HDMS Det Store Bælt (1782)

HDMS Det Store Bælt (1782)[1][Note 1] later called Holsten (I),[2] was a Danish frigate.

History
Denmark & Norway
Name: Det Store Bælt[1]
Builder: Henrik Gerner[1] at Bodenhoffs Shipyard, Copenhagen[2]
Launched: 22 June 1782[2]
Commissioned: 1773[1]
Decommissioned: 1800[1]
Fate: Sold to the Danish East India company[2]
Denmark
Name: renamed Holsten, on purchase in 1800[2]
Owner: Danish East India Company[2]
Acquired: By purchase in 1800
Fate: Condemned at Mauritius[2] probably 1807
General characteristics
Class and type: Frigate
Length: 130 ft 9 in[2]
Beam: 35 ft[2]
Draught: 14 ft 9 in[2]
Sail plan: Frigate
Armament: 36 x 12–pounder guns[2]

Ship history

Det Store Bælt was a frigate designed by Henrik Gerner and launched in 1782. She was commissioned in the Royal Danish Navy and served for some years as the cadet training ship in the North sea and Baltic.[3][4][5] In 1793 she was patrolling in the North Sea under the command of A J Herbst,[6] and in 1795 and 1797 was part of a joint Danish/Swedish squadron enforcing neutrality and protecting trade.[7]

In 1800 the Royal Danish Navy sold Store Bælt to the Danish East India Company who renamed her Holsten[2]

From her home port of Copenhagen Holsten completed three voyages to the East Indies:

  • 1800 - 1801
  • 1801 - 1803 under captain Jan Hendrick Helsding
  • 1804 - 1805 also under captain Jan Hendrick Helsding.[2]

On 12 June 1805 Holstein, Helfding, master, was reported off Dover on her way from Bengal to Copenhagen.[8]
It appears that it was on a fourth voyage that she met her fate.

Fate

A report in the Madras Courier dated 10 February 1807 stated that the Danish company's ship Holstein was sailing from Copenhagen to Serampore when she was dismasted off Ceylon. She sailed to Mauritius for repairs.[9] On reaching Mauritius (then known as Isle de France) Holsten was condemned as unseaworthy.[2].

The Danish EIC replaced her, seemingly in 1807, with the purchase from the French at Mauritius the recently captured East Indiaman Warren Hastings, which the Company then renamed Holsten (II).[2][Note 2]


Namesakes

At least two other ships have borne similar names"

  • Store Bælt (1875 - 1912), a gunboat.[10]
  • Storebælt (1995 -1999), a patrol vessel.[10]

Notes
  1. The original designs of the figurehead and ornamentation of the gallery are available at this reference by clicking "vis"
  2. CAVEAT:Differing sources report 1805, perhaps 1806, or 1807 as the year of demise. The first two editors here have concluded the true year is 1807 - see Talk page

References
  1. Royal Danish Naval Museum - Det Store Bælt
  2. Marcussen - Holsten (I) record card
  3. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 2 p 102
  4. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 1 p 199
  5. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 2 p 654
  6. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 1 p 569
  7. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 2 p 103
  8. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (4225). 14 June 1805. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735022. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  9. "SHIP NEWS". Morning Chronicle (London, England), Monday, September 21, 1807; Issue 11964.
  10. Balsved

Citations
  • Balsved - Danish Naval History website
  • Royal Danish Navy Museum database List of Ships
  • (in Danish)T. A. Topsøe-Jensen og Emil Marquard (1935) “Officerer i den dansk-norske Søetat 1660-1814 og den danske Søetat 1814-1932“. Two volumes. Download here.
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