Bernt Pessart

Bernt Pessart
Bernt Pessart
3rd Governor of Tranquebar
	In office; 1636–1643 Co-leadingwithJacob van Stackenborg

Last updated November 09, 2024

Bernt Pessart, Berndt Pessart or Berent Pessart (d June 1645) was a Dutch overhoved and self-proclaimed President of Danish India from 1636 to 1643. In his early years, he served the Dutch East India Company in Bantam, and in September 1636 he became governor of Danish Tranquebar. He would serve as governor until his deposure in 1643 when he would flee to Japan. During his exile, Pessart would be confronted by the Dutch at Malacca, in which he would be detained and imprisoned by Dutch authorities. His imprisonment would be taken to a court in Bantam, where the judge ruled he would again serve the Dutch by espionaging on the Spanish in the Philippines. He would die in June 1645 during a voyage to Manila by an ambush of local natives.

First Dutch service and early Danish service

Bernt Pessart is first known for his service to the Dutch East India Company.^[1] He had served the company in Batavia for many years where he would be referred to in 1631 as a free citizen.^[1] Pessart would also, during his first Dutch service, have a part in a merchant ship that was to set sail for Cambodia.^[1]

Bernt Pessart would a couple of years later serve the Danish East India Company and arrive at Danish Tranquebar in September 1636.^[2] Here he would be assumed Chief merchant of Fort Dansborg. However, on 9 November 1636, he was announced overhoved of the company by Roland Crappé.^[2]

President of Danish India

Short after his takeover, Pessart would assume the title of president.^[3] Early on he would be described as a drunken and reckless libertine, who brought confusion to all merchants.^[3] He would reside in Masulipatnam ^[b] instead of Tranquebar, which he would leave to chief merchant Jacob von Stackenborg.^[3]

Masulipatnam was the center of the cotton trade, which was heavily demanded on the Sunda Islands.^[4] Though you could also buy tobacco, iron, steel, indigo dye , and various gems.^[4]

In late 1639 English, Danish, and Dutch agents in Masulipatnam were given the order to meet with the Golconda king.^[5] When meeting the king, he demanded that they give him 600.000 pagodas, as the local governor had promised.^[5] The Dutch scrapped 3.000 padogas, an elephant, and five Persian horses.^[5] The English could not muster anything, to which the king got mad and expelled the English from Masulipatnam.^[5] The Danes got away with promising 2.000 pagodas when the next ship from Denmark had arrived.^[6]

Moreover, Pessart would encumber large debts from the start of his administration, and he would attempt several risky voyages to make money.^[7] Pessart ignored the Danish East India Company's most profitable commercial contacts, like Thanjavur and Makassar, to instead trade in less certain places Like Persia.^[7] He would also ignore Tranquebar which fell into chaos.^[c]^[7]

Financial difficulties

Danish East India

Top: Danish settlements, factories, and trade routes during most of Pessart's administration.
Bottom: Danish settlements, factories, and trade routes during the end of Pessart's administration and afterward.

These difficulties forced Pessart to experiment with Diamond trade in the region, which he sought to sell on Sumatra.^[6] He also sent a ship to Persia hoping to gain profit, yet the goods could not be sold for financial gain.^[6] Amid the difficulties, Pessart tried to sell Fort Dansborg and Tranquebar to the Portuguese, in that the headquarters now had moved to Masulipatnam, though the Portuguese would reject this offer.^[6] A similar offer was given to the English but to no avail.^[6]

The financial difficulties culminated in the Loss of the St. Jacob in 1640.^[8] The ship was on its way home when it got hit by a hurricane and was wrecked off the coast of Pipeley.^[8] Pessart estimated the initial loss to be about 150.000 Danish rigsdaler and would take a big hit on the company's economy.^[8] Additionally, 16 Danes would die in Bengali imprisonment.^[8] When the creditors in Masulipatnam, who had already gotten frustrated over Pessart's debts, heard about this, they demanded he be arrested.^[8]

War with Bengal

Pessart and the Danes viewed the loss of the St. Jacob as a tyrannous act by the Bengalis, because of their lack of help and imprisonment of the Danish crew.^[9] Appalled, Pessart sent a formal declaration of war in 1642 and sent two Danish vessels to attack Bengal, in which they captured a large ship they renamed Den Bengalske Prise.^[9] The ship was then brought to Tranquebar, equipped with cannons to join the small operating Danish fleet.^[3] The privateering war would be continued by Pessart's successor Willem Leyel and succeeding governors.

