In late December 1811 the Baltic fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir James Saumarez and charged with the task of maintaining trade between Sweden and Great Britain in the face of French, Russian and Danish hostility, set sail for England, there to reside for the winter months before returning north for a final season. The fleet, led by the C-in-C in the Victory, were beset by gales.
The majority of the fleet managed to escape and claw off the Danish coast but two ships, the 98 gun St. George and her escort, the 74 gun Defence, were caught by the storm and came onto the lee shore of the western side of the Jutland Peninsula. Unable to get back out to sea, try as they might, the two ships (the St. George having been jury-rigged after an earlier gale) finally struck the coast just north of Esbjerg and broke up, on the 24th December. Of the combined crews of both ships, perhaps 1,300 men in total, only 18 survived. The Danish King Frederik, when he was informed, ordered that the local population give all the help that they could to the few survivors and to treat the dead with respect. The local population were in all likelihood already doing so and the bodies were buried, in a mass grave, at a spot now known as Dead Man's Burg.
Since then, a Service of Commemoration has been held annually on the Anniversary, to the memory of the men lost from both ships, and a museum has been established at Thorsminde to house the remains of the two vessels which have been found and recovered, including the four-ton rudder from the St George which was discovered not so long ago. Over the years the museum, with its precious exhibits, has become very popular and not only within Denmark.
However, another storm now looms. Approximately two years ago the Strandings Museum joined with another under a reorganisation of museum resources. Unfortunately over those two years things have not worked out as planned and recently the Friends of the Strandings Museum have been told to leave the Board of the joint venture, which effectively leaves them with little control over what goes on in their own museum. This, and the wrangling of politicians, have left the Friends at a pass, with the former threatening to take over the artifacts and documents, although this is thought doubtful in law.
The Friends, therefore, have decided to take the bold step and attempt to run the Strandings Museum as a separate entity in its own right. This decision is at least sure to get a great deal of support from the people of the local area and beyond, but they need more, particularly from abroad. One of the other decisions they have made is to put forward an online petition, to gain support for this move, and they are particularly keen to gain international signatures. The link to the petition, and to the Strandings Museum itself is given here:
http://www.strandmus.dk/uk-version/underskrifter_uk.htm
Please sign it. I am sure that the members on this site, especially since the subject of the museum falls within our interest (the St George was briefly at one time Nelson's flagship), will have no hesitation in doing so. The more signatures the Friends can get, to run the museum in the way they want to, the better. Thank you.
Finally, I am sure the Friends of the Strandings Museum, will be grateful to Anna for allowing this appeal on her site. I know that one of them David Ashton, a member of the Nelson Society and now also of Nelson and His World, will be very pleased.
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