Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1795 to 1872, Volume 1 (4th ed, 1915).djvu/36

12 were being fitted out at Rochefort at the same time; but there was no settled plan of action or place of meeting: all was left to chance. The Dutch fleet sailed from Texel on the 23rd of February 1796. The course pursued was north of Scotland and west of Ireland, in order to avoid the danger of meeting an enemy in the Channel. About a fortnight later the French squadron sailed from Rochefort.

The British government was acquainted with the object of these expeditions, and lost no time in sending out strong reinforcements of ships and soldiers. On the 23rd of April a fast sailing frigate bound to India put into Table Bay with despatches for General Craig, in which he was informed that a hostile armament was to be looked for, and that troops were on the way to assist him.

On the 28th of May the Sceptre, of sixty-four guns, and the Crescent, of thirty-six, arrived with a number of transports having on board the first battalion of the seventy-eighth regiment and some artillerymen to reinforce the garrison. A number of artillerymen arrived about the same time from Madras, having been replaced there by others in the East India Company's service. The Sceptre and the Crescent were to remain on the Cape station. On the 21st of July the Tremendous, of seventy-four guns, and the Jupiter, of fifty, arrived, also with a convoy of transports conveying the eightieth regiment of infantry and the twenty-eighth light dragoons for service at the Cape and some other troops for India. The two men-of-war were to remain at the Cape. On the 2nd of August the Trident, of sixty-four guns, arrived with a convoy on the way to India. The troops that thus happened to be at the Cape in the first week of August, exclusive of the garrison, were five companies of the nineteenth, the thirty-third regiment of infantry, and the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh light dragoons.

In addition to this very imposing force Admiral Elphinstone had arrived from Madras on the 23rd of May with