Gabriel Christoffersen Kruse (d. 1647) of Tulsted and Hjulebjerg was an officer in the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy

Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy

The Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy or The Common Fleet also known simply as the Danish Navy was the naval force of the united kingdoms Denmark and Norway from 1509 to 12 April 1814. The fleet was established when the Royal Danish Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy was combined by King Hans, when he...

. He became a captain in 1610 and fought in the Kalmar War

Kalmar War

The Kalmar War was a war between Denmark–Norway and Sweden. Though Denmark soon gained the upper hand, she was unable to defeat Sweden entirely...

 (1611-13) and the War against the Emperor

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

 (1625-29).

Family

Kruse was the son of Christoffer Thomesen Kruse (d. 1631) and Anne Jørgensdatter Kruse (d. 1622). He had two brothers, Enevold Christoffersen Kruse (d. 1626) and Jørgan Christophersen Kruse (d. 1666). He married twice, first to Agneta Eriksdatter Thot (d. 1642) in 1613 and later (1642) to Karen Hansdatter Lykke (d. 1665). He had two children with his first wife: Enevold Gabrielsen Kruse and Erik Gabrielsen Kruse, the latter born in 1623.

Career

After his service in the Kalmar War, where he participated in the assaults on Kalmar

Kalmar

Kalmar is a city in Småland in the south-east of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 62,767 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of 233,776 inhabitants .From the thirteenth to the...

 and Älvsborg, he led a naval expedition to Spitsbergen

Spitsbergen

Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...

 in 1615 in order to reassert Christian IV's claim to the region. With three men-of-war and two pinnaces (among his commanders was the Scotsman John Cunningham

John Cunningham (explorer)

John Cunningham was a Scottish explorer who served under the Danish flag. He is most noted for his role in King Christian IV's Expeditions to GreenlandIn Denmark he was known as Hans Køning. In 1603 he became a captain in the Danish navy...

) he reached the coast of Spitsbergen in July, where he met the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 explorer Robert Fotherby

Robert Fotherby

Robert Fotherby was an early 17th century English explorer and whaler. From 1613 to 1615 he worked for the Muscovy Company, and from 1615 until his death for the East India Company.-Family Ties:...

. A few days later he met the admiral of the English whaling

History of whaling

The history of whaling is very extensive, stretching back for millennia. This article discusses the history of whaling up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986....

 fleet, Thomas Edge

Thomas Edge

Thomas Edge was an English merchant, whaler, and sealer who worked for the Muscovy Company in the first quarter of the 17th century. Edge was born in the parish of Blackburn, Lancashire in 1587/88. His father was Ellis Edge. Edgeøya is named after him...

, who refused to recognize Christian IV’s sovereignty or pay a duty to hunt there. He then met the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 admiral Adriaen Block

Adriaen Block

Adriaen Block was a Dutch private trader and navigator who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four voyages from 1611 to 1614, following the 1609 expedition by Henry Hudson...

, who also refused to pay any fine.

In May 1627 he was Admiral of the Elbe

Elbe

The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...

 fleet, and later the same year served as Admiral of the Fleet off Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

, where he was authorized to free any ships from the port that had been seized. Late the following year he was named Admiral of the Baltic

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 fleet. In 1629 Kruse commanded several ships of the Baltic fleet, which was now under the noblemen Henrik Vind. In May 1630 he was again Admiral of the Elbe fleet.