| Roland Crappé's raids on Portuguese colonies | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofSinhalese–Portuguese conflicts | |||||||
 Map of Roland Crappé's campaign, 1619 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Supported by: Thanjavur Nayak | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Roland Crappé (WIA) Senarath AdahasinRaghunatha Nayak |  João CoutinhoFernão de Albuquerque | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Øresund | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| ~44 men 1 ship | 7 ships 5sampans 2catamarans | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1 ship 27 imprisoned 4 killed | 5 Sampans | ||||||
Roland Crappé's raids on Portuguese colonies (Danish;Roland Crappés plyndringer på portugisiske kolonier:Portuguese;Os ataques de Roland Crappé às colónias portuguesas) refers to a series of raids byDutchman in Danish service,Roland Crappé, onPortuguese Ceylon andIndia. The raids were partially unsuccessful, in that Crappé's ship,Øresund (meaningthe Sound), caught fire and sank.
In 1611, after the Portuguese capturedKandy and set fire to the city,[1] KingSenerat of Kandy urgently dispatched courier, Marchells Michielsz Boschouver, to Europe in hopes of negotiating an alliance-treaty with theDutch East India Company.[2] Despite his efforts, the mission was unsuccessful and Boschouver ended up in Denmark, where he signed an un-ratified treaty withChristian IV of Denmark.[2] Denmark then sent five vessels and 300 soldiers, led byOve Gjedde, to Ceylon to fulfill the terms of the treaty.[2] Along with Gjedde, Dutchman and experienced seafarer, Roland Crappé was sent too. Because of his earlier experiences, Crappé was sent to India two months before Gjedde.[3]
Crappé arrived on board ofØresund, as the first representative of the Danish expedition, on Ceylon in January 1619.[4] Crappé's task was to prepare for Ove Giedde's arrival.[5] Crappé met with theraja,Senarat of Kandy, and mentioned Boshouwer's mission, which the raja seems to have knowledge about.[4] Senarat encouraged Crappé to attack the Portuguese, which was an encouragement that demanded careful consideration; to conductprivateering against a EuropeanGreat Power was a dubious affair, which could end in destruction.[5]
Crappé wanted to make a good impression on the raja, and attacked the Portuguese on theCoromandel Coast.[6][4][7] Hehijacked five Portuguesesampans and attackedJaffna,Nagapattinam and other coastal Portuguese outposts.[6] Despite Portuguese irritation, they didn't want topoliticize the situation.[5] Instead they retaliated by attackingØresund atKaraikal.[6][4][5][8][7]
Near the fishing village of Karaikal, seven smaller Portuguese vessels tried to recapture the five sampans.[4] Under fire,Øresund caught fire and sank.[4][5][8] Crappé recalls the event:
...I found myself surrounded by some drawn sabers, and they dragged me by the throat through a quarter where I thought they were going to murder us...
Twenty-seven of the ship's crew, including Crappé, wereimprisoned.[4] Crappé was brought over to the lifeguard's house to sleep.[4] Next morning he witnessed 4 of his comradesheads on spikes.[4]
Roland Crappé got in contact with asenior official of the localThanjavur kingdom.[4] And after a month 14 healthy or wounded Dano-Norwegians were rescued out of Portuguese imprisonment.[4] Together with Crappé, the 15 men went out to the city ofThanjavur, and through friends, Crappé managed to get intoaudience with the king,Raghunatha.[4] Raghunatha got five additional Dano-Norwegians out of Nagapattinam, and fined Portugal for the loss ofØresund.[4]
Raghunatha could see the benefit in forging ties with another European power in the hope of decreasing the influence of the Portuguese in his kingdom.[4][7] For that reasonhe allowed the Danes to establish as the first Danish trading post in India atTranquebar.[9][7]
