CAPTURE OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
1806
In 1805, the British Government, having ascertained that the Cape of
Good Hope had only a force under two thousand regular troops for its
protection, and that the militia and inhabitants were well inclined to
assist a British army, in case a landing should be made, determined
to attempt the reduction of that colony, by the employment of a body
of troops cantoned in the neighbourhood of Cork, assisted by some
regiments already on board the India ships at Falmouth.
The expedition was to be a secret one, and the troops embarked at
Cork were ostensibly intended for service in the Mediterranean. It
was supposed that this report would prevent suspicion, particularly
as the Company’s fleet sailed alone, as if its destination was really
Madras direct. Sealed orders were, however, given to the commanders
to be opened in a certain latitude, and in these they were ordered to
rendezvous at Madeira.
The troops composing the expedition were placed under the command of
General Baird. They comprised the 24th, 38th, 59th, 71st, 72nd, 83rd,
and 98th, part of the 20th light dragoons, with artillery, artificers,
and recruits, making a total force of six thousand six hundred and
fifty rank and file.
It was at first suspected that some troops which had left Rochfort in
two line-of-battle ships and escaped the vigilance of our cruisers,
might have been intended to reinforce the garrison at the Cape, and
General Baird conceived the corps intrusted to him not sufficiently
strong to achieve the objects of the expedition. He asked, under this
impression, for an additional force, and stated the grounds on which
the request was made; but, in the meantime, it was ascertained that the
French troops had proceeded to the West Indies: and that, therefore,
the Cape of Good Hope had received no increase to its military
establishment.
After another application to obtain an increase to the corps already
under his orders, by having the 8th regiment added to the force, the
expedition sailed, stopping at Madeira and St. Salvador to obtain
water and provisions. Nothing of moment occurred in the voyage to
South America; the passage was tedious, and an Indiaman and transport
ran on a low sandy island, called the Roccas, and were totally lost.
Fortunately, the men on board and twelve chests of dollars were saved
from the wreck. Only three individuals perished; of these, General
Yorke, in command of the artillery, was one, and Major Spicer, the
next in seniority, succeeded him. While staying at St. Salvador, the
regiments were landed and inspected, a remount of fifty horses obtained
for the cavalry, and, all arrangements being completed, the expedition
sailed for its final destination on the 28th of November, and made the
African coast, a little to the northward of the Cape, on the 4th of
January, 1806.
Table Bay, on the shore, and almost in the centre of which Cape Town
stands, receives its name from that extraordinary eminence called Table
Mountain, which rises about three thousand six hundred and eighty-seven
feet above the level of the sea, and which terminates in a perfectly
flat surface at that height, where the face of the rock on the side
of Cape Town descends almost perpendicularly. To the eastward of the
mountain, separated from it by a chasm, is Charles’s Mount, more
generally called the Devil’s Tower; and on the westward, a round hill
rises on the right hand of the bay, called the Lion’s Head, from which
a ridge of high land, terminating in another smaller hill, called the
Lion’s Rump, stretches towards the sea.
The town itself is handsome and extensive; and the streets,
intersecting each other at right angles, are broad and airy, generally
built with stone, and with terraces in front. The Company’s gardens,
walks, parade, and castle, all add to the beauty of the place, and
render it superior to any colonial city in the possession of Great
Britain.
The coast is everywhere dangerous--landing, excepting in the bays, and
that, too, in favourable weather, almost impracticable--and hence,
a very inferior force on shore, if the surf were at all up, might
successfully resist any attempt at the disembarkation of an army.
The troops in garrison consisted of a detachment of Batavian artillery,
the 22nd Dutch regiment of the line, a German regiment of Waldecks, and
a native corps, which acted as light infantry. To these, an auxiliary
battalion, formed from the seamen and marines of a frigate and corvette
which had been wrecked upon the coast, were added; while a number of
irregulars, mounted and dismounted, comprised of the boors, and armed
with guns of enormous length of barrel, completed the force of General
Janssens, who was then commandant at the Cape.
