Paul Andreas Kaald (12 June 1784 – 24 June 1867) was a Norwegian seafarer. He was chartered as a Norwegian

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

captain from

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

during the

Gunboat War The Gunboat War (, ; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Nav ...

(1807–1814).

Biography

Kaald went to sea when he was fourteen years old and passed the examination for first mate in 1803. His first journey as a privateer was in 1808; he captained the return of a captured ship to Norway. The captured vessel was refitted and renamed ''Den Flinke'' before being sent on a second journey; the voyage was truncated when the ship was retaken by Scotland. Captain Kaald was imprisoned in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

for two years. Kaald was later sent back to Trondheim. Three years later he ventured forth on his third privateering expedition. His ship ''Anna Bruun'', with a crew of 60 and 14 cannons, was one of the largest privateers based in Norway. This journey made Kaald a rich man. When the war ended, Kaald bought the schooner ''Isabella''. He was the owner of the ship until its disappearance in 1834. He moved to rural Hitra in 1835 and settled on the Grindvik farm where he lived until his death in 1867. ''Kaptein Kaalds vei'', in the

Ladehammeren Ladehammeren is a small mountain on the Lade peninsula in the municipality of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located just south of the Korsvika area. Våttahaugen, the highest point of Ladehammeren, is above sea level. Kjerringb ...

district of Trondheim, was named in memory of Paul Andreas Kaald.

Historic background

The

naval conflict (1807–1814) between

Denmark–Norway Denmark–Norway (Danish and Norwegian: ) was an early modern multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (including the then Norwegian overseas possessions: the Faroe I ...

and the

British 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 F ...

was conducted during 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 ...

. After the loss of the Danish fleet to the British in 1807, civilian merchant ships were often engaged by Denmark against British shipping. Private ship owners equipped and manned privateers which could seize enemy merchant ships. Privateers could make fortunes from capturing British ships but fought a vastly superior enemy.

Sources

In 1950, Johan Nicolay Tønnesen (1901–87) edited an extract of the posthumous papers of Captain Paul Andreas Kaald. ''På kapertokt og i prison, 1808-1810. Av I captein Paul Andreas Kaalds etterlattepapirer'' (Trondheim: Holboek Erikson & Co. A.s., 1950, 233 p. edited by

Johan Nicolay Tønnessen Johan Nicolay Tønnessen (30 November 1901 – 27 December 1987) was a Norwegian historian and schoolteacher. He was born in Kristiansand as a son of port magistrate Joh. E. Tønnessen and Ida, née Stray. He finished his secondary education in 192 ...

).''Dr Johan Nicolay Tonnessen'' (Doull Books)
/ref>

Other sources

*Lindeberg, Lars (1974) ''De så det ske : Englandskrigene 1801-14'' (Copenhagen: Lademann) * Feldbæk, Ole (2001) ''Slaget på Reden'' (Politikens Forlag) *Hillingsø, Kjeld (2007) ''Et trist kapitel - 1807 Landkrigen'' (Gyldendal) *Bourgois, Eric Lerdrup; Høffding, Niels (2007) ''Danmark og Napoleon'' (Hovedland)

References

External links

Kaperkaptein Paul Andreas Kaald (1784 - 1867)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaald, Paul Andreas 1784 births 1867 deaths Norwegian sailors People from Trondheim Norwegian military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Norwegian prisoners of war in the Napoleonic Wars Napoleonic Wars prisoners of war held by the United Kingdom Privateers