Loss of the St. Jacob | |||||||
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Part of the prelude to the Dano-Mughal War | |||||||
East Indiamen in a Gale, by Charles Brooking | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Danish India | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Nicolaj Samson | Unknown local authority | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
St Jacob | Unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1 ship | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
1 ship 33 men killed or drowned | None | ||||||
Goods to the value of 150.000 Danish rigsdaler lost |
The Loss of the St. Jacob (Danish: Tabet af St. Jacob) also referred to as the Seizure of St. Jacob was a destruction and seizure of the Danish merchant ship, St. Jacob, by local Bengali authorities. The loss and destruction of the ship and its crew, led to the Dano-Mughal War, which would last for 56 years.
With the establishment of Danish India in 1620 by Ove Gjedde, the governorate at Tranquebar, which was the center of Denmark's trade in Asia, was handed over to the Dutchman, Roland Crappé (admin. 1621-1636) [1] During his administration he established a far-flung string of Danish factories from Malabar in South India to Makassar on Sulawesi. [2] Because of the strong royal support from Christian IV, the company was able to focus on trading between those factories, rather than focusing on sending regular cargoes to Europe. [2] [3] [4]
Bengal was one of the many locations where Crappé tried to establish a Danish presence at. [2] With some early unsuccessful ventures, the Danish East India Company nevertheless established a manned factory at Pipli in 1626, which according to Dutch records, did well during its first year. [5] Concurrently in 1626, a delegation was sent by Crappé to Bengal, with the intention to make the Mughals grant the Danes favorable commercial terms, yet this mission could not be completed due to the lack of money for the company. [6]
Ronald Crappé's establishments laid a foundation for Danish trade in Asia, yet they were not maintained by his successor Bernt Pessart (admin. 1636-1643) [2] Which encountered large debts from the start of his administration. [2] In response Pessart attempted a number of risky ventures to make financial profit. [2] While trade with Bengal continued, [5] Pessart traded more with less important economic places like Persia, ignoring the most profitable commercial contacts like Tanjore and Makassar, yet he also resided in Masulipatnam instead of Tranquebar, which in turn fell into chaos. [7]
Even though there are some evidence that suggests to Danish seizures of Bengali ships in the 1630s, the main reason behind the war declaration of the Danish East India Company, was the loss of the ship St. Jacob. [8] St. Jacob. was a ship with 130 loads, which left Copenhagen together with the ship St. Anna in 1635 and reached Tranquebar on 3 September 1636. [9]
The ship was on a regular voyage from Makassar to Masulipatnam when it was driven by harsh weather into Bengali waters. [2] [9] It then tried to go to the port at Pipli, where it was spotted by local authorities. [2] The local Bengali authorities allegedly prevented Danish assistance to St. Jacob. [2] This subsequently led to the ship being wrecked, its crew being allegedly poisoned, its passengers were imprisoned and its cargo was seized. [2] Even though the Danes who survived escaped and the ship passengers eventually were freed, the Danes could not negotiate the release of the cargo from the Bengalis. [8]
Dutch records suggest that the St. Jacob cargo was seized in response to the high Danish debts, yet the Danes saw this as a tyrannous act of the Bengalis, [5] and demanded 25.000 rigsdaler for the replacement of the ship and 150.000 Rigsdaler for the lost goods. [9] Appalled by the loss, Pessart sent a formal declaration of war in 1642 and sent two of Tranquebar's best ships to retaliate the loss of St. Jacob. [2]
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 colonies 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.
Bantam Presidency was a presidency established by the British East India Company and based at the Company factory at Bantam in Java. Founded in 1617, the Presidency exercised its authority over all the Company factories in India, including the agencies of Madras, Masulipatnam and Surat. The factors at Bantam were instrumental in founding the colony of Madraspatnam in 1639 with the Fort St. George, which later grew into the modern city of Madras. The Presidency of Bantam was twice downgraded, first in 1630 before being restored in 1634 and for the second time in 1653, when owing to the hostility of Dutch traders, the Presidency was shifted to Madras.
HDMS Fridericus Quartus, launched at Royal Danish Naval Dockyards in 1699, was a three-deck, 110-gun ship of the line designed to be the flagship of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. She soon proved difficult to navigate, and unsuited for the shallow Danish waters. She was later used as an East Indiaman, first by the Danish East India Company and then by the Danish Asiatic Company. She was wrecked at Skagen in November 1736, shortly after embarking on her second DAC expedition to Tranquebar. She co-existed with another ship by the same name, a slave ship owned by the Danish West India Company, which wrecked off Costa Rica's coast in 1710.
The Dano-Mughal War, formally Danish East India Company's War against the Mughal Empire, was a colonial and maritime conflict between the Mughal Empire and the Danish East India Company over trade commerce in the Bay of Bengal. Lasting from 1642 to 1698, the conflict has also been referred to by historians as the Dano-Bengali Thirty Years' War
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 Danish rescue mission to Pipli refers to a rescue mission by the Danish East India Company to rescue, then recently, imprisoned Danes from Mughal imprisonment at the trading station of Pipely. The mission was successful and the six imprisoned Danes were freed. The mission can also be referred to as the Mission to pipli.
The Dano-Mughal Treaty was a peace treaty between the Mughal Empire and Denmark–Norway ending the 56-year-long Dano-Mughal 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.
The Siege of Dansborg or the Siege of Fort Dansborg, was a siege of the newly finished Danish fort of Dansborg in Trangebar in 1624. The siege was initiated by the nayak of Thanjavur, Raghunatha, because of the Danish rejection of the demands from the nayak. The Siege, laid by general Calicut, was abandoned after the arrival of Danish reinforcements from sea. The event is mostly described by Icelander, Jón Ólafsson, in his work The Life of the Icelander Jón Ólafsson, Traveller to India.
Roland Crappé's raids on Portuguese colonies refers to a series of raids by Dutchman in Danish service, Roland Crappé, on Portuguese Ceylon and India. The raids were partially unsuccessful, in that Crappé's ship, Øresund, caught fire and sank.
The Skirmish at the Strait of Malacca was a skirmish between the claimed governor of Tranquebar, Bernt Pessart, and the local authorities of Dutch Malacca. The confrontation led to the imprisonment or death of all of Pessart's crew and the confiscation of the vessel, Dend gode Haab. Although Pessart and his crew would later be released and cooperate with the Dutch to spy on the Spanish in Manila.
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 Attack in Hooghly was a Danish attack on two Bengali ships during the Dano-Mughal War in 1671. The Danes succeeded in blowing up the Bengali ships, and violence continued off the coasts of Kalingapatnam and Balasore.
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.
Bernt Pessart, Berndt Pessart or Berent Pessart was a Dutch overhoved and self-proclaimed President of Danish India from 1636 to 1643. In his earlier years, he would serve the Dutch East India Company in Bantam, and in September 1636 he would land in Danish Tranquebar on the St. Jacob. Here he would serve the Danish East India Company until his deposure in 1643, after which he again would serve the Dutch East India Company by espionage on the Spanish Philippines. He would die in June 1645 by an ambush of local natives near Manila.