed or abandoned twenty-three of the captured gunboats. The British added the fifteen captured ships of the line that reached Britain to the British Navy but only four—''Christian VII'' 80, ''Dannemark'' 74, ''Norge'' 74 and ''Princess Carolina'' 74—saw subsequent active service.

On 21 October, the British fleet left Copenhagen for the United Kingdom. However, the war continued until 1814, when the Treaty of Kiel was signed.

File:Natten mellem 3 og 4 september 1807.jpg, Contemporary Danish painting of the bombardment at night
File:Copenhagen on fire 1807 by CW Eckersberg.jpg, An illustration by C.W. Eckersberg of the Church of Our Lady being bombarded
File:Gråbrødre Torv efter bombardementet 1807.jpg, Copenhagen after the bombardment, 1807
File:C.A. Lorentzen - The Most Terrible Night. View of Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen During the English Bombardement of Cop - KMS3468 - Statens Museum for Kunst.jpg, ''The Most Terrible Night. View of Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen During the English Bombardment of Copenhagen at Night between 4 and 5 September 1807''
File:Holmen destructions 1807.jpg, C.W. Eckersberg's ''The British Destruction of the Danish Ships under Construction at Holmen''

Aftermath

The news of what happened did not reach Canning until 16 September. He wrote to Rev. William Leigh: "Did I not tell you we would save Plumstead from bombardment?" One week later he wrote: "Nothing ever was more brilliant, more salutary or more effectual than the success t Copenhagen and Perceval expressed similar sentiments. ''The Times'' said that the confiscation of the Danish fleet was "a bare act of self-preservation" and noticed the short distance between Denmark and Ireland or north-east Scotland. William Cobbett in his '' Political Register'' wrote that it was "vile mockery" and "mere party cavilling" to claim that Denmark had the means to preserve her neutrality. MP William Wilberforce said the expedition could be defended on grounds of self-defence. Thomas Grenville wrote to his brother Lord Grenville that he could not help feeling "that in their he government'ssituation we should very probably have given the same order without being able to publish to Parliament the grounds on which we had believed in the hostile mind of Denmark". Lord Erskine condemned it by saying "if hell did not exist before, Providence would create it now to punish ministers for that damnable measure".

The opposition claimed the national character was stained and Canning read out in Parliament the previous administration's plans in 1806 to stop the Portuguese navy falling into the hands of France. Canning and Castlereagh wished to hold Zealand and suggested that when the British evacuated it as part of the peace they should immediately occupy it again. This was strongly opposed by Sir Arthur Wellesley, however, and it did not happen. The opposition claimed that the attack had turned Denmark from a neutral into an enemy. Canning replied by saying that the British were already hated throughout Europe and so Britain could wage an "all-out maritime war" against France without worrying who they were going to upset.

The opposition did not at first table a vote of censure on the battle and instead, on 3 February 1808, demanded the publication of all the letters sent by the British envoy in Denmark on information regarding the war-readiness of the Danish navy. Canning replied with a three-hour speech which Lord Palmerston described as "so powerful that it gave a decisive turn to the debate". The three motions on this subject were heavily defeated and on 21 March the opposition tabled a direct motion of censure on the battle. It was defeated by 224 votes to 64 after Canning made a speech "very witty, very eloquent and very able".

The British bombardment frustrated the first attempt to publish a modern edition of the Anglo-Saxon poem '' Beowulf'' as the subsequent fire destroyed the 20-year work of scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin. Two manuscripts, however, were recovered and Thorkelin eventually published the poem in 1815.

A horse foaled in 1808 (the year following the battle) was named "Copenhagen" in its honour, and was eventually sold to Wellesley and became his favoured mount, most notably at the Battle of Waterloo.

;Danish privateers
Within one week of the British forces departing Copenhagen, King Christian VII's government promulgated the Danish Privateers Regulations (1807). Denmark was now at war with Britain, and a part of the Anglo-Danish conflict would be taken up by privateers.
''Kaperbreve'' ( letters of marque) were issued in Denmark and Norway from 1807 to 1813—copies of original letters of marque for the two ships ''Odin'' and ''Norges Statholder'' are included in this reference. Danish shipping companies donated suitable ships (brigs, schooners and galleases) to the state which could then equip the ships for their new privateering role. One such ship was the brig ''Admiral Juel'' which ranged the North Sea before her capture by the British off Scarborough.

