Danish warship wreck, remains of sailor found 225 years after being attacked by Horatio Nelson’s British fleet.

More than 200 years after sinking Adm. Horatio Nelson and a British fleet, a Danish warship and part of a sailor’s jaw at sea in Copenhagen Harbor were discovered by marine archaeologists.

Working in the thick and almost invisible 50 feet below the waves, divers are racing to uncover the 19th century Dannebroge wreck before it became a building site for a new housing estate being built off the coast of Denmark.

Denmark’s Viking Ship Museum, which is leading the months-long underwater excavation, announced its findings on Thursday, 225 years since the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

“It’s a big part of Denmark’s national identity,” said Morten Johansen, the museum’s head of marine archaeology.

A lot has been written about the war “by very enthusiastic observers, but in reality we don’t know how it happened to be on a ship shot to pieces by British warships and we can learn part of that story by seeing the wreckage,” said Johansen. The Associated Press is the only international agency granted access to the site.

At the Battle of Copenhagen, Nelson and the British fleet attacked and defeated the Danish navy as it built a defensive wall outside the harbor.

Thousands were killed and wounded during the hours-long naval clash, considered one of Nelson’s “greatest battles”. The aim was to force Denmark out of the alliance of Northern European countries, which included Russia, Prussia and Sweden.

“A nightmare to be on a ship”

At the center of the battle was the Danish flagship, the Dannebroge, commanded by Commodore Olfert Fischer.

The 157-foot Dannebroge was Nelson’s main objective. Cannon fire tore through its upper deck before incendiary shells extinguished the fire.

“(It was) a nightmare to get on one of these ships,” Johansen said. “When a cannonball hits a ship, it’s not the cannonball that does the most damage to the crew, it’s the pieces of wood that fly everywhere, like bomb debris.”

This battle is believed to have inspired the phrase “blindfolded.” After deciding to ignore the superior’s sign, Nelson, who was blind in his right eye, reportedly said: “I only have one eye, I have the right to be blind sometimes.”

Finally Nelson offered a truce and an agreement was later reached with Prince Frederik of Denmark.

The stricken Dannebroge drifted slowly to the north and exploded. Records say the sound caused a deafening din throughout Copenhagen.

Four years later, in 1805, Nelson was killed by a French sniper and his crew soaked his body in brandy so he could return home and not be buried at sea, historians told the BBC last October.

Marine archaeologists have found a cannon, uniforms, insignia, shoes, bottles and even part of the lower jaw of a sailor, possibly one of the 19 unidentified crewmen who may have lost their lives that day.

The excavation site will soon be covered by construction work for Lynetteholm, a major project to build a new housing district in the center of Copenhagen’s harbor that is expected to be completed by 2070.

Marine archaeologists began exploring the site late last year, identifying what is thought to be the final resting place of the flag.

“You approach people who ride”

Experts say that the dimensions of the wooden pieces found are consistent with ancient paintings. Dendrochronological dating, a method of using tree rings to establish the age of wood, matched the year the ship was built. They also say that the black excavation site is full of cannonballs, a danger to divers who are obscured by clouds of mud stirred up in the sea.

“Sometimes you can’t see anything, and you have to feel your way, look with your fingers instead of with your eyes,” said diver and marine archaeologist Marie Jonsson.

Written in books and painted on canvas, the war of 1801 is deeply embedded in the Danish national story.

Archaeologists hope their findings can help re-examine the event that shaped the Scandinavian country and perhaps reveal the personal stories of those who went to war that day 225 years ago.

“There are bottles, there are ceramics, even pieces of basketry,” Jonsson said. “You approach the people on board.”

The availability was announced after a few weeks A 17th century Swedish Navy shipwreck he was buried underwater in Stockholm for 400 years when he suddenly appeared due to unusually low levels in the Baltic Sea.

In 2024, the archivists opened the parcels on the cargo ship Anne-Marie, captured by the British Navy during the Second Battle of Copenhagen, they found a sweater, socks, silver coins and other items on board.

In 2023, they don’t dive found a Dutch warship off the south coast of England that sank in 1672.