When Willem Leyel arrived with the Christianshavn in Tranquebar in 1643,[1] Anders Nielsen is said to have been in India for eight years.[2] Before 1643, Nielsen was appointed merchant by Governor Bernt Pessart at Masulipatnam.[3] However, Nielsen did not care much for Pessart's drunkenness and was therefore appointed as merchant on the Gilded Sun by Claus Rytter[4] on a voyage to Makassar in 1642.[5]
Acting Governor
On 4 September 1643, Leyel appointed Nielsen, whom he viewed reliable, as acting governor of Tranquebar whenever Leyel was absent.[2][6] Nielsen became one of Leyel's most trusted men and proved to be very good and reliable.[5]
In October 1644, Leyel received a letter from Nielsen, in which he complained about a Portuguese attack on a sampan.[7] Furious about the attack, Nielsen set off to Portuguese Carical in an Indian vessel with six men.[7] However, because of heavy fire, Nielsen was forced to retreat.[7] Nielsen then wrote a letter to the Portuguese authorities, asserting that he would revenge the attack as soon as possible.[7] In response, the Portuguese governor of Carical replied that the Danes had seized a Portuguese vessel the year before, and that they merely wished to restore balance.[7] Nielsen viewed this claim as nonsense and later sent Simon Jansen with the Valby to avenge the attack.[8]
In another letter to Leyel, dated 20 December 1644, Nielsen describes how an Indian general from Thanjavur had appeared outside Tranquebar with a large army, demanding that the inhabitants give him 600 rigsdaler as a present.[9] Subsequently, Nielsen rejected this, and in response, the general surrounded the town.[9] A couple of days later, on Christmas Day, the general attacked the northern part of the town burning several houses.[9] Concurrently, Nielsen attended church until the sermon ended and hastily drove the general away.[9] However, at night, the Indian army launched a new attack at night, and the two belligerents joined battle at dawn.[9] In the ensuing three-hour battle, Nielsen got injured in the arm, yet managed to drive away the Indian army.[9]
As a result of the siege and previous debts to the Thanjavurian Nayak, Nielsen was sent on a diplomatic mission to Tanjore.[10] With gifts to the value of 3.000 rigsdaler and heavy negotiation, Nielsen managed to persuade the Nayak to give compensation for the general's attack.[11]
In 1646, on Leyel's request, Nielsen bought an Indian vessel which was renamed the St Peter and St Paul.[12] On 1 February 1647, the St Peter and St Paul, with Nielsen as merchant, went on a voyage to the Sunda Islands to purchase things they lacked in Tranquebar.[12] A year later, in February 1648, Leyel once again asked Nielsen to go on the regular voyage to Makassar with St Peter and St Paul.[13] However, Nielsen refuses as a result of previous experiences with voyaging after the monsoon.[13] It is unknown whether Nielsen acceded to Leyel's request, yet it is possible that Leyel's attempt to make Nielsen initiate the voyage may have finally sparked a revolt in 1648. In the subsequent revolt, Nielsen and other officials arrested Leyel on the basis of their discontent.[14]
