HNoMS Axel Thorsen (1810)
Axel Thorsen (1810/1814–1863) was a Norske Kanonskonnert built in Trondheim, and launched on 28 April 1810. She was one of ten such ships built in either Bergen or Trondheim for the Danish-Norwegian navy before the end of the Napoleonic Wars (and English Wars) when Norway became independent of Denmark at the Treaty of Kiel in 1814.
![]() Plan of the schooners Axel Thorsen and Skiøn Valborg  | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Norwegian gun-ships (Norske Kanonskonnert) | 
| Operators | Dano- Norwegian Navy  | 
| In commission | 1808–1814 | 
| Completed | 10 | 
| Lost | 2 | 
| Retired | 8 (transferred) | 
| Class overview | |
| Name | Norwegian gun-ship (Norske Kanonskonnert) | 
| Operators | 
  | 
| In commission | 1814–1872 | 
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Schooner | 
| Displacement | 70 tons approx. | 
| Length | 18.3 meters | 
| Beam | 5.2 meters | 
| Depth of hold | 1.8 meters | 
| Complement | 45–50 | 
| Armament | 2 × 24-pounder guns + 2 × 12-pounder carronades + 4 or 6 × 4-pounder howitzers | 
Origin of Name
    
Axel Thorsen is a character in very old Danish folk tales and poetry[1]
Danish Service
    
Axel Thorsen, along with her sister gunships Nornen and Valkyrien joined Müller's Finmark Squadron in 1810[2]
Norwegian Service
    
Axel Thorsen was used in fisheries protection until 1839, and commercially thereafter.[3] 
In 1864 this ship took part in the Swedish expedition to Spitzbergen led by Baron Nordenskiöld.[3]
Fate
    
She was lost in the Arctic Ocean off Novaya Zemlya in August 1872.[4]
Citations
    
- Oehlenschläger page 117
 - Fra Krigens Tid - Muller
 - Modelships website
 - "Shipping Intelligence". Glasgow Herald. No. 10176. Glasgow. 10 August 1872.
 
References
    
- Fra Krigens Tid (1807 -1814) (From the wartime) edited by N A Larson, Christiana (Oslo) 1878. (Title page and Chapter headings Archived 2016-05-22 at the Wayback Machine)
 - Oehlenschläger: Gamle danske Folkeviser, Kiøbenhavn 1840 Berlingske Bogtrukkeri (on Google Books)
 
