Michael Johannes Petronius Bille was a Danish, and Prussian naval officer born 8 November 1769 in
Stege on the Danish Island of
Møn into a naval family which had produced and would produce Danish admirals.
Career
He was sailing on the Danish frigate ''
Bornholm'' (captained by his father Mathias) when it was caught in a hurricane off 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 ...
Islands. After days of struggle, the ship ran aground off
Newport, County Mayo
Newport (), historically known as Ballyveaghan and for many years also known as Newport-Pratt, is a small town in the barony of Burrishoole, County Mayo, Ireland. The population was 626 in 2016. It is located on the west coast of Ireland, along ...
, Ireland on 17 March 1782. Mathias died in the affair. Bille became an officer in the
Danish-Norwegian Navy in 1789 and participated in the
Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801, where he commanded the lower battery of the ''Prøvesteenen'' which fired the first shot at the British.
Over fifteen years, he also served as a teacher of mathematics and astronomy at the Seekadettenakademiet (Dansk Søværnets Officersskole). From 1807-11, he served as a captain stationed in
Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...
in charge of the gunboat squadron (Roflotillen). In 1812-1813 he commanded a French warship in the
Scheldt
The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to ...
. From 1815 he served as pilot inspector 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 ...
until he entered Prussian service in 1820.
In 1821, he began a very fruitful career as director of the
Prussian Navigationsschule in Danzig. After three years he moved the school into a building that lay outside Danzig at the mouth of the
Radaune River because the St. Jacob Church was inadequate. The school was then assigned to the war schooner ''Stralsund'' commanded by
Longé. From 1825 the school also had the gunboat ''Danzig''. Bille and the vessels were under the authority of the Ministry of War in Berlin. This may be seen as the beginning of the
Prussian Navy
The Prussian Navy ( German: ''Preußische Marine''), officially the Royal Prussian Navy ( German: ''Königlich Preußische Marine''), was the naval force of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1867.
The Prussian Navy was created in 1701 from the ...
. The number of students increased from 40 in 1827, to 115-120 in 1831.
He resigned from Prussian service 3 May 1838 because he had become a Rear Admiral the Danish Navy, which was also his resignation from the Danish navy. He had performed excellently and was still well remembered in 1897: “A better leader for this branch of navigation at that time would have been difficult to find. The Danish origin was not an obstacle to him while fulfilling his official duties with pleasure and zeal."
[Batsch, ''Marinerundschau 1897'', p. 170 et seq.: "Einen besseren Leiter für diesen Zweig des Seewesens hätte man damals schwerlich finden kö
nnen. Die dänische Herkunft war ihm kein Hindernis, seinen Amtspflichten
mit Lust und Eifer obzuliegen."]
As Rear Admiral, from 1838, he busied himself with writing and research in natural sciences. In 1840, he published a book on navigation ''Tankar om och i navigationen.'' He died in Copenhagen 27 March 1845.
Writings
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bille, Michael Johannes Petronius
1769 births
1845 deaths
18th-century Danish naval officers
Prussian naval officers
Royal Danish Navy admirals
Danish admirals
Michael
Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy personnel
19th-century Danish military personnel