In November 1720, Tordenskjold accused the Livonian colonel Jacob Axel Staël von Holstein of cheating a friend through an implausible gambling claim. The supposed property behind the claim was a hydra, a many-headed mythical creature, which made the accusation of fraud seem self-evident to Tordenskjold. Their quarrel became violent, and von Holstein demanded satisfaction after Tordenskjold struck him with a sword pommel. The resulting duel ended when von Holstein killed the thirty-year-old vice admiral with a single wound. Because dueling was illegal under Danish law, his body was brought back to Copenhagen and buried with little ceremony. The account of the fight is sparse, so suspicions that the encounter was rigged or formed part of a Swedish plan remain possibilities rather than established facts.
Chapter · 38:06-41:33
A gambling quarrel ends in a fatal duel
A dispute over an implausible gambling claim leads Tordenskjold into an illegal duel with Jacob Axel Staël von Holstein, but the surviving account does not resolve the suspicious circumstances of his death.