Counter-Admiral Poul de Løvenørn (11 August 1751 – 16 March 1826) was a Danish naval officer, cartographer, scientist and diplomat.

[3] 1776 saw Løvenørn promoted to senior lieutenant, and two years later, together with nine other young Danish officers, he entered French naval service for the duration of the American War of Independence.

[3] Prior to the voyage Løvenørn studied at the observatory under the astronomer, mathematician and cartographer Thomas Bugge along with the few other Danish naval officers who would take part in the expedition.

The charts which Løvenørn produced, influenced or instigated, alongside written descriptions and pilots, cover areas as diverse as parts of Greenland and the Canary Isles, and also the English Channel and the Goodwin Sands.

Over several years he sailed round the entire coast of Denmark, measuring and sketching better pilotage instructions, improving harbours and lighthouses together with buoying the navigable channels.

With similar exercises he so produced easier navigation of the Norwegian and Danish sea routes[Note 2] so he came into close contact with the General Customs collegiate which had responsibilities for harbours and lighthouses at that time.

His commands at sea included As Løvenørn rose steadily through the ranks of the Royal Danish Navy to reach flag rank in 1812, and through the Danish honours system from Ridder af Dannebrog in 1809 to the Grand Cross in 1824, he exhibited great administrative abilities and was also employed on diplomatic missions to Sweden, Russia and Morocco.

In 1788, after acting as an observer in gunnery trials on the ship-of-the-line Justitia, he was however attached to the Russian vice admiral von Dessen in 1788 (during the war with Sweden) when the latter was commanding a joint Russian-Danish squadron in Danish waters.

It is recorded that Løvenørn was presented with an expensive gift from the Russian Court in appreciation of his help and knowledge of navigation in the Danish waters.

[6] In 1791 the Danish government sent Løvenørn on yet another diplomatic mission, this time to Morocco with the annual tribute to the ruler there and instructions to negotiate a continuance of treaty terms.

[2] In 1794, whilst captain of the frigate Cronborg, de Løvenørn was ordered to Bergen to prevent an uprising and was as such successful by the presence of his war ship.

Løvenørn reported on 17 September from Farsund that the British sloop HMS Seagull had arrived with Le Petit Diable and de Vlugheit but not the two prizes of the French ship.

Throughout all these duties he maintained a lively correspondence with foreign scientific establishments of which he was a member, including the Institute de France.

Løvenørn wrote a comprehensive account of his travels in Danish waters: P. Lövenörns Beretning om en Reise for de i Danmark forfærdigede Söe-Længde-Uhres Pröve med Fregatten Pröven i Aarene 1782-83.