Arrival of Willem Leyel

The rumours of Pessart's debts had long reached Copenhagen, and in response, Captain Willem Leyel would embark for Dansborg reaching it on 5 September 1643.^[3] Pessart did not welcome his arrival, and he would quickly leave for Masilupatnam, which Leyel opted to join.^[3] On their arrival in Masulipatnam Leyel was confronted with the large debts Pessart had encumbered. Upon hearing this, they continued to Emeldy, where Pessart would accidentally wreck the Den Bengalske Prise, though he would safely arrive in the town.^[10]

Witnessing all of this, Leyel decided to arrest Pessart while in his tent, although when confronting his tent, Pessart had already left Emeldy for Tranquebar, with Leyel hastily pursuing.^[10] Pessart reached Tranquebar safely and quickly began the preparations for a further departure.^[10] He instructed the commander of Fort Dansborg Jacob von Stackenberg to deny Leyel access to the fort and bought a yacht in Portuguese Nagapattinam, which he would use for his escape. The vessel was renamed Dend Gode Haab and had been filled with good cargo, which it was to sell in Japan.^[11]

Departure to Japan

Pessart would depart from Tranquebar on 5 June 1644, with the initial goal of reaching Japan.^[12] He had possibly hoped for such profit that Leyel would not have reasons to arrest him, though his dreams were relatively unrealistic.^[12] Nonetheless, he sailed eastward through the Strait of Malacca to further get to Japan.^[12] Yet when reaching the strait, the Danes would have disagreements with the Dutch who took control of the strait in 1641. A minor skirmish followed, in which Pessart and his crew would be imprisoned.

The Danes would be imprisoned for three months until Pessart had protested so much about their imprisonment, that the case would be taken to the court in Bantam. In Bantam, he and his crew would be imprisoned for another 6 months, while their case would be solved.^[13] In the end, it would be ruled that Pessart and his crew would instead go to the Philippines to espionage on the Spanish for the Dutch, though disguised as Danish merchants.^[13]

Second Dutch service and death

Pessart set sail with an additional 10 men, one of whom would be captain of the expedition.^[13]^[10] When reached the Philippines, the Dutch captain had a hard time locating the Bay of Manila and they accidentally ended up in another nearby bay.^[13] It was decided to stay in the bay for a couple of days to gather more provisions.^[14] Pessart decided to take a dinghy out with some of his men to fish. When fishing, the men were ambushed by some local natives with bows and arrows.^[10] Pessart got shot, yet managed to get pulled back on board the dinghy, while he would gasp "Help me up, or I am a dead man!"^[14] When arriving back on the yacht Pessart was already dead, and on the night of the same day, he would be buried on an island nearby.^[14]

Notes

↑ Still claimed to be president of Tranquebar until his death
↑ During the late regime of Roland Crappé Masulipatnam was made the Danish Company's headquarters, and it would also be here that Pessart would be officially proclaimed as overhoved.
↑ Two Danish priests would cause such havoc and violence in Tranquebar by their drunkenness, that incoming traders would avoid the settlement.

Related Research Articles

The Danish East India Company refers to two separate Danish-Norwegian chartered companies. The first company operated between 1616 and 1650. The second company existed between 1670 and 1729, however, in 1730 it was re-founded as the Asiatic Company.

Danish India was the name given to the forts and factories of Denmark in the Indian subcontinent, forming part of the Danish overseas colonies. Denmark–Norway held colonial possessions in India for more than 200 years, including the town of Tharangambadi in present-day Tamil Nadu state, Serampore in present-day West Bengal, and the Nicobar Islands, currently part of India's union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Danish and Norwegian presence in India was of little significance to the major European powers as they presented neither a military nor a mercantile threat. Dano-Norwegian ventures in India, as elsewhere, were typically undercapitalized and never able to dominate or monopolize trade routes in the same way that British, French, and Portuguese ventures could.

The Skirmish at Pipli or more formally the Destruction of the Danish factory at Pipli, was one of the two recorded land confrontations between the Danish East India Company and the Mughal Empire during the Dano-Mughal War. The skirmish was a Mughal punitive expidition in retalition for the Danish arrest of a Persian merchant. The skirmish ended in a Mughal victory, and the Danish factory in Pipli was destroyed and burned down.

The Capture of The Bengali Prize, or the Seizure of The Bengali Prize, was a Danish capture and seizure of a larger Bengali vessel in late 1642 in the Bay of Bengal. The capture is known to be the first confrontation of the Dano-Mughal War, after the formal declaration of war.

The siege of Dansborg or the siege of Fort Dansborg, was a short siege lasting from 20 to 30 December 1644, between general Tiagepule of Thanjavur and the Danish command at Fort Dansborg. The conflict started over the Danish rejection of the general's demand to tax Tranquebar, and as a result, a series of confrontations followed. The confrontations had no major result, and an armistice may have been signed.

