Laurent Barbé was a French shipbuilder born about 1696. He came to the attention of

Frederik Danneskiold-Samsøe Frederik Danneskjold-Samsøe (1 November 1703 – 18 July 1778) was a Danish politician, minister, admiral, chief of the Danish marine and count of the Barony Marselisborg. In his time Danneskjold-Samsøe held numerous public offices and was awar ...

,Count Frederik Danneskiold-Samsøe was appointed head of the Danish navy in 1735 when in 1739 the newly formed Danish Naval Construction Commission was seeking a replacement chief designer and shipbuilder. Barbé enjoyed Danneskiold's patronage and protection for some six years but fell out of favour when Danneskiold retired from the Construction Commission.

Personal life

Nothing is known of Laurent Barbé's personal or professional life before Copenhagen. He married Brigitte Agnes Mariane Schenck, some thirty years his junior, the daughter of a senior officer in royal lifeguard regiment.

Shipbuilder to the Royal Danish Navy

The design of Barbé's first

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

for Denmark (which would become ''Elephanten'' 1741) was produced by Barbé as part of a competition between him and another French shipbuilder, du Chemin, for the position of the new master shipbuilder to the Danish fleet. Barbé's employment dated from 6 May 1740,Bjerg by which time construction of the new ship had already started.Nielsen Despite concerns over the quality of its keel, ''Elephanten'' proved to be an excellent ship and the technical drawings set the standard for future work. He was reticent about revealing his construction methods to the Danish Naval Construction Commission which caused some problems but as a protege of Danneskiold-Samsøe he survived in his position. Barbé also designed a frigate, a slightly smaller ship of the line (of 70 guns) and a royal yacht. ''Elephanten'' was judged to be an excellent ship when it entered service, and the technical drawings became a standard for future similar ships. He also had failures and his ''small frigate'' (which may have been a brigantine -see below) HDMS ''Æroe'' was a very mediocre sailer. In 1743, he obtained various French ship designs, which were built at Copenhagen and in 1744 was commissioned to design and build a galley - which proved a good sailing vessel but responded poorly when rowing.

Sacked

With the departure of Danneskiold, Count of Samsøe in November 1746, Barbé lost all support in the shipyard, had disagreements with the Construction Commission and was retired on a pension of 500 rdl in 1747. His collection of design drawings was seized on his dismissal and put into the Danish admiralty's collection for future use.The article at Danish Wikipedia :da:Laurent Barbé implies that Barbé had to be brought back on a consultancy basis Barbé continued to live in Copenhagen until his death, in straitened circumstances, on 21 March 1764. HDMS ''Elephanten'' (1773) is credited to the design of Barbé, although she was launched 26 years after Barbé's departure. (The plans available on line, for ornamentation drawn in 1772 and receiving royal approval, are signed Håndværksmester/Bygmester: Møllerup).Royal Danish Navy Museum
list of ships
/ref>

Barbé's ships

The Royal Danish Navy's databaseThe Royal Danish Naval Museum website carries the caveat that not all entries have been fully confirmed from the Danish Archives. Entries in Skibregister may have coded references
see here for the coded sources
attributes the following ships designs to Barbé. Note that many of them were built after Barbé left his position in the Danish shipyards, indeed one after his death: *''Christiansøe'' 1741

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

*''Cronprindsen'' 1756 ship of the line *''Dannemark'' 1757 ship of the line *''Docqven'' 1747 frigate *''Dronning Juliana Maria'' 1752 ship of the line * ''Elephanten'' 1741 ship of the line * ''Elephanten'' 1773 ship of the line *''Jaegersborg'' 1745 boat/galley *''Nellebladet'' 1746 ship of the line *''Neptunus'' 1750 ship of the line *''Samsøe'' (22) 1746 frigate *''Sælland'' (''Sjælland'') 1750 ship of the line *''Tre Croner'' (''Tre Kroner'') 1742 ship of the line ;Recorded elsewhere: *''Ærøe'' 1744 brigantine of 10 guns and a crew of 53Skibregister
Record Card for Ærøe
/ref>

Notes

References

;Footnotes ;Sources *Balsved J.- Danish Naval Histor

*Bjerg H C
Laurent Barbe
in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, 3rd Ed., Gyldendal 1979–84. Accessed 18.May 2019 *Nielsen,
Dansk Militærhistorie Website
"Major Danish Warships Built at the Holmen Shipyard 1692–1744" (in English)

at Royal Danish Naval Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbe, Laurent 18th-century Danish shipbuilders French emigrants to Denmark