| Dano-Karaikal Conflict | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dutch boats in the nearbyNegapatnam, byJan Kip | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Danish India |  Portuguese India Dutch India | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Anders Nielsen Simon Jansen (POW) | Unknownadigar | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Valby | Lis | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 6 soldiers 4 ships 1sampan | 3 ships 3 sampans 2 ships | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 dead 2 wounded 1 sampan | Many 1 sampan | ||||||
 | |||||||
TheDano-Carical Conflict[a] (Danish:Konflikten mod Carical) was asmall-scale conflict between the Danes atTranquebar and the Portuguese atCarical (Karaikal). The conflict includes three smaller naval engagements, which eventually led to a four-hour-long imprisonment of Danish Captain Simon Jansen.
In 1643, the Danes, who had been in possession ofTranquebar since 1620,[1] seized asampan from the Portuguese atCarical (Karaikal). This resulted in thePortuguese wanting to restore the military balance, and this would lead to three hostile incidents between Tranquebar and Carical.[2]
In October 1644, theGovernor of Danish India,Willem Leyel, received a letter from the commander ofFort Dansborg,Anders Nielsen about a Portuguese seizure of a Danish sampan.[2][3]
According to Nielsen, the sampan, which belonged to a citizen of Tranquebar, was on its way home fromCeylon, when it was attacked by three Portuguese vessels off Carical.[3] The Portuguese carried the sampan with them and the owner of the sampan complained to Nielsen.[2][3]
Despite having no Danish vessels to pursue the Portuguese, Nielsen set off to Carical in an Indian vessel with three white and three Indian soldiers.[2] However, the same three ships that had seized the sampan now appeared again and launched fire upon Nielsen's vessel, where he had to retreat.[2][3]
Nielsen then wrote a letter to the Carical authorities, threatening to get revenge when he could.[2][3] In response, the adrigar (atown clerk) responded that they just wanted to restore the balance from the Danish seizure of a Portuguese sampan the year before.[2][4] However, Neilsen refuted this claim as pure nonsense.[2][4]
In February 1645, theValby arrived at Tranquebar, and it, together with Simon Jansen, was sent to Carical to revenge the previous attacks.[5] Jansen seized two sampans lying in theroads, however, two Dutch ships lay at anchor there.[6][5] The Dutch crews boarded theValby and Simon Jansen was brought to Carical as a prisoner.[6]
Jansen would stay as a prisoner for roughly four hours until the sampans he had seized got to safety.[6][5] No further hostilities would occur between the two towns, however, it was known that Carical had supported the Indian general, Tiagepule in hiswar on Tranquebar.[6]