Ships involved

One hundred and twenty-six ships, large and small, were involved at Copenhagen, included those named below.

In addition to those named here, there were another three dozen smaller frigates, sloops, bomb vessels, gun-brigs and schooners (e.g. HMS ''Rook'' attached to the British fleet), and a very large number of merchant or requisitioned ships carrying troops or supplies.

The following ships sailed with Gambier from England on 26 July 1807:
* ''Prince of Wales'' 98 (flag of Admiral James Gambier, 1st Captain Sir Home Riggs Popham, 2nd Captain Adam Mackenzie)
* '' Pompee'' 74 (Vice-Admiral Henry Edwyn Stanhope, Captain * Richard Dacres)
* ''Centaur'' 74 (Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, Captain William Henry Webley)
* ''Ganges'' 74 (Commodore Richard Goodwin Keats, Captain Peter Halkett)
* ''Alfred'' 74 (Captain John Bligh)
* ''Brunswick'' 74 (Captain Thomas Graves)
* ''Captain'' 74 (Captain Isaac Wolley)
* ''Goliath'' 74 (Captain Peter Puget)
* '' Hercule'' 74 (Captain John Colville)
* ''Maida'' 74 (Captain Samuel Hood Linzee)
* ''Orion'' 74 (Captain Sir Archibald Collingwood Dickson)
* ''Resolution'' 74 (Captain George Burlton)
* ''Spencer'' 74 (Captain Robert Stopford)
* ''Vanguard'' 74 (Captain Alexander Fraser)
* ''Dictator'' 64 (Captain Donald Campbell)
* ''Nassau'' 64 (Captain Robert Campbell)
* ''Ruby'' 64 (Captain John Draper)
* ''Surveillante'' 38 ( Captain George Collier)
* ''Sibylle'' 38 (Capt. Clotworthy Upton)
* ''Franchise'' 36 (Capt. Charles Dashwood)
* ''Nymphe'' 36 (Capt. Conway Shipley)

The following vessels joined on 5 August off Helsingør:
* ''Superb'' 74 (Captain Donald M'Leod) (to which Commodore Richard Goodwin Keats shifted his flag)

The following further vessels joined on 7 August off Helsingør:
* ''Minotaur'' 74 (Rear-Admiral William Essington, Captain Charles John Moore Mansfield)
* ''Valiant'' 74 (Captain James Young)
* ''Inflexible'' 64 (Captain Joshua Rowley Watson)
* ''Leyden'' 64 (Captain William Cumberland)

The following vessels joined on 8 August or later:
* ''Defence'' 74 (Captain Charles Ekins)
* ''Mars'' 74 (Captain William Lukin)
* ''Agamemnon'' 64 (Captain Jonas Rose)
* ''Africaine'' 32 (Capt. Richard Raggett)

Lieutenant-General Lord Cathcart arrived in the ''Africaine'' on 12 August to take command of the ground forces.

Ships surrendered

The Danes surrendered the following warships on 7 September under the terms of the capitulation following the attack:

Ships of the line

* ''Christian den Syvende'' 84 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Christian VII'' 80
* ''Neptunus'' 80 – sailed for Britain but wrecked and burned en route
* ''Valdemar'' 80 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Waldemar'' 80
* ''Danmark'' 76 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Danmark'' 74
* ''Norge'' 78 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Norge'' 74
* ''Fyen'' 70 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Fyen'' 74
* ''Kronprins Friderich'' 70 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Kron Princen'' 74
* ''Tre Kroner'' 74 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Tree Kronen'' 74
* ''Arveprins Friderich'' 70 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Heir Apparent Frederick'' 74
* ''Skjold'' 70 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Skiold'' 74
* ''Odin'' 74 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Odin'' 74
* ''Justitia'' 74 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Justitia'' 74
* ''Kronprinsesse Maria'' 70 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Kron Princessen'' 74
* ''Prindsesse Sophia Frederica'' 74 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Princess Sophia Frederica'' 74
* ''Prindsesse Caroline'' 66 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Princess Carolina'' 74
* ''Ditsmarsken'' 60 – not sailed to Britain; deemed useless and burnt
* ''Mars'' 64 – not sailed to Britain; deemed useless and burnt on Saltholm
* ''Sejeren'' 64 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Syeren'' 64

