Copenhagen’s harbor has produced a new piece of Denmark’s national story: marine archaeologists say they have found the wreck of the Dannebroge, a Danish warship sunk during the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen. The Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum announced the discovery Thursday, marking 225 years since British forces under Adm. Horatio Nelson attacked and defeated Denmark’s navy outside the harbor. Danish officials and researchers said the work now faces a practical deadline because the dig site lies in an area slated for construction as part of Lynetteholm, a major housing and development project in Copenhagen Harbor.
The museum, which leads the monthslong underwater excavation, said the wreck sits roughly 15 meters (49 feet) below the surface in thick sediment. Divers are operating with near zero visibility and are racing against time to uncover the shipwreck before it becomes part of the construction environment. The Associated Press reported it was the only international outlet granted access to the site.
Morten Johansen, the museum’s head of maritime archaeology, said the find is meaningful because much of what survives about the battle comes from observers on shore rather than from those experiencing the fighting firsthand. Johansen said marine archaeologists have a chance “to be on board one of these ships” and see what happened as the vessel was shot to pieces. He added that a portion of the story can be learned from seeing the wreck, while noting the battle has long been chronicled by “very enthusiastic spectators.”
The museum’s identification links the wreck to the Dannebroge, the Danish flagship at the center of the battle. In the fighting, Nelson and the British fleet attacked and defeated Denmark’s navy as it formed a protective blockade outside the harbor, a clash in which the Dannebroge was Nelson’s main target. The ship’s commander, Commodore Olfert Fischer, led the vessel during the engagement, and the Dannebroge’s size—described as 48 meters (157 feet)—matches the kind of platform the battle targeted.
Researchers said cannon fire tore through the Dannebroge’s upper deck and incendiary shells later sparked a fire aboard. Johansen, speaking about the experience of being at sea under bombardment, described the damage as driven not just by the cannonball but by what it dislodged: he said “When a cannonball hits a ship, it’s not the cannonball that does the most damage to the crew, it’s wooden splinters flying everywhere, very much like grenade debris.”
Marine archaeologists also said the wreck is yielding items that help confirm the ship’s identity and provide new details about the men aboard. The AP reported that divers have found two cannons, uniforms, insignia, shoes, bottles, and even part of a sailor’s lower jaw. Officials said the remains could belong to one of the 19 crew members who were unaccounted for after the battle.
Within the excavation, researchers described additional hazards and methods shaped by the site’s conditions. Marie Jonsson, a diver and maritime archaeologist, said divers often cannot rely on sight and must instead work by touch, telling AP: “Sometimes you can’t see anything, and then you really have to just feel your way, look with your fingers instead of with your eyes.” The museum said divers are also dealing with the risk posed by cannonballs embedded in the darkened seabed as silt clouds form during the underwater work.
To date the ship and support the identification, experts said they are comparing the size of the wooden parts found with old drawings and using dendrochronological dating—tree-ring analysis—to match the year the ship was built. They also said the darkened dig site contains cannonballs and other remnants tied to the battle’s violence.
The dig is being coordinated around Lynetteholm’s construction schedule, with the housing project expected to be completed by 2070. Archaeologists began surveying the area late last year and targeted a location they believed matched the Danish flagship’s final position. In a harbor where development is moving forward, the museum said the race to extract the wreck is intended to preserve evidence of what happened during hourslong combat that Denmark later wove into its national memory.