Lorentz Fisker

Counter-Admiral Lorentz Fisker (5 October 1753 – 1 January 1819) was a Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy officer who charted the Skagerrak and Kattegat and served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

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 in the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy 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

1770–71 Fisker served on the ship-of-the-line Sophie Magdalene under the Admiral Frederik Christian Kaas off Algiers.

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.

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. 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. Fisker was disappointed, however, that he was awarded only the flag officer’s portion, whilst the portion reserved for the Admiralty went to governors who had had nothing to do with the affair. As Fisker had already undertaken a division of the prize money to the men under him, Michael Johannes Petronius Bille rejected the protest. This gave rise to considerable friction between Fisker and Michael Bille, and later with other colleagues – a conflict that left Fisker embittered and that was only resolved in 1816.

Death

He retired from the service in 1810. With prize money paid out in 1812, Fisker bought properties near Hellestrup and Ringsted on Zealand. In 1812 he received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog.

He died in 1819, and was buried in Holmens Cemetery in Copenhagen.