In March 1805 the first battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Pack, proceeded to Bandon in the county of Cork, and was stationed at that place until July, when it marched to Cork, and immediately afterwards to Monkstown, where it embarked in transports, having been selected to form part of a secret expedition under its former commander, Major-General Sir David Baird.
In the beginning of August the embarkation was completed, and on the 5th of that month the fleet sailed, convoyed by three 64-gun ships, two frigates and gun-brigs, under the orders of Commodore Sir Home Popham; and on the 28th of September the fleet, after a very boisterous passage, arrived at Madeira.
On the 3d of October the fleet left Madeira, and on the 12th of November arrived at St. Salvador, in the Brazils, where an opportunity was afforded of refreshing the men, landing the sick, and procuring some horses for the cavalry.
The fleet again put to sea on the 28th of November, and directed its course towards the Dutch colony of the Cape of Good Hope, then in possession of the Batavian Government, which was united with France in hostility to Great Britain.
1806.
The fleet arrived at the high table-land of the Cape of Good Hope on the 4th of January 1806, and shortly afterwards came to anchor. The whole of the following day the surf upon the shore of the bay was too violent to admit of any attempt to land. Brigadier-General William Carr, afterwards General Viscount, Beresford, was detached, with such of the cavalry as had horses, and the thirty-eighth regiment, to Saldanha Bay.[19]
In the morning of the 6th of January a landing was effected by the Highland brigade, under the command of Brigadier-General Ronald Craufurd Ferguson, in the performance of which service Lieut.-Colonel Pack, the commanding officer of the Seventy-first regiment, was wounded. The following day was devoted to landing the supplies and the remainder of the army.
Early in the morning of the 8th of January Major-General Sir David Baird formed his troops in two columns, and moved up to the heights of Bleuberg (Blue Mountain), from whence the enemy was seen, drawn up in order of battle, in two lines, with twenty-three pieces of cannon, his numbers being calculated at 5,000, of which a large proportion was cavalry.
The British lines were formed with promptitude and correctness, and the enemy was attacked with the utmost spirit. He maintained his ground with some firmness, until a charge of the Highland brigade dislodged and completely routed him, with the loss of three guns and 700 men.