The governor had a high reputation, both as a soldier and a civilian,
and from the excellence of his measures since his arrival at the Cape,
was held most deservedly in great estimation by the colonists. On the
appearance of the British fleet, although his numerical superiority
was greater than that of his enemy, he wisely considered that the
_matériel_ of the invaders was far more efficient than his own; and
leaving a garrison in Cape Town, he determined to fall back on the
interior with the remainder of his troops, and carry on a desultory
war, until the arrival of a French or Dutch fleet from Europe should
enable him to resort to active measures and save the colony. This plan,
though ruinous to the inhabitants, if carried out, would have rendered
the subjugation of the Cape a very difficult and tedious undertaking
for the British, and in this posture of affairs the expedition made the
coast, and came to anchor just out of range of the batteries in Table
Bay.
The weather was fortunately calm, but the day was too far advanced
to admit a landing of the troops, but all was prepared for effecting
it on the morrow. The coast was sounded, the approaches to the town
reconnoitred, and a small inlet, sixteen miles north-east of the town,
called Leopard’s Bay, was selected as the point on which the troops
should be disembarked. The transports accordingly weighed and took
their stations, while the men-of-war got into a position to cover the
landing, in case of opposition, with their guns.
During the night the surf had risen so prodigiously, that at daylight
it was declared unsafe for boats to attempt the beach, and a landing
at Saldana Bay was proposed. There it could be easily effected, but it
would carry the army a distance from the town, separate it on its march
from the fleet, oblige it to depend for its supplies on what provisions
it could carry, or any which by accidental circumstances it could
obtain on its route; it would also entail a harassing march of seventy
miles on soldiers so long cooped up on shipboard; and that, too, in
the hot season of the year, over a heavy sand, where water was not
procurable. Still, the uncertainty of the weather, and the necessity
of an immediate attack, overcame all other objections; and on the
evening of the 5th, General Beresford, with the 38th regiment and the
20th light dragoons, sailed for Saldana, with an understanding that the
remainder of the army should proceed thither on the following morning.
But daylight on the 6th January broke with happier promise; the surf
had gone down considerably; and it was at once decided that the troops
should be landed without farther loss of time. The Highland brigade was
instantly transferred from the transports to the boats, and the 71st,
72nd, and 93rd, effected a landing with but a single casualty, and
that arising from the swamping of a launch, by which five-and-thirty
Highlanders were drowned.
No other loss attended the operation--the light company of the 93rd
cleared the brushwood of a few skirmishers that had been thrown out
by the enemy, and the remainder of the troops debarked without any
opposition.
The artillery, consisting of four six-pounders and a couple of
howitzers, were landed on the 7th; and the whole of the force being
now safely on shore, the British general commenced his march direct on
Cape Town, the guns being dragged through the sands by fatigue parties
furnished from the fleet.
The advance was unopposed until the British army had approached a
line of heights, some four miles distant from the landing place. The
Blawberg, as one of these eminences is called, was occupied by burgher
cavalry, and the videts announced that General Janssens was in position
on the other side of the high grounds, and his whole disposable force
drawn up in order of battle. The march was steadily continued, and
when the Blawberg was crowned by the advance guard, the Batavian army,
formed in two lines, with twenty-five pieces of artillery and a large
corps of irregular cavalry, was discovered.
General Baird formed his corps into two columns of brigades; the
right, comprising the 24th, 59th, and 83rd, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Baird, commanding in the absence of General Beresford; and the left,
consisting of the Highland regiments, under General Ferguson. While
deploying into line, the Batavian guns opened, and their cavalry, by a
left extension, threatened the right of the British. Baird’s brigade
refused its right, checking the burgher horse with its musketry; and
the Highland regiments on the left made a rapid movement under a heavy
cannonade, and advanced to the charge. The right wing of the Batavian
army broke without waiting an assault, the left followed the example,
and the field was totally abandoned by the enemy, with a considerable
loss in killed and wounded.
