Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - XII. Reign of Charles XI, 1660–1697 - B. Personal Rule of Charles XI, 1672–1697
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tteign of Charles XI 201
broadside. In the turning of the ship the water rushed
in, and the ship nearly captized. A general confusion
ensued. The men standing at the cannons with burning
fuses dropped them. Fire broke out and spread to the
powder magazine. A roaring fiery pillar pierced the
air, and in another moment only a few scattered frag-
ments were left of the proudest war vessel in the
North. In terror the fleet scattered. But Klas Uggla
with four ships held out against fifteen of the enemy’s
largest ships until his own ship was fired, when he
threw himself into the sea and perished.
The Danes were now masters in the Baltic. Any at-
tempt to make a landing on Seeland was now out of
the question. Instead the Danes now crossed the Sound
and conquered Skane. The peasants in Skne, who
were still Danish in spirit, thought the war was over
and Skane restored to Denmark. In the forests along
the borders of Sm&land and Blekinge they gathered in
bands under the name of snappers and plundered the
Swedish peasants, and under bold leaders attacked
small divisions of the Swedish army. Their captives
were tortured to death with such cruelty that veterans
of the Thirty Years’ War declared they had never seen
anything like it. It is related that the king himself had
a narrow escape from the snappers while visiting the
pastor in Ahus. In haste he climbed up into the chim-
ney, and the minister shut the damper on which the
king rested while the snappers ransacked every nook
and corner of the house without finding their prey.
At the news of these disasters on land and sea the
king was seized with dumb despair. He soon, however,
roused himself from his stupor and resolved to risk a
A History of Sweden. 14.
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