Battle of Saldanha Bay (1796)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Saldanha Bay (1796)
partof=War of the First Coalition


date=August 17 1797
place=Saldanha Bay, South Africa
result=Batavian Surrender
combatant1=
combatant2=
commander1=
commander2= Engelbertus Lucas
strength1=13 ships
strength2=9 ships
casualties1=none
casualties2=noneThe designation Battle of Saldanha Bay refers to the surrender without a fight of a squadron of the navy of the Batavian Republic under the command of Rear-Admiral Engelbertus Lucas (1747-June 21, 1797) [The father of Lieutenant-Admiral Engelbertus Lucas, Dutch Minister of the Navy (1785-1870)] to a Royal Navy squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith at Saldanha Bay on August 17, 1796.

Background

After the surrender of the Dutch Republic to the invading French in January, 1795, and the subsequent proclamation of the Batavian Republic, which changed sides in the War of the First Coalition, and concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with France in the war against Great Britain, the government of the latter country procured the Kew Letters of the former Stadtholder, William V, Prince of Orange, which helped it to conquer the Cape Colony (September 16, 1795). The next year the Batavian Republic decided to make an attempt to reconquer the Cape. To that end an expedition of 9 ships with 2,000 sailors and soldiers was launched under the command of (temporary) Rear-Admiral Lucas (whose only recommendation was that he had made a voyage as a navy captain to the East-Indies in 1786, and was considered a loyal adherent of the regime) in January, 1796. This expedition arrived at Saldanha Bay on August 6, 1796 [Potgieter, p. 19] .

The incident

British forces at the Cape under Admiral Elphinstone and General James Henry Craig had been forewarned that Dutch and French naval expeditions were underway. When rumors of the presence of the Dutch squadron reached the Cape, a cavalry reconnaissance was made and confirmation obtained the same day. Craig marched with 2500 men and 11 guns to Saldanha, where he arrived on August 14. Meanwhile, Elphinstone made repeated attempts to reach Saldanha Bay by sea, but gale-force winds made this impossible till August 16. He then trapped the Dutch fleet with a superior force (13 ships versus 9, of superior rating). [Potgieter, p. 20] .

Meanwhile, Lucas had been taking in water, repairing his sails, and putting the many sick and disabled seamen of his fleet ashore. He had been warned by locals that were sympathetic to the Dutch, of the arrival of Craig, but decided to complete his replenishment. When he was confronted with a demand for surrender by Elphinstone (who offered honorable terms and pointed out his superiority, which made resistance problematic), he immediately agreed verbally [Elphinstone wrote later: "I must, however, beg leave to observe, that any resistance on the part of the enemy could only have occasioned the wanton sacrifice of a few lives; and I doubt not that had their numbers been adequate to the contention, their conduct would have confirmed the acknowledged merit at all times recorded to the martial spirit of subjects ot the United States [sic; he probably meant "Provinces"] ; and I can with similar confidence assure you, that the officers and men under my command would have exhibited a conduct equally creditable to themselves; Otridge, p. 86] . During his later court-martial he offered the excuse that his crews had been mutinous during the voyage [De Jonge, p. 283] (many sailors were adherents of the old regime, and hostile to the Batavian Republic). He therefore calculated that he would not have been able to count on those crews (Indeed, after the surrender, several of the crews actively mutinied, and had to be subdued by the British).

Lucas then tried to obtain better terms for the capitulation, but in the exchange of letters that followed (included in Elphinstone's dispatches of August 19) Elphinstone would only agree to leaving the Dutch officers in possession of their side-arms [Otridge, p. 88-89] .

Aftermath

Many of the soldiers and sailors aboard the Dutch fleet (who were mostly of German nationality) enlisted in the British army and navy, and were immediately dispatched to the East Indies. The Dutch officers were sent back to the Batavian Republic on parole.

The news of the surrender caused an uproar in the Netherlands. There was a great popular demand for a court-martial of Lucas and his officers. Lucas himself asked for such a court-martial, to enable him to defend his actions. This court-martial (a "Hoge Zeekrijgsraad") was convened by a decree of the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic on April 11, 1797. However, by then Lucas was already severely ill. He died on June 21, 1797 [De Jonge, p. 271] . This made the court-martial itself moot, but the "advocaat-fiscaal" [Prosecutor.] Jacobus Spoors nevertheless diligently conducted a thorough investigation of the affair. His report of December 19, 1797, exonerated Lucas and his officers [Zeekrijgsraad, "passim"; De Jonge, p. 274] . This lenient treatment may have contributed to the attitude of the officers who later became involved in the similar Vlieter Incident.

hips surrendered

"Source Otridge, p. 90"

References

ources

*nl icon aut|Jonge, J.C. de, and Jonge, J.K. de (1862) "Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche zeewezen", A.C. Kruseman
*aut|Otridge, W. "et al" (1800) "Dispatches from Sir George Keith Elphinstone, K.B. on board "Monarch", Saldanha Bay, August 19, 1796" in: "The Annual Register, Or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year 1796", pp. 84-90

External links

*nl icon [http://www.nationaalarchief.nl/webviews/page.webview?eadid=NL-HaNA_2.01.11&pageid=N10D49 Zeekrijgsraad in zake kapitein Engelbertus Lucas, 1797]
* [http://search.sabinet.co.za/images/ejour/hist/hist_v48_n1_a18.pdf Thean Potgieter, Maritime defence of the Cape of Good Hope, 1779-1803]