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See also:TORDENSKJOLD, PEDER (1691-1720) , eminent Danish See also:naval See also:hero, the tenth See also:child of See also:alderman See also:Jan See also:Wessel of See also:Bergen, in See also:Norway, was See also:born at See also:Trondhjem on the 28th of See also:October 1691. Wessel was a See also:wild unruly lad who gave his pious parents much trouble. Finally he ran away from them by hiding in a See also:ship See also:bound for See also:Copenhagen, where the See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king's See also:chaplain Dr Peder Jespersen took pity on the friendless lad, gratified his love for the See also:sea by sending him on a voyage to the See also:West Indies, and finally procured him a vacant cadetship. After further voyages, this See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time to the See also:East Indies, Wessel was, on the 7th of See also:July 1711, appointed and See also:lieutenant in the royal marine and shortly afterwards became the See also:captain of a little 4-See also:gun See also:sloop " Ormen" (The See also:Serpent), in which he cruised about the See also:Swedish See also:coast and picked up much useful See also:information about the enemy. In See also:June 1712 he was promoted to a 2o-gun See also:frigate, against the See also:advice of the Danish See also:admiralty, which pronounced him to be too flighty and unstable for such a command. His discriminating See also:patron was the See also:Norwegian See also:admiral Lovendal, who was the first to recognize the See also:young See also:man's ability as a naval officer. At this See also:period Wessel was already renowned for two things: the audacity with which he attacked any Swedish vessels he came across regardless of odds, and his unique See also:seaman-ship, which always enabled him to See also:- ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli
escape See also:capture. The See also:Great NorthernWar had now entered upon its later See also:stage, when See also:Sweden, beset on every See also:side by foes, employed her See also:fleet principally to transport troops and stores to her distressed See also:German provinces. The audacity of Wessel impeded her at every point. He was continually snapping up transports, dashing into the fjords where her vessels See also:lay concealed, and holding up her detached frigates. In July 1714 he encountered a frigate which had been equipped in See also:England for the Swedes and was on its way to See also:Gothenburg under the command of an See also:English captain. Wessel instantly
attacked her but in the English captain he met his match. The combat lasted all See also:day, was interrupted by nightfall, and renewed again indecisively the following See also:morning. Wessel's See also:free and easy ways procured him many enemies in the Danish See also:navy. He was accused of unnecessarily endangering his See also:majesty's See also:war-See also:ships in the affairs with the frigate and he was brought before a See also:court-See also:martial. But the spirit with which he defended himself and the contempt he poured on his less courageous comrades took the See also:fancy of King See also:Frederick IV., who cancelled the proceedings and raised Wessel to the See also:rank of captain. When in the course of 1715 the return of See also:Charles XII. from See also:Turkey to See also:Stralsund put a new See also:life into the jaded and dispirited Swedish forces, Wessel distinguished himself in numerous engagements off the Pomeranian coast and did the enemy See also:infinite damage by cutting out their frigates and destroying their transports. On returning to See also:Denmark in the beginning of 1716 he was ennobled under the See also:title of " Tordenskjold
(Thundershield). When in the course of 1716 Charles XII. invaded Norway and sat down before the fortress of See also:Fredrikshald, Tordenskjold compelled him to raise the See also:siege and retire to Sweden by pouncing upon the Swedish transport fleet laden with See also:ammunition and other military stores which rode at See also:anchor in the narrow and dangerous strait of Dynekil, utterly destroying the Swedish fleet with little damage to him-self. For this, his greatest exploit, he was promoted to the rank of See also:commander, but at the same time incurred the enmity of his See also:superior officer Admiral See also:Gabel, whom he had omitted to take into his confidence on the occasion. Tordenskjold's first important command was the See also:squadron with which he was entrusted in the beginning of 1717 for the purpose of destroying the Swedish Gothenburg squadron which interrupted the communications between Denmark and Norway. Owing to the disloyalty of certain of his See also:officers who resented serving under the young adventurer, Tordenskjold failed to do all that was expected of him. His enemies were not slow to take See also:advantage of his partial failure. The old See also:charge of criminal recklessness was revived against him at a second court-martial before which he was summoned in 1718; but his old patron Admiral U. C. Gyldenlove again intervened energetically in his behalf and the charge was quashed. In See also:December 1718 Tordenskjold brought to Frederick IV. the welcome See also:news of the See also:death of Charles XII. and was made a See also:rear-admiral for his pains. Tordenskjold's last feat of arms was his capture of the Swedish fortress of Marstrand, when he partially destroyed and partially captured the Gothenburg squadron which had so See also:long eluded him. He was rewarded with the rank of See also:vice-admiral. Tordenskjold did not long survive the termination of the war. On the loth
of See also:November 1720 he was killed in a See also:duel with a Livonian
See also:colonel, See also:Jakob Axel See also:Stael von See also:Holstein. Although, Dynekil
excepted, Tordenskjold's victories were of far less importance than See also:Sehested's at Stralsund and Gyldenlove's at Rtigen, he is certainly, after Charles XII., the most heroic figure of the Great See also:Northern War. His courage was fully equal to the courage of " The See also:Lion of the See also:North," but he lacked that See also:absolute self-command which gives to the bravery of Charles XII. its See also:peculiar, almost superhuman, See also:character.
See Carstensen and Lutken, Tordenskjold (Copenhagen, 1887).
(R. N.
End of Article: TORDENSKJOLD, PEDER (1691-1720)
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