Old scone of Agersø

After the British navy confiscated the Danish fleet in 1807 Denmark were no longer in control of the waters around Denmark. The control had passed to the British navy. This was very unfortunate since Denmark consists of a large number of islands and the communication between the different islands depended on sailing from one island to the other.

To make the mail service possible it was necessary to try to cross the different strait and belts of Denmark at positions where it would be possible to get across without being intercepted by the British navy. To do this a series of small fortifications were built at different locations around Denmark and a few small gun boats were built which would be able to make trouble for the smaller British ships – especially near the shore in case of no wind.

One place where the Danish postal service would cross the Great Belt was at Agersø from where it was possible to make the short sail to Langeland in relative safety. To make the island Agersø safe a small scone was built on the island to deter the British ships from attacking the island. 1,400 soldiers was stationed at Agersø and the nearby Omø four guns was placed on the island to possible attack British ships which would make it close to the island.

The small gun boats stationed around Agersø managed to attack one small British naval ship and they managed to conquer the ship which was later made a part of the Danish navy – so the fortifications did have a role in the war.

In addition to the postal boats which would cross around here there was actually a special innovation made here. They built an optical telegraph which could send a message across the water which could be seen on a the nearby islands of Omø and then later Langeland – this way it was possible to send coded messages across Denmark during the war.

There isn’t a lot to see at the old scone but they have placed the old guns and there are a few signs of the old scone left in the landscape even after more than two centuries.