Claus Hansen was Governor of the Danish West Indies

Danish West Indies

The Danish West Indies or "Danish Antilles", were a colony of Denmark-Norway and later Denmark in the Caribbean. They were sold to the United States in 1916 in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies and became the United States Virgin Islands in 1917...

 from February 19, 1702 until his death.

Hansen started his career in the West Indies as one of the soldiers brought by Jørgen Thormøhlen on the latters lesseeship in 1690. He was promoted to ensign

Ensign (rank)

Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....

 in 1692 by Governor Frans de la Vigne.

In 1699 Hansen married Anna van Ockeren, the widow of Iver Jørgensen Dyppel, son of deceased Governor Jørgen Iversen Dyppel

Jørgen Iversen Dyppel

Jørgen Iversen Dyppel , also called George Iversen or Ifversen, or sometimes Doppel in Knox, was the first governor of St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies, from 1672 to 1680...

. She died the same year, leaving him the Dyppel fortune.

Upon John Lorentz' death on February 19, 1702, the planters named Hansen as governor, whereas the colony officials decided upon Joachim von Holten. However, the Danish West India Company sided with Hansen, and he was installed in office. He died only four years later on February 8, 1706.

His legacy according to Dansk Biografisk Lexikon is the institution of the island councils.