A Danish warship has been discovered by archaeologists in Copenhagen harbour over 200 years after it was sunk by Admiral Horatio Nelson and the British fleet.
As The Guardian reports, the 48-metre (157ft) Danish flagship, the Dannebroge, was at the centre of battle when it was sunk by cannon and shells.
Thousands were killed and many wounded during the Battle of Copenhagen, with the British fleet trying to force Denmark out of an alliance of northern European powers.
The 48-metre (157ft) Dannebroge was Nelson’s main target. Cannon fire tore through its upper deck before incendiary shells sparked a fire onboard.
Nelson eventually offered a truce and a ceasefire was agreed with Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik.
Already on fire, the Dannebroge slowly drifted northward and exploded, with the sound being heard across the Danish capital.
The battle, regarded as one of Nelson’s finest, is believed to have inspired the phrase “to turn a blind eye”.
As the newspaper reports, after deciding to ignore a superior’s signal, Nelson, who had lost sight in his right eye, is believed to have said that as he only had one eye, he had “a right to be blind sometimes”.
The 19th-century wreck was located in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 15 metres (49ft) below an area which is due to become part of a new housing district being built off the Danish coast.
The underwater excavations were led by Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, which announced the discovery late last week, 225 years to the day since the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.
“It’s a big part of the Danish national feeling,” Morten Johansen, the museum’s head of maritime archaeology, said.
Read The Guardian here
