Saldanha Bay is named after António de Saldanha, captain of a vessel in Albuquerque's fleet which visited South Africa in 1503. The name was first given to Table Bay, where Saldanha's ship cast anchor. On Table Bay being given its present name in 1601, the older appellation was transferred to the bay now called after Saldanha. In 1781 a British squadron under Commodore George Johnstone seized six Dutch East Indiamen, which, fearing an attack on Cape Town, had taken refuge in Saldanha Bay. This was the only achievement, so far as South Africa was concerned, of the expedition despatched to seize Cape Town during the war of 1781–1783.