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, it presents a peaceful scene. But appearances can be deceiving: the sea is shallow and the ever-shifting sands in front of it are treacherous. When the weather takes a turn for the worse, this long, exposed coastline can quickly become a deadly trap for unwary ships.
It was 24 December 1811. On that day, a gale 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: the British ship of the line HMS “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, making its way using only the emergency rudder. Yet the admiral and the captain believe themselves to be safe. This misjudgement will prove fatal not only to them. The ship of the line is being driven ever closer to the coast, completely out of control, after the emergency rudder was destroyed by the anchor line during a futile attempt to drop anchor and the storm jib was also 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 were capsized the moment 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 this incident. 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 Shipwreck Museum in Thorsminde, north of the entrance to the harbour and the Nissum Fjord. Having been expanded several times since then, it has documented 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 presented 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, alongside 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 archaeological examination, it was taken to the St George Shipwreck Museum, where it now stands upright like a black memorial to the tragedy of Christmas Eve 1811.
Visitors arriving by boat
Visitor moorings 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 museum is approximately 750 metres away.
Christian Tiedt
Editor Travel