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The Strandingsmuseum St. George is situated on Thorsminde harbour, behind the dunes along the beach.

The main attraction of the museum is the thousands of finds recovered by divers from the wreck of HMS St. George. There they have been lying since the catastrophe in the storm on Christmas eve in 1811.

The photo collection by Jørgen Borg tells of wrecks in recent years

The Anchors Park
Outside the museum an exhibition of historical anchors has been established. 
 
Special Exhibitions
The Harbour of Thorsminde with photos and text.


Latest News 2002-2004
Here you will find more information about the exceptional finding of the lost rudder from 'St.George' and the discovery of the WW1 German U-boat U-59 in 2002-2003.


Storm and shipwrecks
The museum tells about shipwrecks, wreckage and the great drama on Christmas eve 1811, when two British ships of the line, HMS St. George (98) and Defence (74) met their fate in the early morning. HMS St. Geroge had three gundecks and a crew of about 700, the Defence had two gundecks and a crew of about 560. A storm forced the ships on to the shore south and north of Thorsminde respectively. Only 17 men survived.


Finds from the bottom of the sea
The wreck of HMS St. George lies 2 km south of Thorsminde and since the severe storm in 1981 it has been exposed to destruction by the sea. In the years 1983-1986 a number of emergency diving campaigns were made by the Danish National Museum and the diver Gert Normann in cooperation with Ringkøbing Museum to salvage as much as possible. Another diving campaign took place in 1996 and again in 1997. The main attraction of the museum is the thousands of finds from HMS St. George - wreckage, wine bottles, octants, tools and weapons - a veritable time machine. The wreck of the Defence lies north of Thorsminde, but only part of the bottom of the ship remains, merely a few finds have been recovered. 


The finding of the rudder from 'St.George' in 2003
See more about the exeptional finding of the lost rudder from 'St.George' in 2003.


Dangers of the sea
I the latter half of the 19th century an average of 10 ships a year were wrecked on  the west coast of Jutland within Ringkøbing county. In addition many ships were lost at sea. Old photos of wrecks,  figureheads and other artefacts illustrates the past. But it may also happen today as shown in the photos by Jørgen Borg.


The building
The museum building was opened in 1992 with 450 m2 in floorage and new buildings were added to a total of 1598 m2 in 2001. Adding to this are new store buildings, too. The new and larger museum was re-opened on June 15. 2001.

It was built to stand up to the severe climate, but inside the it is a light and friendly room built of simple materials and designed by the firm of architects C.E. Lindquist`s. Every year 40.000 people visit the Strandingsmuseum St. George. 


The Anchors Park

In 1997 a collection of historical anchors was established in connection with the museum. Here you can see anchors of the 18th, 19th, 20th centuries, many of them lent by the diving firm Jydsk Dykkerfirma ApS. This anchors park is the first of its kind i Denmark. Besides being a tourist attraction, the park will be important to researchers.

You will find a very good English show about old Danish anchors here


Anchor recovered in June 1997 from an unidentified wreck in the North Sea. Several types of close stowing anchors were developed in the 1860's. Some - like this one - still had a short stock. Around 1880 stockless patent anchors came into common use..
This page was updated on 1.9.2004