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Action off Pipli River

Coordinates: 21°33′18″N 87°23′31″E / 21.55500°N 87.39194°E / 21.55500; 87.39194
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Action off Pipli River
Part of the Dano-Mughal War
Date21 January 1644
Location
Mouth of the Pipli River, Mughal Empire (present-day Subarnarekha River, India)
21°33′18″N 87°23′31″E / 21.55500°N 87.39194°E / 21.55500; 87.39194
Result Danish victory
Belligerents
File:Naval Ensign of Denmark.svg Danish India
Commanders and leaders
Danish India Willem Leyel File:Bengal Subah Standard.svg Abdul Gany (POW)
Units involved
Danish India Valby Unknown
Strength
1 ship
Unknown no. of men[a]		 1 ship
Unknown no. of men
Casualties and losses
Unknown 1 ship
19 slaves captured

The action off Pipli River took place on 21 January 1644 at the mouth of the Pipli River in Bengal between a Danish yacht and a Bengali ship.

After the governor of the Danish colony of Tranquebar, Willem Leyel, resumed the Dano-Mughal War by capturing a Bengali skude (single-decked vessel) off Narsapur, another expedition to Bengal was initiated. At the mouth of the Pipli River, a Danish yacht captured a small ship, which was taken to Emeldy in Golconda, where it was sold.

Background

Further information on Roland Crappé's tenure: Roland Crappé § Second expedition and regime

In 1616, the Danish East India Company was founded, and after a successful expedition to India in 1620,[2] it established the colony of Tranquebar.[3] Afterwards, the governor of Tranquebar, Roland Crappé, established multiple factories all over the East Indies, including Bengal,[4] and Danish ships were regularly sent to India.[3]

In late 1642, following continued disputes between Danish India and the Mughal Empire, the governor of Tranquebar, Bernt Pessart, declared war on the latter.[5]

Prelude

In 1643, Pessart was ousted[6] while he and his successor, Willem Leyel, overwintered in Emeldy[7] in Golconda.[8] Here, the frigate[9] Christianshavn[10] and the yacht[11] Valby were repaired,[10] and when Valby was ready to sail, it[12] and Christianshavn,[13] was sent to Bengal to resume the war.[12] During their expedition, they managed to capture a skude (single-decked vessel)[1] off Narsapur in December 1643.[3]

Action

In January 1644, a new expedition was initiated by Valby,[12] under which a small[1] Bengali[14] ship was captured[12] at the mouth of the Pipli River[14] on 21 January.[1]

The ship was coming down from Pipli city,[13] weighed 40 lasts[12] and had a large[1] valuable[15] cargo consisting of ambergris,[12] 21 packages of pepper,[13] Bengali textiles, and Chinese silk.[12] The Nakhuda[15] of the ship, Abdul Gany, 6 Mughal merchants, and the crew were subsequently imprisoned[12] and taken to Fort Dansborg.[16] Meanwhile, their slaves, 19 in total,[13][15][b] were baptised and sold, the majority of whom were children.[12] The Danes carefully recorded a list of all of the slaves by their baptismal name:[12]

  • List of Danish slaves
  • 1 slave girl baptised Maria (12–13 years old)
  • 1 slave boy baptised Matthæus (9–10 years old)
  • 1 slave boy baptised Juan (7–8 years old)
  • 1 slave boy baptised Bartholomæus (6–7 years old)
  • 1 slave woman baptised Catharine (22–23 years old)
  • 1 slave boy baptised Jørgen (3 years old)
  • 1 slave woman (17–18 years old)

Aftermath

Further information on the war: Dano-Mughal War § 1642–1648

Concurrent with Valby's expedition, Christianshavn had captured Den Lille Elefant among other ships[17] in February,[18] and after returning to Emeldy with the ship from the Pipli River, where the ship and most of its cargo were sold, the Danish ships left for Tranquebar.[15] Kay Larsen is inconsistent about the date of Danes' departure, placing it in both early January[15] and February 1644.[14] As such, in the account placing it in early January, the Bengali ship is captured while the Danes scouted for Bengali vessels, as they were returning to Tranquebar.[15] Nevertheless, the monsoon weather halted the Danes' voyage,[14] and the two Danish vessels only returned to Tranquebar on 11 June 1644.[17]

See also

Notes and citations

Notes

  1. ↑ Yachts usually had a crew of 40 men, with an additional 15 to 20 armed men.[1]
  2. ↑ Danish author Asta Bredsdorff puts this number at 34.[12]

Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Larsen 1935, p. 73.
  2. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, pp. 11, 187.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 11.
  4. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 13.
  5. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 88.
  6. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 95.
  7. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 94.
  8. ↑ Larsen 1907b, p. 32.
  9. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 68.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Bredsdorff 1999, pp. 94, 97.
  11. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, pp. 88–89, 95, 131, 135.
  12. ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 99.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Wellen 2015, p. 451.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Larsen 1907b, p. 33.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 Larsen 1907a, p. 436.
  16. ↑ Larsen 1935, p. 74.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 100.
  18. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 135.

References

  • Bredsdorff, Asta (1 January 1999). Willem Leyels liv og farefulde rejse til Indien [The Trials and Travels of Willem Leyel] (PDF). Søhistoriske Skifter. Vol. 21. Copenhagen, Denmark: Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 87-7289-498-9. ISSN 0107-6647.
  • Larsen, Kay (September 1907a). Munch, Peter Rochegune (ed.). "Danske Kapertogter i den bengalske Havbugt" [Danish Privateer Voyages in the Bay of Bengal]. Det ny Aarhunderede. 4. Copenhagen, Denmark: Harvard Library – via Internet Archive.
  • Larsen, Kay (1907b). De dansk-ostindiske koloniers historie – Trankebar [History of the Danish East Indian Colonies – Tranquebar] (in dansk). Vol. 1. Copenhagen, Denmark: Centralforlaget – via Danskernes Historie Online.
  • Larsen, Kay (1935). Ipsen, Poul (ed.). "En lille dansk Søkrig i Indien" [A Little Danish Naval War] (PDF). Tidsskrift for Søvæsen. 106. Copenhagen, Denmark: Søe-Lieutenant-Selskabet – via Marinehistorisk Selskab.
  • Wellen, Kathryn (2015). "The Danish East India Company's War against the Mughal Empire, 1642-1698" (PDF). Journal of Early Modern History. 19 (5). Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill Publishers: 439–461. doi:10.1163/15700658-12342470. eISSN 1568-5209. ISSN 0022-4995.
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