Surrender of Tranquebar | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the English Wars | |||||||||
Tranquebar, by former governor, Peter Anker | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
United Kingdom | Denmark-Norway | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
James Watson Thomas Caulfield | Peter Hermanson | ||||||||
Units involved | |||||||||
14th Foot Regiment EIC's artillery HMS Russell HMS Monmouth | Dansborg garrison HDMS Nancy HDMS Charlotte HDMS Sophia | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
8 merchantmen 2 ships 74 cannons | 3 ships | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
None | None |
The Surrender of Tranquebar (Danish : Overgivelsen af Trankebar) or the Capture of Tranquebar (Danish: Overtagelsen af Trankebar) was a surrender of the capital of Danish India, Tranquebar, in 1808 to the British East India Company as a result of the English Wars. The capital would surrender almost immediately after the arrival of a British force.
In 1801, hostilities between Denmark–Norway spread to their colonial holdings, including India. On 12 May 1801, Tranquebar, the capital of Danish India, surrendered to the British under Richard Wellesley. [1] Similar events would happen to Serampore and the Danish West Indies, however, hostilities ended after the Treaty of Amiens, where it was decided Britain was to embark from the Danish possessions in 1802. [2] [1]
In early 1808, hostilities broke out again, and as a response, the British sent HMS Russell and HMS Monmouth with a detachment of the 14th Regiment of Foot and 74 cannons to Tranquebar. [1] [3] Upon anchoring off Tranquebar on 12 February 1808, [1] the British recommended the Danish governor, Peter Hermanson, [4] to surrender, which he quickly did. [1] [3] At 10 PM, articles of capitulation were signed, between Colonel James Watson and Captain Thomas Caulfield, on behalf of the British, and Governor Hermanson on behalf of the Danish. [4] [3]
Tranquebar and the other Danish possesions in India would be occupied by Britain until 1815, however, the damage on the trade would never recover, and in 1845 Denmark sold its Indian holdings to Britain for 1.125.000 Danish Rigsdaler. [5]
The Battle of Copenhagen of 1801, also known as the First Battle of Copenhagen to distinguish it from the Second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807, was a naval battle in which a British fleet fought and defeated a smaller force of the Dano-Norwegian Navy anchored near Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. The battle came about over British fears that the powerful Danish fleet would ally with France, and a breakdown in diplomatic communications on both sides.
Tharangambadi, formerly Tranquebar, is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kaveri River. Tranquebar was established on 19 November 1620 as the first Danish trading post in India. King Christian IV had sent his envoy Ove Gjedde who established contact with Raghunatha Nayak of Tanjore. An annual tribute was paid by the Danes to the Rajah of Tanjore until the colony of Tranquebar was sold to the British East India Company in 1845.
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.
The Gunboat War was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and Great Britain supported by Sweden during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Navy. In Scandinavia it is seen as the later stage of the English Wars, whose commencement is accounted as the First Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.
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.
HMS Russell was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 November 1764 at Deptford.
The English Wars were a series of conflicts pitting the United Kingdom and Sweden against Denmark-Norway as part of the Napoleonic Wars. It is named after England, the common name in Scandinavia for the United Kingdom, which declared war on Denmark-Norway due to disagreements over the neutrality of Danish trade and to prevent the Danish fleet falling into the hands of the First French Empire. It began with the Battle of Copenhagen (1801) and its latter stage from 1807 onwards was followed by the Gunboat War, the Dano-Swedish War of 1808–09 and the Swedish invasion of Holstein in 1814.
Jørgen Conrad de Falsen was a Danish-Norwegian naval officer who, despite being plagued by ill health, saw duty throughout the Gunboat War during the Napoleonic Wars, and eventually rose to the rank of rear admiral. He married twice, the second marriage being to a lady-in-waiting to the Danish Queen.
The second British Invasion of the Danish West Indies took place in December 1807 when a British fleet captured the Danish islands of St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless. This British occupation of the Danish West Indies lasted until 20 November 1815, when Britain returned the islands to Denmark.
The privateer brig Admiral Juel was the second largest ship in Denmark-Norway to be granted letters of marque during the Gunboat War between Denmark and Britain. The British Royal Navy captured her in a notable single ship action in 1808.
Hermann Abbestée was Danish governor of Tranquebar from 1762 to 1775 and the first royal governor of Danish India from 1779 to 1788. He served as one of the seven directors of the Danish Asiatic Company from 1775 to 1778 and was also active as a trader.
The Cattle War also commonly referred to as the Perumal War or the Perumal Naik-War was a colonial conflict between the Danish East India Company and the Thanjavur Maratha kingdom over the Danish governor Hans Georg Krog's expansionistic foreign policy. The conflict started over the raiding of Danish cattle by the local supervisor of a small land district, Perumal Naik.
The Tillali Massacre, or the Battle of Tillali was a confrontation on 30 June 1756 during the Cattle War, between the Danish command at the village of Tillali (Thillaiyadi) and the Raja of Thanjavur, Pratap Singh. The confrontation resulted in a Thanjavurian victory and a subsequent massacre of most Danish troops. After the victory, the Thanjavurian army led a further invasion into Danish Tranquebar and besieged Fort Dansborg.
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.
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 Capture of Tranquebar or the Surrender of Tranquebar was a British takeover of the capital of Danish India, Tranquebar. The capture was quick and successful, with the Dano-Norwegian governor, Peter Anker, surrendering within the arrival of the British.
The Plunder of Nancowry or the Battle of Nancowry was a British plunderer of the Danish colony at Nancowry Island in 1805.
The Capture of Serampore, alternatively the Capture of Frederiknagore, was a British capture of the Danish colony of Serampore on 8 May 1801 during the English Wars. The British met no resistance, and could subsequently quickly capture the settlement.