Carl Adolph Rothe (8 December 1767 – 12 July 1834) was a

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contex ...

in the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). O ...

and

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with ; Saint John ( da, St. Jan) with ; and Saint Croix with . The ...

from 1820 to 1822.

Biography

Rothe was born on 8 December 1767 in Tybjerggård on Zealand, Denmark, to parents Tyge Jesper Rothe and Karen Bjørn. Bricka, Carl Frederik, ''Dansk Biografisk Lexikon'', vol. XIV esen - Saxtrup 1900. Entry: "Rothe, Carl Adolph", pp.353-355
Available online
/ref> The Rothe family originates from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, coming to Denmark in the end of the 17th century. On 12 January 1811 he married Benedicte Ulfsparre de Tuxen (1790-1877) in

Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; sv, Helsingör), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a city in eastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 62,686 on 1 January 2018. Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden together form the northe ...

, the daughter of Louis de Tuxen and Charlotte Elisabeth Klingfeldt. The couple had no less than eight children: Louis, Anna Rosine, Andrea Bjørn, Karen, Charlotte Elisabeth, Martha Gustava, Margrethe Christine and Louise. Rothe joined the Danish navy as a naval volunteer ( cadet) in 1778 and on 2 April 1783 he was commissioned as an officer in the rank of a Second Lieutenant. In his naval career Rothe, fought in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 against the British fleet, commanding the ship (pram) Nyborg. He was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1806, and served as the second in command of the ship Prinds Christian Frederik under command of captain Carl W. Jessen from 24 December 1807. He participated in the battle of

Battle of Zealand Point The Battle of Zealand Point was a naval battle of the English Wars and the Gunboat War. Ships of the Danish and British navies fought off Zealand Point on 22 March 1808; the battle was a British victory. Peter Willemoes was among the Danish ca ...

on 22 March 1808,Johnny E. Balsved
''The Battle of Sealand's Point (1808): "At Eventide on open Sea the Vessels they did Meet"'' (transl. Robert Rayce) in: ''Danish Naval History''
on iewed on August 14th 2008/ref> which he survived as the second in command of Prinds Christian Frederik. After that battle, in which he was wounded, he spent two months as an English

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

, Sweden. He was promoted to the rank of Counter Admiral as of 16 April 1833. From 11 November 1808 until 25 July 1814 Carl was governor of Bornholm and Christiansø, and was the governor of the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Cro ...

in the

from 1820 to 1822. He died, 66 years old, in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

on 12 July 1834. He is buried in

Holmens Cemetery Holmen Cemetery ( Danish: Holmens Kirkegård) is the oldest cemetery still in use in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was first located next to the naval Church of Holmen in the city centre but relocated to its current site on Dag Hammarskjölds Allé in t ...

Biography

Notes

Further reading