James Robbins, died 1680, was an English

shipbuilder Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

in Danish service who built Sophia Amalia and other ships for the Danish navy.

Early career

Robbins began his professional life as a ship's carpenter in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. From 1635 he was employed as the King's Purveyor of Timber in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. King

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granted

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and King of Norway, Norway and List of rulers of Schleswig-Holstein, Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years and 330 days is th ...

the right to recruit shipbuilders in England, and in 1641 Robbins accepted an offer to join the Danish service.

Danish shipbuilder

Robbins began his Danish career in 1642 as a master shipwright at Bremerholm, the Danish main naval station, with the obligation to teach his craft to persons in "His Royal Majesty's service". One of his first assignments, was in 1642 to control if the

upper deck The Upper Deck Company, LLC (colloquially as Upper Deck and Upper Deck Authenticated, Ltd. in the UK) is a private company primarily known for producing trading cards. It was founded in 1988. Its headquarters are in Carlsbad, California, United ...

of the ship ''Trefoldighed'', being built in Neustadt, was done according to pattern. In 1645 Robbins was ordered to Norway to build ships from timber supplied by Hannibal Sehested, the Danish '' statholder''.Bellamy, Martin (1997). ''Danish Naval Administration and Shipbuilding in the Reign of Christian IV (1596 - 1648).'' PhD. thesis, University of Glasgow, pp. 372-374. The

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

purveyor, Frederik Bøjsen, a burgher of Christiania, was the

government contractor A government contractor is a company ( privately owned, publicly traded or a state-owned enterprise)either for profit or non-profitthat produces goods or services under contract for the government. Some communities are largely sustained by govern ...

for the building of the ships.Lind, Hans Daniel (1889). ''Kong Kristian den fjerde og hans mænd pa Bremerholm.'' Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel, pp. 308, 374. In the

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

Hovedøya Hovedøya is one of several small islands off the coast of Oslo, Norway in the Oslofjord. The island is quite small, no more than 800 metres across in any direction, the total area is 0,4 square kilometre. Its population is 5. It is well known f ...

, in the Oslo Fiord, he successively built the naval ships ''Hannibal'', a

two-decker A two-decker is a sail warship which carried her guns on two fully armed decks. Usually additional guns were carried on the upper works (forecastle and quarterdeck), but this was not a continuous battery and thus not counted as a full gun deck ...

with 60

gun port A gunport is an opening in the side of the hull (watercraft), hull of a ship, above the waterline, which allows the muzzle of artillery pieces mounted on the gun deck to fire outside. The origin of this technology is not precisely known, but can ...

s, launched in 1647; '' Sophia Amalia'', a

three-decker A three-decker was a sailing warship which carried her principal carriage-mounted guns on three fully armed decks. Usually additional (smaller) guns were carried on the upper works (forecastle and quarterdeck), but this was not a continuous ba ...

with 100 gun ports, launched in 1650; and ''Prins Christian'', a two-decker with 91 gun ports, launched in the same year."Skipsbygging på Hovedøya i Christiania." ''Christiania Seilskuteklubb.''
Retrieved 2016-12-27. Robbins returned to Denmark and remained in service at Bremerholm until 1665. He continued to live in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, re-entered royal service in 1668, and died while active in 1680.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robbins, James 1680 deaths 17th-century Royal Navy personnel English shipwrights Expatriates from the Kingdom of England Expatriates in Denmark–Norway 17th-century Danish shipbuilders Danish shipwrights