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Capture of Den Lille Elefant

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Capture of Den Lille Elefant
Part of the Dano-Mughal War
DateFebruary 1644
Location
Bay of Bengal
Result Danish victory
Belligerents
File:Naval Ensign of Denmark.svg Danish India
Commanders and leaders
Danish India Willem Leyel
Danish India Hans Knudsen		 File:Bengal Subah Standard.svg Unknown
Units involved
Danish India Christianshavn File:Bengal Subah Standard.svg Den Lille Elefant[a]
Strength
1 ship 1 ship
Unknown no. of men[b]
Casualties and losses
Unknown 1 ship
Unknown no. of men

The capture of Den Lille Elefant (transl. The Little Elephant) by a Danish frigate took place in February 1644 in the Bay of Bengal.

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. Here, a Danish frigate captured a large Bengali one, which was taken to Corengy and incorporated into the Danish fleet in India.

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,[3] it established the colony of Tranquebar.[4] Afterwards, the governor of Tranquebar, Roland Crappé, established multiple factories all over the East Indies, including Bengal,[5] and Danish ships were regularly sent to India.[4]

In late 1642, following continued disputes between Danish India and the Mughal Empire, the governor of Tranquebar, Bernt Pessart, declared war on the latter.[6]

Prelude

In 1643, Pessart was ousted[7] while he and his successor, Willem Leyel, overwintered in Emeldy[8] in Golconda.[9] Here, the frigate[10] Christianshavn[11] and the yacht[12] Valby were repaired,[11] and when Valby[13] was ready to sail,[14] it[13] and Christianshavn,[15] was sent to Bengal to resume the war.[13] During their expedition, they managed to capture a skude (single-decked vessel)[16] off Narsapur in December 1643.[13]

Capture

In February 1644,[17] a new expedition was initiated by Christianshavn, under which a large[1] Bengali[18] frigate,[19] later named Den Lille Elefant (transl. The Little Elephant), was captured.[18]

The ship was coming home from Achin on Sumatra, weighed 180 lasts, and had three masts.[1] Among other things[1] from the Sunda Islands, it had a cargo consisting of spices, rice,[19] and 4 valuable Achenese[20] elephants,[2][20][c] which were ordered from Sumatra by the sultan of Golconda.[1] Willem Leyel quickly[1] sent the ship to Masulipatnam[2] under escort.[19] From here, the elephants were transported inland[2] and given to the sultan as a Danish gift.[1]

Aftermath

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

Ship taken to Corengy

From Masulipatnam, the ship was subsequently taken to shipyard[2] in Corengy, where Leyel's appointed captain of the ship, Hans Knudsen,[1] was tasked with repairing it[18] and arming it with cannons.[1] Renamed Den Lille Elefant, the ship itself was incorporated into the Danish fleet in India;[1] however, while being repaired, a storm smashed it to pieces on a reef.[21]

Concurrent with Christianshavn's expedition, Valby had captured a smaller ship in January,[13] and after returning to Emeldy, the Danish ships left for Tranquebar.[14] Nevertheless, the monsoon weather halted the Danes' voyage,[14] and the two Danish vessels only returned to Tranquebar on 11 June 1644.[1]

See also

Notes and citations

Notes

  1. ↑ Name given to the ship after its capture.[1]
  2. ↑ Larger Mughal ships usually had a crew of 100 men.[2]
  3. ↑ Danish author Asta Bredsdorff puts this number at 5.[1]

Citations

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 100.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Larsen 1935, p. 74.
  3. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, pp. 11, 187.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 11.
  5. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 13.
  6. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 88.
  7. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 95.
  8. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 94.
  9. ↑ Larsen 1907, p. 32.
  10. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 68.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Bredsdorff 1999, pp. 94, 97.
  12. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, pp. 88–89, 95, 131, 135.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Bredsdorff 1999, p. 99.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Larsen 1907, p. 33.
  15. ↑ Wellen 2015, p. 451.
  16. ↑ Larsen 1935, p. 73.
  17. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 135.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Bredsdorff 1999, pp. 100, 135.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Larsen 1908, p. 15.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Wellen 2015, pp. 451–452.
  21. ↑ Bredsdorff 1999, p. 144.

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 (1907). 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 (1908). De dansk-ostindiske koloniers historie – De Bengalske loger & Nikobarerne [History of the Danish East Indian Colonies – The Bengali Lodges & the Nicobar Islands] (in dansk). Vol. 2. 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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