KIM PEART
Report from Iceland: 4 July 1809
The Bicentenary of Jorgen Jorgenson’s rule of Iceland ~ 25 June to 22 August 1809
The Bicentenary of Jorgen Jorgenson’s rule of Iceland ~ 25 June to 22 August 1809
REPORT FROM ICELAND : 4 July 1809
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Rivers of Blood flow in Reykjavik!
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HAVING swiftly departed Reykjavik when a new batch of British pirates invaded and with their pirate king, the Danish traitor Capt. Jorgen Jorgenson ensconced in Government House, I was alarmed to hear reports flooding out of the capital of rivers of blood flowing in the streets. With great trepidation I made my way back to check the facts and all I could find was quiet and celebration with the summer markets getting under way.
There was no blood in the streets and no person has been killed, or even injured in the seizure of the island. The midnight sun is bright and Icelanders are making their way from all parts of the island for the summer market. It now appears that the reports were wildfire rumours spread by disgruntled Danes in the hope of stirring up a revolt, without luck.
The only sign of any counter offensive appears to have been in the home of Olafur Stevenson, a former governor of Iceland, who received the English pirates and their king, as well as a letter they had to deliver from his old friend Sir Joseph Banks, written in Latin.
Olafur cunningly plied his guests with innumerable servings of every dish imaginable on Iceland, as if to weigh them down like sitting ducks. But no luck. The tactic failed on English appetites that are accustomed to consuming large slices of the world and the pirate seizure of Iceland proceeded to take its course, with a further proclamation from Jorgenson threatening any persons spreading false rumours with dire consequences.
The outcome of this affair remains in the air and could take a different turn when the next British warship calls into Reykjavik, whether to give the stamp of approval to the actions of these pirates, or declare the island a British colony. It is hard to believe that a pirate king and escaped Danish prisoner of war could be left ruling Iceland.
But these are strange times and many Viking pirates became respected kings, such as King Kanute, whose career began as a Viking and ended with his reign over England and Denmark.
Traep Mik
Rekjavik
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JJ 200 UPDATE
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With the 100 years of the birth of Errol Flynn recently celebrated in Tasmania, it may make one wonder if Jorgenson ever made it to Hollywood, as he seems to have popped up everywhere else. In fact, as the character in a film he did, with the 1916 silent movie ‘The Bondman’, directed by Edgar Lewis and with Charles Graham starring as Jorgen Jorgenson, the Governor of Iceland. The screenplay is adapted from the 1890 novel by Hall Caine called ‘The Bondman: A New Saga’ and anyone interested can have a look at it in Google Books. The work twists history and has Jorgenson ensconced in Iceland for many years:
http://tinyurl.com/ktg467
Jorgenson’s adventurous life would certainly be a match for Errol Flynn, which if some of his writing is to be believed, with his unpublished ‘Adventures of Thomas Walter’, he was sailing out of South Africa as a pirate in 1799 as far as Mexico in North America, which in those days included the current home of Hollywood.
While on Google Books, it is great to see that one volume now available for anyone to view is the 1813 work by William Jackson Hooker, ‘Journal of a Tour of Iceland in the Summer of 1809’, which includes an account of Jorgenson’s rule of Iceland:
http://tinyurl.com/La5pq7
In her work on Jorgenson ‘The English Dane’, Sarah Bakewell writes, “He was enchanted with Hooker’s book when it appeared, and in later years re-read it many times, possessing, borrowing, losing and reacquiring numerous copies.” page 130.
