Battle of Copenhagen (1807)

The Battle of Copenhagen (also known as the Bombardment of Copenhagen) occurred between 16 August and 7 September 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars. British forces bombarded the Danish capital of Copenhagen in order to capture or destroy the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. Following the Danish surrender, most of their navy was seized by the British and taken to England. The battle led to the outbreak of the Anglo-Danish Gunboat War, and the Anglo-Russian War of 1807–1812.

From 1803 onwards, Britain and France had been embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars, and by 1807 both nations were focused on Denmark, which maintained a large navy. The Danish government attempted to remain neutral, but this pleased neither the British or French, with the former being concerned by the possibility of France taking control of the Danish navy. In mid-July 1807, George III authorised a British expedition to monitor Copenhagen and capture the city if necessary. A force of 18,000 soldiers, under General Lord Cathcart, supported by a fleet of 17 warships under Admiral James Gambier, set sail for Copenhagen, arriving off the city on 15 August.

British troops landed at Vedbæk on 16 August and began besieging Copenhagen, defeating a Danish army at the Battle of Køge on 29 August. On 2 September, the British began bombarding Copenhagen, which led to the city's defenders suing for peace on 5 September and surrendering two days later. Most of the Danish navy was seized and sailed to England, while several Danish warships under construction were destroyed by the British. Following the battle, the Danes allied with France and joined the anti-British Continental System, along with engaging in the Gunboat War against Britain. The attack gave rise to the term to Copenhagenize as a reference to the pre-emptive seizure of a nation's fleet while it was anchored.

Background

Despite being defeated in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Denmark–Norway still maintained a considerable navy. Most of the Royal Danish Army, led by the Crown Prince, was in 1807 defending Denmark's southern border against a possible French invasion. 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 Baltic was "vitally important to Britain" for trade as well as a major source of necessary raw materials for building and maintaining warships; access to the Baltic also gave the Royal Navy a route to help Britain's allies Sweden and (before the treaties of Tilsit) Russia against France. The British were concerned by the fact after Prussia had been defeated by France in December 1806, Denmark's independence looked increasingly under threat from the French. George Canning's predecessor as Foreign Secretary, Lord Howick, had tried unsuccessfully to persuade Denmark to join 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 British cabinet decided to act, and on 14 July Lord Mulgrave obtained from George III 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 James Jackson on a secret mission to Copenhagen to persuade Denmark to hand over its navy 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 Øresund where they would get reinforcements.

On the night of 21 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". The historian Hilary Barnes claimed that Canning had no knowledge of the secret articles of the Treaty of Tilsit and argued 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 on 15 August Jackson went back to the British fleet assembled in the Sound. 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 29 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. 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 sailed for Norway from Elsinore. 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 Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Frederikscoarn.

Battle

thumb|Map of Copenhagen and its surroundings showing the layout of the city and the British positions during the siege

thumb|Bombardment of Copenhagen 1807; view from Valby Hill.

thumb|The English fleet off Copenhagen, by [[Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg|C.W. Eckersberg.]]

British forces besieging the city comprised 18,000 men in 3 infantry divisions, 4 cavalry regiments and 84 field guns and 101 siege guns.

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 Arthur 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. 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 18 ships of the line, 11 frigates, two smaller ships, two ship-sloops, seven brig-sloops, two brigs, one schooner and 26 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 23 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.

Aftermath

thumb|A so-called offermønt used for financing the rebuilding of a Danish fleet

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 [at 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 [the government's] situation 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".

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 since hostility towards Britain existed throughout Europe the British could wage an "all-out maritime war" against France without worrying who they were going to upset. Lord Erskine condemned the attack by saying "if hell did not exist before, Providence would create it now to punish ministers for that damnable measure".

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 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.

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.

Forces involved

British troops

The British troops under General Lord Cathcart were organised as follows:

Cavalry Brigade: Major General Charles, Baron Linsingen, 1st, 2nd, 3rd Light Dragoons King's German Legion
Artillery & Engineers: Major General Thomas 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 Henry 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 Thomas Grosvenor, 1/4th (The King's Own) Regiment of Foot, 1/23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers)
3rd Brigade: Major General Brent 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: Colonel Robert Henry MacFarlane, 1/7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers), 1/8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot
Reserve: Major General Sir Arthur Wellesley
Colonel Richard 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 Frederick, Baron Dreschel
1st Brigade: Colonel Peter du Plat, 6th, 7th, 8th Line Batts.
2nd Brigade: Colonel George de Drieburg, 3rd, 4th, 5th Line Batts.
3rd Brigade: Colonel Adolphus, Baron Barsse, 1st and 2nd Line Batts.
4th Brigade: Colonel Charles, Baron Alten, 1st and 2nd Light Batts.