Without cavalry it was impossible to complete the déroute. The guns
were, therefore, carried off; and quitting the road to Cape Town,
Janssens, in pursuance of his previous plan, marched eastward, and
moved towards Hottentot Holland, with a hope of protracting a war in
the interior. Of course the capital was the object of the conqueror.
The fleet was in an exposed anchorage, and to equip his army for
ulterior operations, and secure his communication with the sea, it was
necessary to possess Cape Town.
The advance was very distressing, and the troops suffered much. The
badness of the roads, the heat of the weather, and worse still, the
scarcity of water, was severely felt before the brigades, at a late
hour, reached their bivouacs in Reit Valley, a farming establishment
belonging to the Dutch Government. Here some salt provisions, which
had been floated through the surf, were brought up by the marines
and partitioned among the soldiers; while the few and scanty springs
attached to the farm afforded them an indifferent supply of water. An
immediate movement on the capital was imperative; and the next day the
British reached a position beside the Salt River--an inlet some short
distance from the strong lines which cover Cape Town.
These defences are formed of a chain of redoubts, with a connecting
parapet, furnished with banquettes and a dry ditch. They extend about
eight hundred yards, and unite the Devil’s Berg with the sea. These
lines were very formidable, as they had been considerably strengthened
by the British during their possession of the colony. One hundred
and fifty guns and howitzers were mounted on the works; and several
batteries had been erected on the escarp of the mountain, that would
have exposed assailing troops to a flanking fire, and, in storming the
lines, occasioned a severe loss of life. One battery and blockhouse
were placed on a shoulder of the hill, thirteen hundred feet above the
level of the plain. But this was probably the least effective of the
defences; as, in modern warfare, a plunging fire is not regarded much.
A mile behind the lines the castle of Good Hope is situated at the
entrance of the town. It is a pentagon, with outworks strong enough to
require a regular approach; and that side of the city which overlooks
the bay is secured alike by the fire of the castle, and a number of
batteries mounted with guns of heavy calibre.
To carry works so extensive, and so formidable in their defences,
with a small corps like Baird’s, unprovided with any artillery but
the light field-pieces they had brought through the sands, was not to
be attempted; and it was determined to obtain some heavy guns, and a
reinforcement of seamen and marines from the fleet. But these were not
required; the enemy sent out a flag of truce, and an armistice was
agreed upon, which terminated ultimately in a capitulation. The town
and its defences were given up to the British army, and without a shot,
works were surrendered to a force of not four thousand men, on which
were mounted four hundred and fifty-six guns and mortars, most of them
of the heaviest calibre.
Janssens, after his defeat, retired towards the interior; and having
disbanded the militia and burgher cavalry, which had accompanied him,
he took a position at Kloof, with twelve hundred regular troops,
and some five-and-twenty guns. General Baird, anxious to effect
the tranquillity of the colony and terminate hostilities at once,
despatched General Beresford to make overtures to the Dutch governor,
and induce him to capitulate. A long and doubtful negotiation took
place between the British and Batavian commanders, which eventually
ended in the whole of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope and its
dependencies, with all the rights and privileges held and exercised
by the Dutch Government, being formally transferred to his Britannic
Majesty.
Although the capture of the Cape was effected with trifling loss, and
the opposition given to the British troops was far less formidable
than might have been anticipated, still the operations which were
so deservedly crowned with success, were boldly planned and bravely
executed. Janssens exhibited no military talent, and in a country
abounding in strong positions, to offer battle in an open plain, and
oppose an irregular force to a well-disciplined army, was a strange
decision of the Batavian commander, and could only terminate in defeat.
In an engagement in which the Dutch army was so easily routed, and
the ulterior operations which followed, there was nothing of that
brilliancy which marked other victories achieved by British bravery,
but no conquest was attended with more advantages and permanent
results. A noble colony was obtained for Great Britain with little
loss of life, and the only portion of Africa worth her occupation was
secured to the “Mistress of the Seas.”