Langeland (, ) is a Danish

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

located between the

Great Belt The Great Belt (, ) is a strait between the major islands of Zealand (''Sjælland'') and Funen (''Fyn'') in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits. Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great Belt ferries fr ...

and

Bay of Kiel The Bay of Kiel or Kiel Bay (, ; ) is a bay in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and the islands of Denmark. It is connected with the Bay of Mecklenburg in the east, the Little Belt in the northwest, ...

. The island measures 285 km² (c. 110 square miles) and, as of 1 January 2018, has a population of 12,446."Danmarks Statistik."
Retrieved 14 June 2018. The island produces grain and is known as a recreational and wellness tourism area. A

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

connects it to Tåsinge via

Siø Siø is a small Denmark, Danish island in the South Funen Archipelago between Tåsinge and Langeland. It is part of Langeland Municipality. With an area of 1.3 km2, as of 1 January 2014 it has a population of 16. Since 1681, a system of dykes ...

– a small island with a population of approximately 20 – and the main island of

Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...

(to the northwest). There are connections by car ferry to the islands of

Lolland Lolland (; formerly spelled ''Laaland'', literally "low land") is the List of islands of Denmark#List of 100 largest Danish islands, fourth largest island of Denmark, with an area of . Located in the Kattegat, Belts and Sund area, it is part of Re ...

Ærø Ærø () is one of the Denmark, Danish Baltic Sea islands, and part of the Region of Southern Denmark, Southern Denmark Region. Since 1 January 2006 all of Ærø has constituted a single Municipalities of Denmark, municipality, known as Ærø M ...

, and Strynø.

Rudkøbing Rudkøbing is a town in Denmark, on the western coast of the island of Langeland. It is the seat of Langeland Municipality, in the Region of Southern Denmark, Southern Denmark Region. The town is located southeast of Svendborg and is connected t ...

, the island's largest town, is the birthplace of famous physicist and chemist

Hans Christian Ørsted Hans Christian Ørsted (; 14 August 1777 – 9 March 1851), sometimes Transliteration, transliterated as Oersted ( ), was a Danish chemist and physicist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields. This phenomenon is known as ...

, his brother, Anders Sandøe Ørsted, a former Danish prime minister, and their nephew,

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Anders Sandøe Ørsted. Administratively, Langeland and several smaller islands around it form the ''

Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

of Langeland,'' the most populous of them being Strynø.

Role in the Larne gun-running

On 30 March 1914, the vessel docked at Langeland and proceeded to be loaded with a "mysterious" cargo. This cargo turned out to be a weapons cache including 11,000 Männlicher rifles brought from the Steyr works in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

; 9,000 ex-

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

army Mausers; 4,600

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Vetterli-Vitali rifles; and 5 million rounds of ammunition in clips of five. The cache had been purchased by Major Frederick Hugh Crawford for the

Ulster Unionist Council The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist oppositi ...

to equip the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from North ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Danish customs officials suspected that the cargo might have contained weapons to arm militant Icelandic home rulers who sought independence from Denmark. However the SS ''Fanny'' cut loose, escaped in a gale and sailed out of Danish territorial waters. The weapons cache would later land in

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory)Larne/Latharna
Placenames Database of Ireland. is a to ...

on the north-east coast of Ireland in what became known as the

Larne gun-running The Larne gun-running was a major gun smuggling operation organised in April 1914 in Ireland by Major Frederick H. Crawford and Captain Wilfrid Spender for the Ulster Unionist Council to equip the Ulster Volunteer Force. The operation involve ...

Gallery

File:Gulstav Klint ved Langelands sydspids.jpg, Dovns Klint File:Rudkøbing - Bymøllen2.JPG, Rudkøbing windmill File:Bagenkop Kirke.JPG, Bagenkop Church File:Rudkobing01.JPG, Rudkøbing market place

References

External links

Official tourist information site for LangelandTravel guide to Langeland
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020 Islands of Denmark Geography of Langeland Municipality

Role in the Larne gun-running

Gallery

See also

References

External links