The siege of Dansborg alternatively the siege of Fort Dansborg sometimes also referred to as Willem Leyel's siege of Dansborg, was a siege initiated by traveler and seafarer, Willem Leyel, against the men loyal to governor Bernt Pessart. The siege was concluded after the men at Dansborg opened the gates for Willem Leyel, surrendered, and accepted Leyel as the new governor.

Willem Leyel or Willum Leyel was a Danish governor of Tranquebar and captain in the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy.

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The Ambush near the Bay of Manila, alternatively the Death of Bernt Pessart, was an ambush by the Indigenous peoples of the Philippines, against a combined Dano-Dutch espionaging expeditionary force in 1645. The ambush led to the death of former governor and president of Danish India, Bernt Pessart.

The Sieges of Tranquebar or the War between Tranquebar and Thanjavur refers to the warfare between the Thanjavur Nayak kingdom and Danish Tranquebar between 1655 – 1669. The Thanjavurian sieges were repelled, mainly due to the new fortifications being built around Tranquebar, and a peace agreement was issued in 1669.

The Conflict between William Leyel and Bernt Pessart refers to the tensions and minor civil war between Willem Leyel and Bernt Pessart over the governorship of Tranquebar and the Danish East India Company. The conflict led to the escape of Bernt Pessart, and the command at Tranquebar accepted Willem Leyel as governor of Danish India.

The Capture of St. Michael or the Seizure of St. Michael, was a Danish seizure of a Bengali ship in the Bay of Bengal. The Danes captured the Bengali ship and the vessel was subsequently incorporated into the Danish Navy given the name St. Michael.

The Battle of Balasore was an engagement between Bengali and English ships against Danish ships at Balasore. When the English failed to persuade the Danes, the Bengalis started attacking the English vessel, yet the English were rescued by the Dutch.

Roland Crappé or Roelant Crappé was a Dutch colonial official serving the Dutch and Danish East India Company. He became director general of the Ceylonese department of the Danish East India Company in 1618 and became commander in chief and governor of Tranquebar upon his seventh arrival in the Indies in 1624. During his leadership, new factories and offices were established and Danish trade went exceptionally well. He died in 1644 only a few years after his homecoming to Denmark.

The Tranquebar Rebellion also known as the TranquebarMutiny was a bloodless mutiny and uprising against the governor of Tranquebar, Willem Leyel, at Tranquebar in 1648. The mutineers succeeded in arresting Leyel, and he would be replaced by the leader of the rebellion, Paul Hansen Korsør.

The Expulsion of Danes from Balasore was a violent expulsion and ousting of the Danish East India Company from the Mughal habour and trading hub of Balasore in 1643 or 1644 by the local Mughal governor, Malik Beg.

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Anders Nielsen was a Danish colonist and acting governor of Tranquebar from 1643 to 1648, in times when overhoved Willem Leyel was absent. During his service as acting governor of Tranquebar, Nielsen would defend the town from Thanjavurian General Tiagepule and support a mutiny against overhoved Leyel.

References

Works cited

Wellen, Kathryn (2015). The Danish East India Company's War against the Mughal Empire, 1642-1698 (PDF). Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies.
Bredsdorff, Asta (2009). The Trials and Travels of Willem Leyel. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 9788763530231.
Bredsdorff, Asta (1999). Søhistoriske Skrifter (PDF) (in Danish). Vol. XXI. Copenhagen: Handels- og Søfartsmuseet Kronborg.
Knudsen, Karin (2017). "Kolonien Trankebar". Trankebar Foreningen.

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[1] Still claimed to be president of Tranquebar until his death

[5] During the late regime of Roland Crappé Masulipatnam was made the Danish Company's headquarters, and it would also be here that Pessart would be officially proclaimed as overhoved.

[10] Two Danish priests would cause such havoc and violence in Tranquebar by their drunkenness, that incoming traders would avoid the settlement.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff199932-2] 1 2 3 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 32.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff199933-3] 1 2 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 33.

[FOOTNOTEKnudsen2017-4] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Knudsen 2017.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff199972-6] 1 2 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 72.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff199974-7] 1 2 3 4 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 74.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff199975-8] 1 2 3 4 5 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 75.

[FOOTNOTEWellen2015447-9] 1 2 3 Wellen 2015, p. 447.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff199976-11] 1 2 3 4 5 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 76.

[FOOTNOTEWellen2015448-12] 1 2 Wellen 2015, p. 448.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff2009-13] 1 2 3 4 5 Bredsdorff 2009.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff1999104-14] Bredsdorff 1999, p. 104.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff1999123-15] 1 2 3 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 123.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff1999125-16] 1 2 3 4 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 125.

[FOOTNOTEBredsdorff1999126-17] 1 2 3 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 126.

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