in 1807, while jørgensen was visiting his family, he witnessed the battle of copenhagen and soon afterwards was given command of a small danish vessel, "admiral juul". in 1808 he engaged in a sea battle with ; the british captured "admiral juul" and treated jørgensen as a privateer. in 1809, while on parole, he suggested to a merchant that a voyage to iceland could be profitable as the island was suffering from food shortages at the time, due to the danish monopoly on icelandic trade. jørgensen accompanied the voyage of the "clarence" as an interpreter. that voyage failed to trade any goods as the ship was british and by that time denmark and the united kingdom of great britain and ireland were at war. soon after, jørgensen sailed on a second voyage. on arrival in iceland the ship's crew found the danish governor, count of trampe, would still not permit trading. with the help of other crew members, jørgensen managed to arrest the governor and proclaimed himself 'protector', promising that he would reinstate the althing as soon as the icelandic people were able to govern themselves. his intent was to establish a liberal society in the spirit of those emerging in the americas and europe at the time. with the arrival of hms "talbot" two months later, danish government was restored and jørgensen was taken back to england and tried by the transport board, who found him guilty of breaking his parole while a prisoner-of-war. he was released in 1811.