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3 - Danish and Swedish Flag Disputes with the British in the Channel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2016

Benjamin Darnell
Affiliation:
DPhil Candidate in History, New College, University of Oxford
J. Ross Dancy
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Military History Sam Houston State University
Jakob Seerup
Affiliation:
Royal Danish Naval Academy
Evan Wilson
Affiliation:
Caird Senior Research Fellow, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Jaap R. Bruijn
Affiliation:
Emeritus professor of Maritime History, Leiden University
Roger Knight
Affiliation:
Visiting Professor of Naval History, University of Greenwich
N. A. M. Rodger,
Affiliation:
Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College, University of Oxford
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Summary

On 11 August 1694 an incident took place which strained Anglo-Danish relations seriously. The Danish ship of the line Gyldenløveof fifty guns under the command of Captain Niels Lavritzen Barfoed, peacefully anchored at the Downs, was attacked by the seventy-gun HMS Stirling Castlefrom Sir Cloudesley Shovell's Squadron. The Gyldenløvesuffered three men dead and eighteen wounded, including Captain Barfoed himself. On the Stirling Castle, Captain Deane reported that he had eight men dead and about twenty wounded. The Danish ship was seriously damaged and had to undergo significant repairs. Barfoed and his officers were subsequently arrested, and they were only released after prolonged negotiations between Denmark and England.

Denmark remained neutral during the ongoing Nine Years’ War of 1688–97. However, the Danish king did provide auxiliary troops for the English war in Ireland from 1689 to 1691. Politically it would seem very unwise to compromise the good relations between the two countries by attacking a Danish warship, unless there was a very good reason. So what serious offence had the Gyldenløvecommitted to provoke such an attack? Or was it perhaps all a mistake? Surprisingly, the underlying cause was what we today might regard as a trifling matter of courtesy. The battle was the result of a dispute over the right of English warships to demand that foreign warships strike their pennants in the Channel. It was not the only incident of its kind, and in the period around the year 1700 such ‘courtesy battles’ involving both Danish and Swedish warships strained England's relations with the Scandinavian kingdoms. These conflicts have been noted by researchers before, but the fact that the English insistence on striking of pennants had long term strategic implications for the sailing patterns of the Danish and Swedish navies has not previously been described. This chapter seeks to present the flag disputes in their context as seen from a Danish and Swedish perspective.

Before we look at the wider perspective of the flag disputes, let us return to the situation in the Downs in August 1694. The wider context of that and other battles needs to be included in order to understand the incident.

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Strategy and the Sea
Essays in Honour of John B. Hattendorf
, pp. 28 - 36
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2016

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