Barque Peter Tordenskjold, 241.5 NRT., was built 1850 in Ronne, and was bought to Dragør in 1860 by a shipping company comprising among others Cornelius Carlsen Jans and Hans Dirchsen priest. In 1873 the bark was registered in Copenhagen, but was still owned by the shipping company in Dragør. It was sold 1892 to Sweden and scrapped in 1910.

Vilhelm Arnesen was not born in the skipper town Dragor, but was related to the town because his grandparents lived here and often visited them. At the same time, his father, Captain Georg Arnesen, sailed with several Dragør ships, including the barque Peter Tordenskjold in the 1880s. The young William Arnesen was often invited to travel with his father, which developed his artistic abilities. He mentions such a journey in his memoirs and writes that “Painting equipments were obviously ready [...] I joined my father to see the same in nature, which I knew from the other painters' seascapes”.

Literature: F. Holm-Petersen and Kaj Lund, “Sømænd og skibe fra Dragør”, 1878, p. 35, 37, 92, 94, 180 and 181. Reproduced p. 94. Martin Hans Borg, “Dragørs søfart 1800–1910”, Dragør 2003, p. 40, 51, 52, 53, 57, 61 and 84.