The second British Invasion of the Danish West Indies took place in December 1807 when a British fleet captured the Danish islands of St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless. This British occupation 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 ...

lasted until 20 November 1815, when Britain returned the islands to Denmark.

Background

During the later stages of the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

(1793-1802), Denmark–Norway, Prussia, and Sweden established the

Second League of Armed Neutrality The Second League of Armed Neutrality or the League of the North was an alliance of the north European naval powers Denmark–Norway, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia. It existed between 1800 and 1801 during the War of the Second Coalition and was ...

(1800-1801), intending to protect their trade in the Baltic from the British. However, Britain attacked Denmark with the First Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801. Slightly in advance of that, a British fleet arrived at St Thomas at the end of March. The Danes accepted the Articles of Capitulation the British proposed and the British occupied the islands without a shot being fired. The British occupation lasted until April 1802, when the British returned the islands to Denmark. After the outbreak of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, in 1804 Britain embarked on a campaign in the West Indies. By 1810 every single French, Dutch and Danish colony there was firmly under allied (mainly British) control. The occupation of the Danish West Indies was a consequence of the British fear that Denmark–Norway would ally with Napoleon. Hostilities between Denmark–Norway and the United Kingdom broke out again by the

Second Battle of Copenhagen The Second Battle of Copenhagen (or the Bombardment of Copenhagen) (16 August – 7 September 1807) was a British bombardment of the Danish capital, Copenhagen, in order to capture or destroy the Dano-Norwegian fleet during the Napoleonic War ...

in August 1807, when the British attacked the Danish capital to ensure that the Danish-Norwegian fleet did not fall into the hands of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. In the West Indies, Admiral Sir

Alexander Cochrane Admiral of the Blue Sir Alexander Inglis Cochrane (born Alexander Forrester Cochrane; 23 April 1758 – 26 January 1832) was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars and achieved the rank of admiral. He had previously captai ...

had been in readiness to invade the Danish colonies since receiving a warning on 2 September 1807 that hostilities with Denmark–Norway were likely to break out. In October vessels of the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

started capturing Danish vessels at sea.

The invasion

On 15 December 1807 arrived at Barbados with the news of war with Denmark. Admiral Cochrane immediately set sail in his flagship, , together with a squadron including , , , , , , and a number of other vessels. The expedition included troops from the 70th and 90th Regiments of Foot under the overall army commander, General Henry Bowyer. St Thomas surrendered on 22 December and St Croix on 25 December. A prize money notice in the ''London Gazette'' in 1816 gives a list of the vessels, and the army units that participated in the campaign.

Royal Navy vessels

This list includes both vessels that Cochrane mentioned in his dispatch concerning the invasion, and vessels mentioned in the prize money notice. The two sources overlap, but are not identical. * * ''

Blonde Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...

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Notes and citations

Notes Citations {{DEFAULTSORT:Invasion of the Danish West Indies (1807) 1807 in the Caribbean Campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars Conflicts in 1807 1807 in the British Empire 1807 in the Danish colonial empire 19th century in the Danish West Indies

December 1807 events Danish West Indies