Admiral Juel

The 1807 British attack on Copenhagen by land and sea left Denmark with few warships and poor options in continuing the fight with her new enemy. The ship-of-the-line and a handful of brigs were (temporarily) safe in Norwegian ports, and the squadrons of gunboats elsewhere on the coast were primarily for defence. Within one week of the British forces departing with the remains of the Danish fleet, King Christian VII's government in Copenhagen promulgated the Danish Privateers Regulations (1807). Denmark was at war with Britain, and a part of the fight would fall to privateers. Denmark and Norway issued Kaperbrev (letters of marque). From 1807 to 1813 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. Danish privateers were an important tactical weapon in the furtherance of the war. They were not on an equal footing with the British men-of-war but by forcing British merchant ships to follow a convoy system for protection fewer warships were available for active warfare against Denmark. ==Admiral Juel==

Three Danish merchant ships afloat in 1807 were named Admiral Juel or Admiral N Juel. All three received letters of marque from the Danish authorities, but only one was a brig. The ships were named for the seventeenth century Danish admiral Niels Juel. It is worth emphasising that no ship of this name is recorded as being in the Royal Danish Navy, although four more recent naval ships have been named Niels Juel - nor is her appointed captain Jørgen Jørgensen listed as a Danish naval officer. ==Events==

In September 1807 the brewer and captain Jens Lind & partners of Copenhagen acquired the brig Christine Henriette, a French-built merchant ship, On completion of her refit Christine Henriette was renamed Admiral Juel. At 170 tons (bm), the ship was the second largest in the whole of the Danish privateer fleet. After half-an-hour of close action Admiral Juel surrendered to Sappho. Her sails, masts, and rigging had been shot to pieces, and two of her crew had been killed. When the news of her loss reached Denmark, conspiracy theorists were sure Jörgensen had turned traitor and deliberately sought out British warships in order to surrender his ship. In 1849 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Sappho 2 March 1808" to the surviving claimants from HMS Sappho. ==Notes==