Dano-Karaikal Conflict
Dutch boats in the nearby Negapatnam, by Jan Kip
Date October 1644 – February 1645 Location Carical, Portuguese India (present-day Karaikal, India) 10°55′58″N 79°49′55″E / 10.932701°N 79.831853°E / 10.932701; 79.831853 Result Portuguese-Dutch victory
Belligerents
Danish India	Portuguese India Dutch India
Commanders and leaders
Anders Nielsen Simon Jansen (POW)	Unknown adigar
Units involved
Valby	Lis
Strength
6 soldiers 4 ships 1 sampan	3 ships 3 sampans 2 ships
Casualties and losses
1 dead 2 wounded 1 sampan	Many 1 sampan

The Dano-Carical Conflict^[a] (Danish: Konflikten mod Carical) was a small-scale conflict between the Danes at Tranquebar and the Portuguese at Carical (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 of Tranquebar since 1620,^[1] seized a sampan from the Portuguese at Carical (Karaikal). This resulted in the Portuguese wanting to restore the military balance, and this would lead to three hostile incidents between Tranquebar and Carical.^[2]

In October 1644, the Governor of Danish India, Willem Leyel, received a letter from the commander of Fort 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 from Ceylon, 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 (a town 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, the Valby 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 the roads, however, two Dutch ships lay at anchor there.^[6][5] The Dutch crews boarded the Valby 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 his war on Tranquebar.^[6]

• Conquest of Koneswaram Temple – Colonial controntation between the Portuguese and the Danish
• Sinking of the Flensborg – 1630 sinking of a Danish ship
• Sieges of Tranquebar (1655–1669) – Sieges in Tranquebar, India 1655-1669
• Roland Crappé's raids on Portuguese colonies – Danish raids in India and Sri Lanka, 1619

• Bredsdorff, Asta (2009). The Trials and Travels of Willem Leyel. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 9788763530231.
• Bredsdorff, Asta (1999). Søhistoriske Skrifter (PDF) (in Danish). Vol. XXI. Copenhagen: Handels- og Søfartsmuseet Kronborg.
• Leyel, Willem (1644). Rentekammerafdelingen: Willum Leyels arkiv (1639 - 1648) (in Danish). Danske Kancelli.