Page 166 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

166 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

appealed to the VOC rulers of the Cape to welcome the British warships and to receive
the British troops into the Fort were the “Troops and Ships of a Power in Friendship and
Alliance” that came to prevent the “Colony from being invaded by the French”. 10
Zealous British preparations for an expedition to the Cape commenced immediately.
Sir George Keith Elphinstone (later Lord Keith) was appointed naval commander of the
task force and “Commander in Chief in all the Indian Seas”, with full powers to fight
11
or negotiate depending on the circumstances. Elphinstone was a good choice and
Dundas had often consulted him on operations in the Indian Ocean as he serviced with
the EEIC and had been to China and India. Elphinstone was familiar with the severe
sea conditions around the Cape of Storms, and had the ability to plan and organise such
a maritime campaign. The expeditionary force eventually sailed in three groups. The
first ships to depart were under the command of Captain John Blankett (three third-rate
ships of the line and a sloop), who promptly embarked Major-General Sir James Henry
th
Craig and 515 soldiers of the 78 Regiment and they actually managed to depart as early
as 16 February.
Before his departure, Elphinstone thoroughly studied the political and economic state
of affairs at the Cape, organized the naval details, made provision for a winter cam-
12
paign in Cape waters, and arranged for assistance from the EEIC as well as the Gover-
nor-General and various governors in India. Due to the anticipated winter conditions
around the Cape at the time the main force was set to arrive, it was thought difficult to
rendezvous off the Cape. San Salvador (de Bahia in Brazil) was therefore chosen as the
rendezvous point with the Army Commander, Major-General Alured Clarke, who would
depart later with the bulk of the soldiers. Elphinstone arranged with the Portuguese
governor of San Salvador for Clarke’s reception and secured his co-operation. Dun-
das displayed much trust in Elphinstone and as Allardyce (Elphinstone’s biographer)
emphasised, his “natural capacity as a commander so strikingly manifested … in the
organisation of the expedition”. 13
Elphinstone hoisted his flag on the HMS Monarch (74 guns) and his squadron of six
ships (three third-rate ships of the line, a frigate, a sloop and a cargo ship) set sail for
the Cape on 3 April. Major-General Alured Clarke and his troops were not yet ready
and they departed on 15 May with merchantmen to San Salvador where they had to
await further orders. Elphinstone and Blankett rendezvoused off the Cape on 10 June
1795, but due to strong winds they sailed into False Bay the following day, arriving off
Simon’s Town at about 16:00. 14
The VOC defences of the Cape consisted of a garrison, a Khoi regiment, the burgher

10 G.W. Eybers (ed), Select Constitutional Documents Illustrating South African History, 1795-1910 (New
York, 1918), Grenville – York, 1/2/1795, pp. 1-2 and Order from the Prince of Orange to the Governor
of the Cape of Good Hope, 7/2/1795, pp. 2-3.
11 Allardyce, Memoir, pp. 85-86.
12 W.G. Perin (ed), The Keith Papers. Selected from the Letters and Papers of Admiral Viscount Keith,
Volume I (London, 1927), Elphinstone – Dundas, 21/3/1795, p. 248.
13 Allardyce, Memoir of the Honourable George Keith Elphinstone, p. 86.
14 NAUK WO1/323, Journal of G.K. Elphinstone, June 1795, p. 263.