Norske Løve (1704)

The Norske Løve, also known as Norska Lova or Nordic Lion, was an armed with 36 cannon East Indiaman of 1670 and founded in 1729 due to inability to pay liquidated second Danish Ostindisk Kompagni. The ship ran aground on New Year's Eve 1707 in the fjord Lambavik at Lambi on the Faroe Islands.

History

The Norske Løve should have sailed already in 1682 with a cargo of slaves in the Indian Ocean, but their ship's bell bears the date 1704, which points to a building or Indienststellungsjahr of 1704. In a list of ship arrivals and departures in the Danish colony of Tranquebar in present-day Tamil Nadu on the east coast of India, however, there is also a Norske Løve in 1690 and again in 1706; whether it acted in each case by the same ship, is not apparent.

The ship left Copenhagen on December 4, 1707 under the command of Captain Roluf Meincke. It should north around Scotland reach the Atlantic and then sail around the Cape of Good Hope to Tranquebar. There should invite and bring back spices, tea and other goods. However, the trip was ill-fated. On December 18, the ship was hit in a heavy storm of lightning that so badly damaged the mainmast that this had to be cut the next day and thrown overboard. However, also the mizzen mast was accidentally torn down. Around noon on 19 December, the ship was hit by a huge breaker, which killed 14 of the crew and the ship inflicted further damage. In another storm on December 25, the ship west of the Hebrides was far blown off course, and it was stranded and eventually broke up on December 31, 1707 before Lambi on the east coast of the Faroe Island Eysturoy. Some 100 of the crew were rescued.

Also part of the cargo was salvaged. During the night, however, went down a landslip from the cliffs at the Strandungsstelle, and the scree buried the rest of the wreck and the Strandguts among themselves. It is a filled with gold coins pitcher whose content was intended for the purchase of a commodity in India, have been pushed out into deeper water, where it then a big boulder - later called " Ketil " (boiler ) - covered.

Despite a Maritime Board in Tórshavn grown up until now legends and myths about the sinking of the ship and its cargo, which have also been reflected in the literature. The ship's bell found its way into the Tórshavn Cathedral, where it still hangs today. A model of the ship is located in the church. Although it has been often dipped after the wreck and the suspected treasure on it, it has so far not been located, and no items were found of particular interest, which could be assigned without doubt the Norske Løve.