caption serviceyears branch death_date death_place birth_place birth_date nickname rank image article_title name
portrait of peder skram by unknown artist 1518 -- 1562 denmark 11 july 1581 horsens , denmark horsens , denmark between 1491 -- 1503 denmark 's dare-devil admiral peder skram painting.jpg peder skram
 peder skram
peder skram

peder skram -lrb- died 11 july 1581 -rrb- was a danish senator and naval hero , born between 1491 and 1503 , at his father 's estate at urup near horsens in jutland .
he first saw service in the swedish war of christian ii at the battle of brännkyrka , 1518 , and at the battle of upsala two years later he saved the life of the danish standard-bearer .
for his services in this war he was rewarded with an estate in norway , where he settled for a time with his young consort elsebe krabbe .
during the count 's feud -lrb- -rrb- , skram , whose reputation as a sailor was already established , was sent by the danish government to assist gustavus vasa , then in alliance with christian iii against the partisans of christian ii , to organize the untried swedish fleet ; and skram seems , for the point is still obscure , to have shared the chief command with the swedish admiral mans some .
skram greatly hampered the movements of the hanseatic fleets who fought on the side of christian ii ; captured a whole lübeck squadron off svendborg , and prevented the revictualling of copenhagen by lübeck .
but the incurable suspicion of gustavus i minimized the successes of the allied fleets throughout 1535 .
skram 's services were richly rewarded by christian iii , who knighted him at his coronation , made him a senator and endowed him with ample estates .
in 1555 , feeling too infirm to go to sea , he resigned his post of admiral ; but when the scandinavian seven years ' war broke out seven years later ; and the new king , frederick ii , offered skram the chief command , he agreed to go .
with a large fleet he put to sea in august 1562 and compelled the swedish admiral , after a successful engagement off the coast of gotland , to take refuge behind the skerries .
this , however , was his sole achievement , and he was superseded at the end of the year by herluf trolle .
skram now retired from active service , but was twice -lrb- 1565 -- 1568 -rrb- unsuccessfully besieged by the swedes in his castle of laholm .
his estates in halland were also repeatedly ravaged by the enemy .
skram died ; at an advanced age , at urup on 11 july 1581 .
skram 's audacity won for him the nickname of `` denmark 's dare-devil '' , and he contributed perhaps more than any other dane of his day to destroy the hanseatic dominion of the baltic .
his humanity was equally remarkable ; he often imperilled his life by preventing his crews from plundering .
