Wreck of Danish flagship sunk by famed British admiral discovered after 225 years

An archaeologist points to a computer screen, showing a map of the wreck of Danish flagship Dannebroge that sank during the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

Photo: AP More than 200 years after being sunk by Admiral Horatio Nelson and the British fleet, a Danish warship has been discovered on the seabed of Copenhagen Harbour by marine archaeologists.

Working in thick sediment and almost zero visibility 15 metres (49 feet) beneath the waves, divers have been working against the clock to unearth the 19th century wreck of the Dannebroge before it becomes a construction site in a new housing district being built off the Danish coast.

Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, which was leading the months-long underwater excavations, announced its findings on Thursday, 225 years to the day since the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. “It’s a big part of the Danish national feeling,” said Morten Johansen, the museum’s head of maritime archaeology.

A cannon, thought to be from Danish flagship Dannebroge.

Photo: Viking Ship Museum via AP A great deal has been written about the battle “by very enthusiastic spectators, but we actually don’t know how it was to be on board a ship being shot to pieces by English warships and some of that story we can probably learn from seeing the wreck,” Johansen said.

In the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson and the British fleet attacked and defeated Denmark’s navy as it formed a protective blockade outside the harbour.

Thousands were killed and wounded during the brutal hours-long naval clash, considered one of Nelson’s “great battles”.

The intention was to force Denmark out of an alliance of Northern European powers, including Russia, Prussia and Sweden.

At the centre of the fighting was the Danish flagship, the Dannebroge, commanded by Commodore Olfert Fischer.

The 48-metre (157-foot) Dannebroge was Nelson’s main target.

Cannon fire tore through its upper deck before incendiary shells sparked a fire aboard. “(It was) a nightmare to be on board one of these ships,” Johansen said. “When a cannonball hits a ship, it’s not the cannonball that does the most damage to the crew, it’s wooden splinters flying everywhere, very much like grenade debris.” A portrait of Horatio Nelson, then a captain.

Image: National Maritime Museum The battle also was believed to have inspired the phrase “to turn a blind eye”.

After deciding to ignore a superior’s signal, Nelson, who had lost sight in his right eye, reportedly remarked: “I have only one eye, I have a righ

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