His father, Didrik Corneliusson Thijsen, was of Dutch origin and was a naval officer in the Swedish navy.
When Anckarstierna was about to be defeated by the Danish admiral Bielke, he targeted two shots through the ballast of his own ship so that it sank.
The Swedish king Charles XI appointed Anckarstierna in 1692 to admiral of Ousbyholm in Hörby parish, Skåne.
He served as commander-in-chief the same year when Charles XII was transferred to Livonia and in 1705 during the failed landing on the island Retusari in the Gulf of Finland.
This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904 and 1926, now in the public domain.