| Conflict: | Loss of the St. Jacob |
| Place: | Bay of Bengal |
| Partof: | the prelude to the Dano-Mughal War |
| Date: | 1640 |
| Result: | Mughal victory |
| Combatant2: | Bengal Subah |
| Commander1: | Nicolaj Samson |
| Commander2: | Hadi Gayas |
| Strength1: | 1 ship |
| Strength2: | Unknown |
| Units1: | St Jacob |
| Units2: | Unknown |
| Casualties1: | 1 ship 33 men killed or drowned |
| Casualties2: | None |
| Casualties3: | Goods to the value of 150.000 Danish rigsdaler lost |
The Loss of the St. Jacob, also referred to as the Seizure of the St. Jacob, was a destruction and seizure of a Danish merchant ship, the St. Jacob, by local Bengali authorities. The loss and destruction of the ship and its crew, led to the Dano-Mughal War, which would last for 56 years.
With the establishment of Danish India in 1620 by Ove Gjedde, the governorate at Tranquebar, which was the center of Denmark's trade in Asia, was handed over to the Dutchman, Roland Crappé (. 1621-1636).[1] During his administration, he established a far-flung string of Danish factories from Malabar in South India to Makassar on Sulawesi.
Bengal was one of the many locations where Crappé tried to establish a Danish presence at, and he eventually established a manned factory at Pipli in 1626, which according to Dutch records, did well during its first year.
Despite evidence suggesting Danish seizures of Bengali ships in the 1630s, the main reason behind the declaration of war by the Danish East India Company, was the loss of the ship St. Jacob. St. Jacob was a ship with 130 loads, which left Copenhagen together with the St. Anna in 1635 and reached Tranquebar on 3 September 1636.[2]
St. Jacob was on a regular voyage from Makassar to Masulipatnam when she was driven by harsh weather into Bengali waters. She then tried to go to the port at Pipli, where she was spotted by local authorities. The local Bengali authorities allegedly prevented Danish assistance to St. Jacob, which subsequently led to her being wreckage. The governor, Hadi Gayas, fed the surviving Danish crew, however, it contained poison and 16 men died within 3 days of health issues. The captain, Nicolaj Samson, and a couple of seamen fleed the situation in a boat and eventually reached Tranquebar. Despite this, the Danes could not negotiate the release of the cargo from the Bengalis.
Dutch records suggest that the St. Jacob cargo was seized in response to the high Danish debts, yet the Danes saw this as a tyrannous act of the Bengalis, and demanded 25.000 rigsdaler for the replacement of the ship and 150.000 Rigsdaler for the lost goods. Appalled by the loss, Pessart sent a formal declaration of war in 1642 and sent two of Tranquebar's best ships to retaliate the loss of St. Jacob.