Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1795 to 1872, Volume 1 (4th ed, 1915).djvu/44

20 warned that he intended, if possible, to touch at South Africa, and it would be necessary to watch his movements closely.

Mr. Van Overstraten resolved to send all the aid that was in his power. Not a soldier could be spared, but there was plenty of ammunition in the magazines, and a smart-sailing brig named the Haasje was at anchor in the roads awaiting orders. In her the governor-general shipped sixteen thousand kilogrammes of gunpowder, eight pieces of field artillery, fifty bales of clothing material, and as much sugar and coffee as would complete her lading. With a crew of twenty Europeans and twenty-four Malays she sailed from Batavia on the 19th of February 1797, no one but the governor-general and her skipper knowing her destination. The crew believed they were bound to Ternate, and so much secrecy was observed that a pilot who was engaged to conduct the brig through the strait of Bali was not set ashore lest he should make the true course known. The skipper of the Haasje was a half-caste Javanese named Jan de Freyn, a natural son of a Dutch officer of rank.

The destination of the Haasje was Algoa Bay, but on approaching the African coast a violent storm was encountered, in which she sprang a leak and was otherwise so much damaged that Skipper De Freyn resolved to put into Delagoa Bay to refit. He cast anchor there on the 3rd of May, and found that nothing was to be had except from his own resources.

The Portuguese fort at Lourenço Marques had been destroyed by two French frigates in October 1796. The captain and garrison of eighty soldiers were obliged to retire into the back country, and they were then living in great discomfort and anxiously waiting for a vessel to come and take them away. There was a whaling ship named the Hope, with a crew of twenty-four men, lying at anchor, and flying the American flag. With the officers of this ship De Freyn opened a friendly intercourse, and