Król Dawid
Król Dawid (Polish, 'King David') was a galleon of the Polish Navy that fought in the Battle of Oliwa. She was launched as König David 1623 in Danzig (Gdańsk) and initially served as a merchant ship.
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Poland | |
| Name | König David (Król Dawid) |
| Namesake | King David |
| Launched | 1623 |
| Commissioned | 1626 |
| Decommissioned | c. 1630 |
| Fate | Captured by the citizens of Lübeck |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 400 |
| Length | approximately 34 m (112 ft) |
| Beam | approximately 7.5 m (25 ft) |
| Complement | 60 (and up to 100 marines) |
| Armament |
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During the Polish wars with Sweden, it was drafted into the Polish navy along with Wodnik and Arka Noego. They fought in the Battle of Hel on 17 May 1627. After a short artillery duel the skirmish was over. The following day the escadrille met a convoy of 24 Swedish vessels off the coast of Biała Góra, near Łeba. After a short artillery barrage, the Polish ships managed to evade the enemy and headed for Kolberg (Kołobrzeg). Several days afterwards the escadre managed to break through the Swedish blockade and returned to Wisłoujście, one of two main bases of the Polish Navy.[1]
Under the command of a Scottish captain and shipbuilder Jakub Murray, the ship took part in the victorious battle of Oliwa of 28 November 1627.[2] However, the ship played only a minor role and failed to support Wodnik in her attack on Swedish galleon Solen yet received some damage. After the battle the command was given to Gregor Fentross, who also became the admiral of the Polish fleet. Thus König David became the flagship of the entire Polish Navy. However, during the Swedish assault on Wisłoujście of 6 July 1628, admiral Fentross was killed and the ship received some damage due to artillery fire. All Polish ships were withdrawn up the Vistula river.
In January 1629, the ship was rented by king Sigismund III Vasa to the Habsburg-led Catholic League and served during the Thirty Years' War. Stationed in Wismar, the ship fought against Danish and Swedish fleets at the Baltic Sea and the Northern Sea. In November 1630, however, chased by a Swedish pursuit escadre, König David was forced to seek refuge in Lübeck and was then interned by the locals. Further fate of the ship remains unknown.
References
- Georg Wislicenus, Willy Stöwer: Deutschlands Seemacht nebst einem Überblick über die Geschichte der Seefahrt aller Völker. p. 44, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8262-2313-6
- Wijaczka, Jacek (2010). "Szkoci" (PDF). Pod wspólnym niebem. Narody dawnej Rzeczypospolitej (in Polish). Warsaw: Bellona. ISBN 9788311117242. Retrieved 22 May 2022. p. 212:
Szkoci nie tylko służyli jako żołnierze w armii polskiej, lecz także pomagali ją unowocześniać...Kolejny Szkot z Pucka, James Murray od roku 1621 kierował budową floty w Gdańsku. Dzięki jego działalności flota królewska w 1627 roku liczyła dziesięć okrętów. Jako dowódca zbudowanego przez siebie galeonu „Król Dawid" wziął udział, w randze kontradmirała, w morskiej bitwie pod Oliwą (1627). Ze względu na barwny życiorys stał się bohaterem pięciu powieści Jerzego Rychlińskiego (między innymi Galeon kapitana Mory, Warszawa 1968).