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Copyright: Ærø Genealogy
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Ditlev Frederik Grube 1789 - 1865.
During the British - Danish war in 1807 to 1814, many Danish ships were lost to the British, and among them were naturally several from Marstal, as Marstal in those days as well as today, had quite a large merchant navy.
The schooner Fulton of Marstal.
At the start of the war in 1807, the 18 year old young man, named Ditlev Frederik Grube b. 1789 d. 1865 found himself onboard a Marstal cutter, sailing in the area between the island of Funen and Sealand, when the cutter was boarded by the British. While the rest of the cutters crew were set ashore, Grube was set to work on the cutter and later brought to England, where he was imprisoned together with other fellow-countrymen, on board the ship Irresistible in Rochester some 25 miles from London.
Grube spent 3 long years imprisoned here, and in order to have something to do, he and a friend taught themselves navigation. His friend was a ships-mate named Rask from the island of Bornholm.
The result of their studies can be seen in a handwritten book called: "Navigation by the methods of Mr. Professor L. Skatkammer", by Frederik Ditlev Grube, 1809. This book has survived until today in the hands of the family.
After 3 years Grube was set onboard a transport ship, taking troops to Calcutta, and by the end of the war in 1814 he found himself back in London, where he boarded a norwegian ship. Finally after some time he was able to set his feet on danish soil in the town Dragør, south of Copenhagen, and from there he returned back to Marstal.
Grube later became a merchant at Kongensgade in Marstal.