Battle of Orford Ness (1704) 1704
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 27 July 1704 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1704 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Nearest landmass | At sea (nearest continent: Europe) | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Great Northern War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Kingdom of England, Sweden | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 52.0460, 1.7440 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Orford Ness was fought between a southbound Swedish merchant convoy escorted by the 56-gun ship of the line Öland and an English squadron of eight ships of the line and a frigate off Orford Ness on 7 August 1704. The English squadron, under Rear-admiral William Whetstone, began following the convoy upon sighting it. When Whetstone caught up with the Swedes, he demanded they salute his ships as the Swedish convoy was in English waters. Öland's captain, Gustaf von Psilander, under strict orders from Charles XII of Sweden not to salute to foreign ships first, refused and sent his 30 year old lieutenant Herman Schmidt in the gig to the English command ship, and according to von Psilander the following conversation ensued between Herman and the english captain Thomas Butler;
– Do You not see the Flag of the Queen of England?
– We see it, but do You not see the flag of the King of Sweden?
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Orford Ness (1704) (revision 1370452302), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Great Northern War
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All 52 battles of the Great Northern War →
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