British Expedition Sails for the Cape
- When
- 3 April 1795
- Where
- Departure for the Cape of Good Hope
- Part of
- Invasion of the Cape Colony
Two British squadrons under Elphinstone and Blankett sailed on 3 April 1795, carrying 515 troops of the 78th Regiment under Craig.
Prompted by Sir Francis Baring, Secretary of State for War Henry Dundas authorised an expedition to occupy the Cape Colony and remove its potential threat to British trade with the East Indies. The Admiralty sent two squadrons on 3 April 1795, one under Vice-Admiral of the Red Sir George Elphinstone and the other under Commodore John Blankett, carrying 515 soldiers of the 78th Regiment of Foot under Major-general Sir James Henry Craig.
Sources
- Invasion of the Cape Colony Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-31
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.