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Naval history of Great Britain
by
William James
1807 Lord Gambier at Copenhagen 295

Although, as formally announced by Admiral Gambier to the officers and men of his fleet, the result, of the siege of Copenhagen " added the navy of Denmark to that of the United Kingdom, " the latter gained very slight accession of strength ; for, of the 15 line-of-battle ships that reached an English port, four only were found to be worth the cost of repair as cruisers. These were the:

Gun Ship measuring built in
80 Christian V11 2131 1803
74 Dannemark 1836 1794
Norge 1960 1800
Princess-Carolina 1637 tons 1805

The model of the Christian VII was so much admired, that a ship, in every respect the same was immediately ordered to be built. That ship was the Cambridge, of 2139 tons, launched in 1815.

The most valuable part of the Copenhagen seizure were the masts, yards, timber, sails, cordage, and other naval stores. The value of these may be partly appreciated when it is known that, exclusive of the stores that were shipped on board the British and late Danish men of war, 92 transports, measuring upwards of 20,000 tons, brought away full cargoes. The guns, of course, on account of the difference in their caliber, were of no value, except perhaps as metal for recasting. According to a Danish newspaper of the year 1806, the ordnance belonging to the 20 sail of the line afloat, and to the frigates, sloops, and gun-vessels, amounted to 2041 long guns, 202 carronades, and 222 mortars. But it is believed that many of the ships did not bring away the whole of their guns. The benefit to England was not what she had acquired, but what Denmark had lost ; and it is doubtful whether, all circumstances considered, the destruction of the Danish ships at their moorings would not have been quite as profitable to the former, as their capture and conveyance home.

The attack upon the Danish city and fleet naturally produced, especially when a formidable French army was near and a Russian ally in prospect, a declaration of war on the part of the crown prince ; and on the 4th of November the King of England ordered reprisals to be granted against the ships, goods, and subjects of Denmark. The winter was not, however, the period for active operations ; and the Vanguard 74, with a few frigates and smaller vessels, was all the British force left cruising in the Belt.

On the 30th of August the British 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Quebec, Captain the Right Honourable Lord Falkland, arrived off the Danish island of Heligoland, situated at the mouth of the Elbe, and forming a natural barrier to the shoals of that river, the Weser, the Emms, and the Eyder. Lord Falkland immediately summoned the governor to surrender this small, but in a commercial point of view important, island to the arms

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