Peter Mærsk Møller


Peter Mærsk Møller was a Danish sea captain and the father of Arnold Peter Møller, founder of the Maersk corporation, and grandfather of Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, who made Maersk the largest container ship operator and supply vessel operator in the world.

Career

He passed his merchant officer's examination at Flensborg Navigation School and became a captain in 1861. His first assignment was the ship Prima in 1862.

After the Second Schleswig War in 1864, Rømø, as Flensborg, passed under Prussian rule, so Captain Mærsk Møller moved to Dragør, only a few kilometres to the South of Copenhagen. He was the first in Denmark to suggest steam ships instead of sailing ships. He did so in 1884, as he moved from Dragør to Svendborg, on the island of Fyn.
In 1904, Peter Mærsk Møller, with the fifth of his nine sons, Arnold Peter Møller, founded Dampskibsselskabet Svendborg i 1904. Eight years later, the success of this enterprise encouraged A.P. Møller to start his own: Dampskibsselskabet af 1912, which eventually became the Maersk business conglomerate.