Born on this day
Friday, April 7, 1780. : Colourful character Jorgen Jorgenson, former convict in Australia, English spy and self-proclaimed Protector of Iceland, is born.
Jorgen Jorgenson was born on 7 April 1780 in Copenhagen, Denmark, the son of royal clockmaker Jurgen Jurgensen. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed on an English collier, sailing in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. After four years as a sailor, he joined a whaler, travelling to Cape Town in 1799 and Port Jackson the following year. In August 1801, he joined the ‘Lady Nelson’, under the name of John Johnson, to explore the coastline of Van Diemen’s Land and to determine whether it was joined to the Australian mainland. Jorgenson was present at the founding of the settlements of Risdon Cove in Van Diemen’s Land in September 1803, and of Sullivan’s Cove in February 1804. After joining the whaler ‘Alexander’, he claimed to be the first to harpoon a whale in the waters of the Derwent.
After returning to Europe, Jorgenson took up a cause on behalf of Iceland, proclaiming himself their King and Protector, and arresting the Danish Governor who had refused trade with other countries, resulting in food shortages in Iceland. After the British arrested him and restored the Danish Governor to his position, Jorgensen’s connections in high places secured his early release. He was employed as a British spy for some years after that, but after becoming involved in petty crime, returned to New Holland (Australia) as a convict in 1826.
Working in the Customs offices in Van Diemen’s Land, he helped to uncover cases of forgery of Government Bonds, for which he received a ticket-of-leave. Given his previous experience he was assigned various exploration tasks to the wild central highlands and West Coast of Tasmania, after which he was pardoned.
Jorgenson was also a keen observer of the Aboriginal way of life, and wrote about the culture and beliefs of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Jorgenson died in Hobart on 20 January 1841.
Australian Explorers
Tuesday, April 7, 1835. : Major Thomas Mitchell sets out on his second expedition, determined to discredit the discoveries made by Sturt.
Major Thomas Mitchell was born in Craigend, Scotland, in 1792. He came to Australia after serving in the Army during the Napoleonic Wars, and took up the position of Surveyor-General of New South Wales. In this capacity, he undertook numerous expeditions of exploration into the NSW interior.
Mitchell’s second journey set out on 7 April 1835 from Boree Station. Its purpose was to chart the course of the Darling River which Sturt had discovered some years earlier. Mitchell was determined to prove Sturt wrong in the latter’s belief that the river flowed southward into the Murray, as Mitchell believed it must flow northwest. After travelling for several months and following the Darling for almost 500km, Mitchell was forced to admit that Sturt was indeed correct.
World History
Tuesday, April 7, 1953. : Dag Hammarskjöld, the man later killed for his peace-keeping efforts, is elected as UN Secretary-General.
Dag Hammarskjöld was born in Sweden on 29 July 1905. His distinguished career in public service included Swedish financial affairs, Swedish foreign relations, and global international affairs. He was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations on 7 April 1953, retaining this position until his death in 1961. An excellent diplomat, in 1954-55 he personally negotiated the release of American soldiers captured by the Chinese in the Korean War. During the Suez Canal crisis of 1956, he was instrumental in getting the UN to nullify the use of force by Israel, France, and Great Britain following Egyptian President Nasser’s commandeering of the Canal.
Hammarskjöld was on a peacekeeping mission the night he was killed, 18 September 1961. His plane crashed near the border between Katanga and North Rhodesia. It was never established whether his plane was deliberately shot down or whether the crash was accidental.
World History
Saturday, April 7, 1990. : A fire breaks out aboard the ship, Scandinavian Star, killing 159.
The M/S Scandinavian Star, originally known as the M/S Massalia, was a car and passenger ferry built in France in 1971. Originally owned by Compagnie de Paqueboats, the ferry was eventually sold to Scandinavian World Cruises who renamed her the Scandinavian Star and put her on cruises between Tampa, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico. During this time, in 1988, a fire started in the engine room, causing the ship to lose power and its fire fighting oxygen system to malfunction. In 1990 the Scandinavian Star was sold to Vognmandsruten and put on DA-NO Linjen’s route between Oslo, Norway and Frederikshavn, Denmark.
In the early hours of 7 April 1990, after leaving Oslo bound for Frederikshaven, the ferry was engulfed by fire, later determined to be the work of an arsonist. The ship lacked sprinkler systems or any other automatic fire fighting system except for the car deck system, and there were no automatic fire detection or alarm systems. Being of different nationalities, the crew members were unable to effectively communicate with each other to coordinate the fire-fighting operations, nor were any of them trained in the correct procedures. 159 people were killed, most of them from inhaling the deadly gas produced by the highly combustible surface lining in the narrow corridors. The survivors abandoned the ship, which was then towed to Lysekil, Sweden, where the fire was not extinguished until April 18. No one was ever charged with starting the fire.