The west of Jutland is fringed by an endless beach, bordered by dunes on one side and the North Sea on the other. On a sunny summer’s day, the scene is peaceful. But appearances can be deceiving: the sea is shallow and the ever-shifting sands in front of it are treacherous. When the weather turns, this long, exposed coastline can quickly become a deadly trap for unwary ships.
It was 24 December 1811. On that day, a hurricane swept across the North Sea and struck with full force a handful of British ships that had become separated from a much larger convoy. Napoleon’s war in Europe made this protective measure necessary: 150 merchant sailing ships, under the protection of the Royal Navy, were heavily laden and on their way from southern Sweden to England.
- Museum: St George’s Shipwreck Museum
- Location: Thorsminde, Denmark
- Opened: 1992
- Wreck: British ship of the line “St. George”, which ran aground in 1811
Powerless in the face of nature’s fury
Yet even the largest warships are at the mercy of the elements. And two of them ran out of luck on that Christmas Eve: HMS “Defence”, a two-decker with 74 guns, and the even more powerful HMS “St George” – named, in vain, after the patron saint of England – with 98 guns on three decks.
The three-decker is already in trouble, sailing with only its emergency rudder. Yet the admiral and the captain believe themselves to be safe. This misjudgement will prove fatal not only for them. The ship of the line is being driven ever closer to the coast, completely out of control, after a futile attempt to drop anchor resulted in the emergency rudder being destroyed by the anchor line and the storm jib being torn away by the wind.
1,400 people lose their lives
At around six o’clock in the morning, the “St. George” finally ran aground a little south of Thorsminde, within sight of the beach. However, the treacherous surf made evacuation impossible. The lifeboats capsized as soon as they touched the water. A massive wave swept several hundred men from the deck into the sea; they drowned or froze to death in the icy waters.
A dozen sailors on two rafts manage to reach the beach. They are the only survivors of the “St George”. HMS “Defence” is also lost, having stayed too close to the larger ship. Four men survive here. Just under 1,400 people lost their lives – sailors, but also some civilians on board, including women and children.
St George’s Shipwreck Museum
The names of those who drowned now cover one of the walls in the St George’s Shipwreck Museum in Thorsminde, north of the entrance to the harbour and to Nissum Fjord. Having been expanded several times since then, it has been documenting the disaster since 1992. The focus is on the ‘St George’, from whose wreck a large number of artefacts have been recovered.
Many of them are displayed in the museum in a way that creates a striking atmosphere. They illustrate the daily life and work of the sailors on board, as well as how a ship of the line from the Napoleonic Wars operated, and finally the dramatic shipwreck itself. The largest exhibits, apart from the cannons, are the anchor and the imposing 11.5-metre-high rudder.
A chance discovery as a memorial
It was the loss of the rudder earlier in the Baltic Sea that had laid the groundwork for the subsequent disaster in the North Sea. It was discovered by chance during the construction of an offshore wind farm south of Gedser in 2003. Following an archaeological examination, it was taken to the St George Strandings Museum, where it now stands tall, like a black memorial to the tragedy of Christmas Eve 1811.
Visitors arriving by boat
Visitor berths are available in Thorsminde Harbour in the southern part of Vesthavn, which lies to the west of the lock and bridge. Facilities are available. The entrance is marked by lights. The distance to the museum is approximately 750 metres.
Christian Tiedt
Editor Travel