Battle of Saldanha Bay ( 1796 ) The 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 - 21 June 1797 ) to a Royal Navy squadron under the command of Vice - Admiral George Elphinstone at Saldanha Bay on 17 August 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 Dutch Cape Colony ( 16 September 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 6 August 1796 . 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 rumours 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 14 August . Meanwhile , Elphinstone made repeated attempts to reach Saldanha Bay by sea , but gale - force winds made this impossible till 16 August . He then trapped the Dutch fleet with a superior force ( 13 ships versus 9 , of superior rating ) . 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 honourable terms and pointed out his superiority , which made resistance problematic ) , he immediately agreed verbally . During his later court - martial he offered the excuse that his crews had been mutinous during the voyage ; 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 19 August ) Elphinstone would only agree to leaving the Dutch officers in possession of their side - arms . Aftermath . Most of the sailors and soldiers in the Dutch force were Germans and nearly all entered British service , either with the Royal Navy or the British East India Company . Admiral Lucas and the Dutch officers returned to the Batavian Republic on parole in the cartel ship " Gertruida " . 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 11 April 1797 . However , by then Lucas was already severely ill . He died on 21 June 1797 . This made the court - martial itself moot , but the " advocaat - fiscaal " Jacobus Spoors nevertheless diligently conducted a thorough investigation of the affair . His report of 19 December 1797 , exonerated Lucas and his officers . This lenient treatment may have contributed to the attitude of the officers who later became involved in the similar Vlieter Incident . On 7 March 1797 , the cabinet made Elphinstone an Irish peer , Baron Kieth of Stonehaven - Marischal . Ships surrendered . " Source Otridge , p . 90 "