About Jørgen Jørgensen
Jørgen Jørgensen was a Danish adventurer during the Age of Revolution. During the action of 2 March 1808, his ship was captured by the British. In 1809 he sailed to Iceland, declared the country independent from Denmark–Norway and pronounced himself its ruler. He intended to found a new republic, following the examples of the United States and the French First Republic. He was also a prolific writer of letters, papers, pamphlets and newspaper articles covering a wide variety of subjects, and for a period was an associate of the famous botanists Joseph Banks and William Jackson Hooker. He left over a hundred written autographs and drawings, most of which are collected in the British Library. Marcus Clarke referred to Jørgensen as "a singularly accomplished fortune wooer—one of the most interesting human comets recorded in history". As a member of that crew, Jørgensen was present at the establishment of the first settlements of Risdon Cove and Sullivans Cove in Van Diemen's Land, as Tasmania was then called.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.