When Holland threw in her lot with revolutionary France, the Cape became a subsidiary base for the French fleets, which put in there for provisions and water, as well as for refit. As the islands of Rodriguez, Bourbon, and Mauritius belonged to France, it became necessary for the safety of our Indian possessions that we should seize all those points which were detrimental to the preservation of the trade route to India. The reduction of the French islands necessitated the employment of a force larger than we at that time could dispose of, but the Dutch settlements presented no such difficulties. It was therefore determined to despatch a joint naval and military expedition from England, which should be reinforced by troops from India.
Admiral Sir Keith Elphinstone was selected for the naval command, his force consisting of the Monarch (74 guns), Tremendous (74), America (64), Stately (64), Ruby (64), Sceptre (64), Trident (64), Jupiter (50), Crescent (50), Sphinx (24), and Moselle (16). Major-General Craig embarked on the fleet with the 78th Highlanders, having instructions to pick up the St. Helena Regiment at that island. Detachments of the 25th and 27th Light Dragoons also embarked, the idea being to horse them on arrival at the Cape.
Commodore Blanket, then commanding the fleet in the East Indies, had instructions to proceed south to co-operate with the Admiral, and he was to convoy a force under the command of Sir Alured Clarke, composed of the 84th, 95th, and 98th Regiments. Leaving Spithead in the Monarch on April 5, Elphinstone arrived at the Cape on July 11, and Craig at once disembarked his troops. Desultory skirmishing took place with the Boers until September 3, when the Indian contingent arrived. The Dutch, seeing the futility of further resistance, surrendered. In the meantime Elphinstone had taken possession of the Dutch fleet of eight fine ships—the Dordrecht (66 guns), Revolution (66), Admiral Tromp (54), Castor (44), Brave (40), Bellona (28), Sirene (28), and Havik (18). The total casualties amounted to 9 men killed, 3 officers and 53 men wounded, and fell, as will be seen, chiefly on the force commanded by General Craig.
Casualties at the Capture of the Cape of Good Hope in 1795.
| Regiments. | Officers. | Men. | ||
| K. | W. | K. | W. | |
| 78th Seaforth Highlanders | - | 2 | 6 | 24 |
| 84th York and Lancaster | - | - | - | 1 |
| Royal Navy | - | 1 | 3 | 15 |
| 98th (now Argyll Highlrs.) | - | - | - | 3 |
| 95th | - | - | - | 6 |
Cape of Good Hope, 1806.
In accordance with our time-honoured Parliamentary custom, the Cape, which had been captured in 1795, was restored, by the terms of the Treaty of Amiens, to the Dutch, thus necessitating its recapture on the renewal of the war in 1803. It was known that efforts had been made to render this more difficult, and therefore it was determined to employ a larger force. The command of the troops was entrusted to Sir David Baird, a soldier who had shown conspicuous gallantry on several occasions in India, and who had displayed considerable resource when in command of the Indian division of the Egyptian Expeditionary Army in 1801. With him was associated Admiral Sir Home Popham, whose squadron, comprised the Diadem, Raisonnable, Belliqueux, Diomed, Leda, Narcissus, Espoir, and Encounter.
The troops forming the expedition were the 20th Hussars; a Highland brigade, under Brigadier Ronald Fergusson, an officer who had distinguished himself as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 84th at the capture of the Cape in 1795, and had added to that reputation by his conduct in Flanders under Abercromby. This brigade consisted of the 71st (Highland Light Infantry), 72nd (Seaforths), and 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders). The Second Brigade, under General Beresford, afterwards the well-known commander of the Portuguese army in the Peninsular War, under Wellington, consisted of the 24th (South Wales Borderers), the 38th (South Staffords), 59th (East Lancashires), and the 83rd (Royal Irish Rifles).
On January 7 the troops were landed, General Beresford, with the 20th Hussars and the South Staffords, being sent round to Saldanha Bay to effect a diversion, his brigade being handed over to Colonel Baird, of the 83rd. In landing, the 93rd unfortunately lost thirty-six men by the upsetting of a boat. On the following day—January 8—the Dutch were driven from their entrenched position on the Blue Mountain by the Highland Brigade, and on the 9th the General capitulated.