In the winter of 1795, a British expedition under General Sir James Craig and Admiral Elphinstone sailed into False Bay and landed at Simonstown. It carried with it orders from the Prince of Orange, as hereditary director of the Dutch East India Company, to the commanders of the Dutch establishments overseas, that they should surrender to the British until such time as the conclusion of peace should restore the independence of the Republic of the Netherlands. The Prince had of course been driven out of the Netherlands by the invasion of the French, who were themselves welcomed by the numerous ‘Patriot’ opponents of the House of Orange and of the old order in general.

For almost two months the negotiations between the British and the VOC offcials in Cape Town continued. Eventually, the Dutch decided, somewhat half-heartedly, to expel what they had come to conceive of as foreign invaders. They came to this decision too late, however, as the British received timely reinforcements which allowed them swiftly to overrun the main defensive lines of the VOC, at Muizenberg, and to establish their rule in Cape Town. The commander of the Dutch forces, Robert Gordon, himself a protégé of the Prince, was so torn between his various loyalties, and so ashamed of the performance of the troops under his command, that he committed suicide.