Battle of Silda

Battle of Silda (Affæren ved Silden or Affæren ved Stadt) was a naval battle fought on 23 July 1810 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Denmark–Norway near the Norwegian island of Silda in Sogn og Fjordane county. The battle occurred during the Gunboat War, itself part of the Napoleonic Wars. In the battle, two British frigates captured or destroyed three or four Dano-Norwegian gunboats. The Danish and British accounts of the battle differ.

Battle of Silda
Part of the Gunboat War
Dano-Norwegian shallop gunboat
Date 23 July 1810 Location Silda, Denmark-Norway Result British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Denmark-Norway
Commanders and leaders
Richard Byron	Gabriel Heiberg
Strength
2 frigates	2 schooners 1 gunboat
Casualties and losses
Unknown	4 killed 1 schooners captured 1 gunboat scuttled

Danish account

The Dano-Norwegian Navy had based three gun-schooners Odin, Thor, and Balder, and the gun-barge Cort Adeler at the pilot station on Silda. However, only Thor and Balder, plus a third, smaller gunboat, were involved in the battle.

On 23 July the British frigates HMS Belvidera, Captain Richard Byron, and HMS Nemesis, Captain William Ferris, launched their assault. One of the Dano-Norwegian boats was able to hit at least one of the British boats, killing several British soldiers. Still, the British captured the station. The crew of one of the Dano-Norwegian boats scuttled their vessel and escaped.[Note 1] The British took the other two captured vessels as prizes and sent their crews as prisoner of war in England. The British also captured merchantmen moored in the vicinity.

British account

Belvidera and Nemesis were sailing close in-shore of Studtland, Norway. On the evening of 22 July a boat from Belvidera scouting a deep bay sighted three Dano-Norwegian gun-vessels. The next morning seven boats from the two frigates entered the creek and cut out the two larger Dano-Norwegian vessels. The British suffered no casualties, though the Norwegians lost four men killed.[2]

The two larger vessels, Balder and Thor, commanded by Lieutenants Dahlreup and Rasmusen, were schooner-rigged. Each mounted two long 24-pounder guns and six 6-pounder howitzers and had a crew of 45 men. The third gun-vessel, Gunboat No. 5, was of a smaller class; she carried one long 24-pounder and had a crew of 25 men. Her crew ran her up a fiord where they abandoned her; the decision was then made to burn her her.[2]

The British prize money reckoning refers to three vessels, Balder, Thor, and Fortuna. Fortuna may have been a merchant vessel seized at the time.[3]

Aftermath

The local Norwegian commander, vicar Gabriel Heiberg, failed to alert other Dano-Norwegian naval vessels nearby that could have helped repel the attack. He also later issued an order to keep out of the way to avoid combat, an action for which he later underwent a court-martial.

Footnotes

Notes

1. This was kanonjolle Nr.5 - a two-masted gunboat (or gunyawl), of 20 men, and one 24-pounder gun and two-4-pounder howitzers.[1]

Citations

1. Orlogsmuseet card - Kanonjolle No. 5 (1808)
2. "No. 16402". The London Gazette. 4 September 1810. p. 1342.
3. "No. 16583". The London Gazette. 14 March 1812. p. 503.

Sources

• An article on the event from nrk.no (in Norwegian)
• Some contemporary reports (in Norwegian)