Danish troops

The Danish troops under Maj. Gen. Peymann were as follows:<br />

In addition to those named here, there were another three dozen smaller frigates, sloops, bomb vessels, gun-brigs and schooners (e.g. 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:

98 (flag of Admiral James Gambier, 1st Captain Sir Home Riggs Popham, 2nd Captain Adam Mackenzie)
74 (Vice-Admiral Henry Edwyn Stanhope, Captain *Richard Dacres)
74 (Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, Captain William Henry Webley)
74 (Commodore Richard Goodwin Keats, Captain Peter Halkett)
74 (Captain John Bligh)
74 (Captain Thomas Graves)
74 (Captain Isaac Wolley)
74 (Captain Peter Puget)
74 (Captain John Colville)
Maida 74 (Captain Samuel Hood Linzee)
74 (Captain Sir Archibald Collingwood Dickson)
74 (Captain George Burlton)
74 (Captain Robert Stopford)
74 (Captain Alexander Fraser)
64 (Captain Donald Campbell)
Nassau 64 (Captain Robert Campbell)
64 (Captain John Draper)
38 (Captain George Collier)
38 (Capt. Clotworthy Upton)
36 (Capt. Charles Dashwood)
36 (Capt. Conway Shipley)

The following vessels joined on 5 August off Helsingør:

74 (Captain Donald M'Leod) (to which Commodore Richard Goodwin Keats shifted his flag)

The following further vessels joined on 7 August off Helsingør:

74 (Rear-Admiral William Essington, Captain Charles John Moore Mansfield)
74 (Captain James Young)
64 (Captain Joshua Rowley Watson)
64 (Captain William Cumberland)

The following vessels joined on 8 August or later:

74 (Captain Charles Ekins)
74 (Captain William Lukin)
64 (Captain Jonas Rose)
32 (Capt. Richard Raggett)

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

Danish ships

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 80
Neptunus (80) – sailed for Britain but wrecked and burned en route
Valdemar (80) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 80
Danmark (76) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Norge (78) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Fyen (70) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Kronprins Friderich (70) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Tre Kroner (74) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Arveprins Friderich (70) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Skjold (70) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Odin (74) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Justitia (74) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Kronprinsesse Maria (70) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Prindsesse Sophia Frederica (74) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
Prindsesse Caroline (66) – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 74
(64) – 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 64

Frigates

Perlen 46 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 38
Rota 40 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 38
Freja 40 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 36
Iris 40 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 36
44 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as Nyaden 36
Havfruen 40 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 36
Nymfen 36 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 36
Venus 36 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 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
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 20
Eyderen 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 18
Elven 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 18
Glückstadt 12 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 16

Brigs

18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as HMS Nid Elven 16
18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as Sarpen 18
Glommen 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 16
Mercurius 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 16
Delphinen 18 – sailed to Britain, added to Royal Navy as 16
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

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.

Gallery

File:Natten mellem 3 og 4 september 1807.jpg|Contemporary Danish painting of the bombardment at night

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 (cropped).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:Flåden forlader havnen for sidste gang.jpg|The Fleet Leaves For The Last Time

File:Holmen destructions 1807.jpg|C.W. Eckersberg's The British Destruction of the Danish Ships under Construction at Holmen

File:Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) - Spithead, Two Captured Danish Ships Entering Portsmouth Harbour - N00481 - National Gallery.jpg|Two Captured Danish Ships Entering Portsmouth Harbour by Turner

File:British Tars Towing the Danish Fleet into Harbour; the Broad-Bottom Leviathan trying Billy's Old Boat, and the Little Corsican tottering on the Clouds of Ambition MET DP818509.jpg|British Tars Towing the Danish Fleet into Harbour by James Gillray

</gallery>

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 at Orlogmuseet Skibregister
The Royal Danish Naval Museum website listing for ships is available here linking to a page of ships' names for which there is data.

The following website in Danish or in English 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

External links

The Bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807; by Jens Rahbek Rasmussen; translated by David Frost, British Ambassador in Copenhagen