C. van Dockum

Born in 1804 and dying in 1893, C. van Dockum is identified in major library records as the author of Gamle Minder fra tjeneste-aarene ombord i franske skibe 1823-1829 and Admiral C. van Dockums Livserindringer. Those works present personal recollections from his years in naval service and helped preserve a firsthand view of maritime life in the 1820s.

Reliable reference sources also identify him as Carl Edvard van Dockum, a Danish naval officer who rose to the rank of vice admiral and later took part in public life. That background helps explain the practical, eyewitness quality of his writing: his memoirs are not distant history, but remembered experience shaped by a long career at sea.

For modern listeners and readers, van Dockum stands out as a writer of naval memory rather than fiction. His appeal lies in the directness of his voice and the window he offers into ships, service, and everyday life in the nineteenth century.