LATE GALLEYS: The Fredriksvern Naval Shipyard and the coastal defence in Norway 1750–1814

Abstract

From the early 18th century the Mediterranean galley experienced a new golden age in the Baltic Sea, as it was well adapted to the shallow sea with the islands and skerries found there. In Norway the Fredriksvern naval shipyard was founded in 1750 to build a galley fleet. For various reasons progress was slow, and when the galley fleet finally was built in the 1760s, it was probably the last one in Europe. New and more efficient inshore vessels were soon developed in the neighbouring countries, but they were not put into use in Norway in the 18th century. The explanation for Norway’s poor performance was probably too much peace: when Denmark-Norway became involved in the Napoleonic Wars, naval development was dramatically improved.

Keywords:

• galley
• inshore fleet
• gun sloop
• Holmen

Notes

1. Bicheno, Crescent and Cross, 249–78.

2. Smith, Den norske sjøfarts historie, 44ff.

3. Ibid., 118–19; Christensen, Marinens tilstedeværelse, 13, 28–36.

4. Ericson, ‘Pionjärer och rustninger’, 9–15, 134.

5. Steensen, Flåden, 206ff.

6. Rasmussen, ‘Flåden’, 105–27.

7. Bjerg and Erichsen, Danske orlogsskibe, 11ff.

8. Glete, ‘Kriget til sjöss’, 115.

9. The following is mainly from Glete, ‘Kriget till sjöss’, 110–74. See also Nikula, Svenska skärgårdsflottan.

10. Nikula, Svenska skärgårdsflottan, 16; Garde, Efterretninger, 286.

11. This and the following is from Frantzen, Truslen fra Øst, 32ff.

12. Glete, Navies and Nations, 276, 297.

13. Schiøtz, Stavern forts og Fredriksvern verfts historie, 27–8.

14. Norwegian National Archives (NNA). KG ID, box 47. A letter from Arnold, 4 August 1749.

15. The standard book on the history of the shipyard is Schiøtz, Stavern forts og Fredriksvern verfts historie.

16. Rosted, ‘Galejhavnen i Nivå’, 19–34; Bjerg, ‘Galejhavnen i Nivå’, 41–5.

17. Johannessen, ‘Militærtjenesten i Nord-Norge’, 405–24.

18. The voyage is mentioned in the third commander Frederik Zimmer’s records: Zimmer, Viceadmiral Frederik Zimmer. See also Johannessen, ‘Kina tur-retur’.

19. Danish National Archives (DNA). Holmens sjefs forhandlingsprotokoll, box no. 8, protocol nos. 12, 22–25, 73–84, 314, 319–322 (minutes from several meetings in the Construction Committee).

20. The travel is mentioned in Krabbe’s printed autobiography: Krabbe, Geheimeraad Friderich Michal Krabbes Levneds-Beskrivelse.

21. NNA. Søe-etaten box no. 45. Letters from Herbst, 5 October 1751, and from Zimmer, 30 November 1756.

22. Tveite, ‘Norsk skipsbygging’.

23. Smith, Den norske sjøfarts historie, 114ff.

24. NNA. Søe-Etaten box nos. 46–47. A letter from Zimmer, 11 October 1763.

25. NNA. Fredriksvern arbeidsrapporter.

26. NNA. Fredriksvern’s copybook 1750–1751. A letter from Herbst to Hans Jacobsen, 16 October 1751.

27. NNA. The letters are found between the other letters in Fredriksvern’s series of incoming letters.

28. NNA. Fredriksvern’s copybook 1765–1770. A letter from Zimmer, 7 January 1766.

29. NNA. Søe-etaten box no. 45. A letter from Herbst, 25 May 1751.

30. Garde, Den dansk-norske Sömagts historie, 211–14. Hans Chr. Bjerg has taken the same view.

31. Garde, Efterretninger, 286.

32. Bjerg, ‘Galejhavnen i Nivå’, 42–3.

33. Nicula, Svenska skärgårdsflottan, 116–17.

34. Glete, ‘Kriget till sjöss’, 118.

35. Nicula, Svenska skärgårdsflottan, 121–62; Glete, ‘Kriget till sjöss’, 118–20; Harris, F. H. Chapman.

36. Nicula, Svenska skärgårdsflottan, 120.

37. Glete, ‘Kriget till sjöss’, 141–65.

38. DNA. A letter from Hessen, 18 February 1790, reproduced in Søekrigskanselliet Kgl. res. 1790, no. 58, 277–8.

39. Frantzen, Truslen fra øst, 100.

40. DNA. Søekrigskanselliet Kgl res 1791, no. 22, 170 (my translation).

41. DNA. The commission’s report, 22 September 1790, with comments in Søekrigskanselliet Kgl. res. 1791, no. 22, 117–236.

42. DNA. Resolution 4 March 1791 in the commission’s report in Søekrigskanselliet Kgl. res. 1791, no. 22, 117–19.

43. This and the following is from Bjerg, ‘Kanonbådkrigens taktik’, 73–96.

44. Smith, Den norske sjøfarts historie, 117, 122.

45. Berg, Norsk Forsvarshistorie, 56–60.

46. Schiøtz, Stavern forts og Fredriksvern verfts historie, 159.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Finn Erhard Johannessen

Finn Erhard Johannessen (b. 1955) is professor in history at the University of Oslo, Norway. He has written the history of the Norwegian postal service 1647–1920 (1997) and several other commissioned histories and is now completing a book on Fredriksvern Naval Shipyard.