Frigates

* ''Perlen'' 46 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Perlen'' 38
* ''Rota'' 40 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Rota'' 38
* ''Freja'' 40 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Freya'' 36
* ''Iris'' 40 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Iris'' 36
* ''Najaden'' 44 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Nyaden'' 36
* ''Havfruen'' 40 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Hasfruen'' 36
* ''Nymfen'' 36 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Nymphen'' 36
* ''Venus'' 36 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Venus'' 36
* ''Friderichsstein'' 26 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as HMS ''Frederickstein'' 32
* ''St Thomas'' 22 – not sailed to Britain, but deemed useless and burnt
* '' Triton'' 24 (+6 howitzers) – not sailed to Britain, but deemed useless and burnt on Saltholm or the Swedish coast
* ''Lille Belt'' 20 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 20
* ''Fylla'' 22 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Fylla'' 20
* ''Eyderen'' 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Eyderen'' 18
* ''Elven'' 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Elvin'' 18
* ''Glückstadt'' 12 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Gluckstadt'' 16

Brigs

* 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as HMS ''Nid Elven'' 16
* ''Sarpen'' 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Sarpen'' 18
* ''Glommen'' 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Glommen'' 16
* ''Mercurius'' 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 16
* ''Delphinen'' 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 16
* ''Allart'' 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as ''Allart'' 16
* ''Brevdrageren'' 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 12
* ''Flyvende Fiske'' 14 (brig-rigged cutter) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 14
* ''Ørnen'' 10 (schooner) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 12

Gunboats

* ''Stege'' 2 (gunboat) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as HMS ''Warning''

There were a further 25 gunboats similar to the ''Stege'', of which 23 were lost in the October storm in the Kattegat or destroyed rather than sailed to Britain. These lost were:
* ''Aalborg'', ''Arendal'', ''Assens'', ''Christiansund'', ''Flensborg'', ''Frederiksund'', ''Helsingør'', ''Kallundborg'', ''Langesund'', ''Nakskov'', ''Middelfart'', ''Odense'', ''Roskilde'', ''Rødbye'', ''Saltholmen'', ''Staværn'', ''Svendborg'' and ''Wiborg''.
* The Norwegians or Danes recovered and returned to naval service six gunboats (''Faaborg'', ''Holbek'', ''Kjerteminde'', ''Nestved'', ''Nysted'' and ''Nykjøbing'') abandoned or stranded in the Kattegat.
* ''Stubbekjøbing'' had been destroyed at Svanemølle Bay on 26 August by mortar fire from the land.

Gun barges

Four barges (stykpram), floating gun platforms each with 20 cannon, were incapable of being moved far and so the British scuttled the barges during their brief occupation of Copenhagen. Of these four barges (''Hajen'', ''Kiempen'', ''Lindormen'' and ''Sværdfisken'') only ''Hajen'' was not raised and refurbished by the Danes after the British departure. A further "unsinkable" floating battery (''Flaadebatteri No 1'') of twenty-four 24-pound cannon was rendered inoperable and decommissioned the following year.

See also

* List of ships captured in the 19th century

Notes

Citations

References

*
*
* Major Francis Duncan, ''History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Volume I'', 1879 London John Murray.
* Major Francis Duncan, ''History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Volume II'', 1873 London John Murray.
*
*
*
* cites:
**
**
*
*
*
*
*
* J Marcussen for a private website listing '
all Danish merchant ships
'' from the year dot. Listed alphabetically (nb: Æ, Ø and Å come at the end of the Danish alphabet)
* Individual record cards in Danish for ships of the Danish Royal Navy can often be found on the internet a

* The Royal Danish Naval Museum website listing for ships is availabl

linking to a page of ships' names for which there is data.

The following websit

o

gives the list of ships, as recorded by the Danes, "forcefully taken" by the British in September 1807 at Copenhagen. The references, in Danish, are as follows
*
*
OCLC World Catalogue Number: 741989841

Further reading

*

External links

The Bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807; by Jens Rahbek Rasmussen; translated by David Frost, British Ambassador in Copenhagen
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{{Authority control
Copenhagen
Copenhagen 1807
King's German Legion
1807 in Denmark
19th century in Copenhagen
August 1807 events
September 1807 events
1800s in Copenhagen