Lorentz Fisker (1753–1819) was a Danish naval officer who charted the waters of southern Norway and the Kattegat, and organised Norwegian defences against Britain and Sweden.
Early life
As the son of Vice Admiral Henrik Fisker, Lorentz Henrik Fisker accompanied his father on many voyages to the Levant, gaining so much experience that, at the age of only nine years, he was listed as a volunteer cadet and at 14 years old (in 1767) was already a junior lieutenant. In 1761 Lorentz had been on board the Grønland, captained by his father, on a voyage to the Mediterranean whose main purpose was to deliver members of the Royal Danish Scientific Expedition to Arabia Felix (modern day Yemen) to Constantinople. As the Grønland was passing Malta, young Lorentz fell ill and his father left him on the island in the care of some nuns. On the ship’s return, Lorentz had recovered and came back on board. Thirty-five years later, in 1796, when Lorentz Fisker was himself a captain, namely of the frigate Thetis, he had a tour of duty in the Mediterranean and visited Malta on many occasions. One of the nuns who had nursed him back to health was by now the Abbess, and she had delivered to the Thetis each day a silver tray of magnificent cakes.
1770–71
Fisker served on the ship-of-the-line Sophie Magdalene under the Admiral Frederik Christian Kaas off Algiers.
American War of Independence
1778
He went into the French naval service on the staff of Admiral Grasses, and later was second-in-command of a number of French frigates. 1779–1782 Fisker was present at the capture by the French of the British island of Grenada and the naval battles that followed. In the ship-of-the-line Le Dauphin Royal under Guichon’s command he had three encounters with the British admiral Rodney, and later at the investment of Yorktown where General Cornwallis surrendered with 6000 men. Amongst several other fights, where he took part in the capture of two British corvettes, he also survived the battle on 12 April 1782 near Dominique where Rodney defeated Grasse. Awarded the French Order “pour le merite militaire” Fisker’s contributions were acknowledged by the French foreign office. He was recalled after peace was declared in 1783.
In Home Waters
1783–1796
Fisker had a busy period during which he was part ship's captain, part surveyor and map maker of the Danish and Norwegian coasts. In 1788 he was second in command of the royal yacht Hvide Ørn when the crown prince visited Norway. and later that year was appointed as adjutant to the Russian Admiral Von Dessen, who was in command of a joint Russian-Danish squadron. In this position he came to take a major part in the inquiry into the Benzelsterna case
In 1789 he was promoted to captain, and in the same year he married Charlotte Amalie Kofoed, daughter of the Director of the Post Office and of the Prison Service. As captain of various ships, Fisker served in the Danish home fleet, including the ship-of-the-line Ditmarsk, and the frigate Fredericksværn in 1792 when this was a cadet training ship. In 1795 he travelled extensively in Jutland and the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein to determine the needs and positioning of coastal batteries. 1796–1797 The service in home waters was broken by a year in the Mediterranean in command of Thetis where he delivered the annual tribute to the Bey of Algiers. Fisker had diplomatic, but unsuccessful, talks with the old Bey of Tripoli, before being relieved by Steen Andersen Bille.
On this voyage he carried the artist Bertel Thorvaldsen to Malta. Among some fifty miniature portraits by Thorvaldsen are drawings of his fellow passengers made during this voyage 1800–1805 Back in Danish waters, Fisker was on the Trindel Light commission and, on land, enquiring into sites for placements of signal telegraphs. In 1805 he was head of a squadron of various types of gunboats undergoing trials of their performance and suitability for coastal defence.