page_title: Attack on Marstrand
section_title: Assault on Strömstad
hierarchical_section_title: Attack on Marstrand / Background / Assault on Strömstad
caption_attribution_description: English: Map covering Bohuslän and western part of Sweden, made by Johann Baptist Homann and published after his death 1729 Svenska: Karta över Bohuslän och delar av västsverige med planer av Göteborg, Bohus, Vänersborg och Marstrand. Utförd av den tyske kartografen Johann Baptist Homann, och publicerad efter hans död 1729.
context_page_description: The Attack on Marstrand was a successful Dano-Norwegian siege of the Swedish town of Marstrand and Carlsten fortress which took place between July 10 and July 16, 1719 during the end of the Great Northern War.
  After a Dano-Norwegian assault on northern Bohuslän, ships under the command of Peter Tordenskjold attacked the Swedes at Marstrand harbor and the immobile ships of the Swedish Gothenburg Fleet. The Danes subsequently attacked Carlsten fortress, whose garrison surrendered swiftly, partly because of psychological warfare.
  The commander of the fortress, Colonel Henrich Danckwardt, was later sentenced to death by a Swedish court-martial for abandoning the fort while it was still deemed defensible.
  The surrender of Carlsten fortress in 1719 is still surrounded by myths and legends.
context_section_description: The peace talks in Stockholm failed, and King Frederick IV of Denmark ordered his troops to attack Sweden. Frederick IV had over 30,000 soldiers available in southern Norway, along with an attack force which would attack Strömstad from the north. A naval force with 8,000 soldiers was to invade Hisingen. The Swedish transport ships in Strömstad could not vacate Strömstad before Danish Vice Admiral Andreas Rosenpalm blockaded the only way out with a naval force of at least three frigates and four galleys at the end of June. After Rehnskiöld and the commander of the Gothenburg Squadron, Admiral Jonas Fredrik Örnfelt, had assessed the situation and had received intelligence that Norwegian forces were indeed marching towards Strömstad, the order was given to scuttle the transport fleet.
  Several Swedish galleys and a smaller vessel attempted to slip out of the area at night through an inner channel but this route was blockaded as well. The Gothenburg squadron's galleys Kristiania, Lovisa and Bellona, along with the brig Pollux, were all sunk at Tånge Bay and Tångeflo south of Strömstad on July 5. The Strömstad and Gå På, equipped with 20 cannons each, were also sunk, along with fourteen fully loaded cargo ships in Strömstad harbor. All remaining caches were opened, so that both civilians and military could take what they could, and the remains were then destroyed. Afterwards, Swedish troops under the command of Rehnskiöld totalling around 5,000 – including the garrisons at the fortifications of Gothenburg, Nya Älvsborg and Carlsten – started south towards Uddevalla. The first Danish troops arrived in Strömstad between July 6 and July 8. Frederick IV later arrived along with additional soldiers.
  By the end of June, heavy Danish surveillance of the Gothenburg archipelago had been arranged; a force consisting of eight vessels had been deployed between Klåver island and Tjuvkil. Since the vessels were attempting to halt naval traffic between Marstrand and Tjuvkil, and since they were pillaging the archipelago, the Swedes found it highly probable that Tordenskjold was planning to attack Marstrand. The Swedes performed a counter-attack against the Danish blockaders on the night of July 3, when the Swedish galley Lucretia and the brigantines Luren, Uppassaren and Framfuss from Kippholmen in the mouth of Nordre river, managed to creep down Hisingen and get past the Danish reconnaissance fleet without being spotted. The Danish galley Prins Kristian, armed with 9 cannons, was attacked and hijacked at Rivö's mouth.
caption: Map from the early 1700s of Bohuslän and parts of western Sweden with plans involving Gothenburg, Bohus, Vänersborg and Marstrand. Drawn by Johann Baptist Homann.
exif: {}