Template:Infobox military conflict The Battle of Balasore (Template:Langx) was an engagement between Bengali and English ships against Danish ships at Balasore. When the English failed to persuade the Danes, the Bengalis started attacking the English vessel, yet the English were rescued by the Dutch.
Background
Template:Further In 1643 Willem Leyel deposed governor Bernt Pessart as overhoved of Danish India.Template:Sfn In the preceding year, Pessart had declared war on the Mughal Empire.Template:Sfn Leyel continued the privateering war against the Mughals as a source of revenue and income.Template:Sfn
In 1647 the privateer war still waged, and in December of that year, a noticeable incident was recorded by the English at Balasore.Template:Sfn
Battle
The English at Balasore was given a good reception at Balasore.Template:Sfn Yet when a Danish fleet of five ships, including Christianshavn and The Bengali Prize, appeared things suddenly started to change.Template:Sfn The Danes had come to settle their long-standing grievances and debts against the Mughal authorities by force.Template:Sfn
Confrontation with the Danish
Danes seized one of the Moorish ships with eight elephants at the harbour.Template:Sfn At the request of Governor Malik Beg, the English twice attempted to persuade the escaping Danish fleet.Template:Sfn When this proved a failure for the English, the Mughals informed the English that they now would have to compensate for the damage made by the Danes since both Europeans were Christians.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Prelude
The English then tried to escape the harbour, yet were blockaded by the Mughals, who placed guns at strategic points and summoned a large force of soldiers.Template:Sfn Meanwhile, a letter from the Nawab arrived with a captain and 500 cavalry, demanding to meet the English outside of the town.Template:Sfn The English factors refused the demands of the letter.Template:Sfn
Battle
When the Nawab heard the English rejection he called Template:Abbr 1.000 soldiers and placed nine guns in strategic positions around the harbour.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The following day additional guns were planted.Template:Sfn The English could not leave the harbour and the Budhabalanga River because of a blockade.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Bengalis had already seized 3-4 English boats and 6-8 smaller vessels in the river.Template:Sfn
Things escalated when the Bengalis fired at the British warehouse in Balasore.Template:Sfn The English took position with their guns and an ensuing confrontation lasted four hours.Template:Sfn
Because of the blockade, the Dutch East India Company's business was stopped and was thus forced to join the English course.Template:Sfn The Dutch send 60 men and 2 ships to Balasore, which unprovoked the attack on the English.Template:Sfn
Aftermath
At the time of the Battle the Danes had presumably already managed to bring themselves and their prize to safety. The war between the Danes and Mughals in Bengal hindered the prospects of trade between the English and Dutch at Balasore.Template:Sfn
See also
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References
Works cited
- The Danish East India Company's War against the Mughal Empire, 1642-1698{{#if:Wellen|, Wellen}. Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies(2015)
- The Trials and Travels of Willem Leyel{{#if:Bredsdorff|, Bredsdorff}. Museum Tusculanum Press(2009). ISBN 9788763530231
- Søhistoriske Skrifter{{#if:Bredsdorff|, Bredsdorff}. Handels- og Søfartsmuseet Kronborg(1999)
- Rentekammerafdelingen: Willum Leyels arkiv (1639–1648){{#if:Leyel|, Leyel}. Danske Kancelli(1644)
- Notes on Balasore and the English in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress({Template:Year).
- THE ENGLISH FACTORIESIN INDIA 1646— 1650{{#if:Foster|, Foster}. Oxford(1914)
- Kolonien Trankebar, Knudsen, Karin. Trankebar Foreningen(2017).