Shirley's Gold Coast expedition was British expedition sent out to capture the Dutch forts on the

Dutch Gold Coast The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea'') was a portion of contemporary Ghana that was gradually colonized by the Dutch (et ...

during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in early 1781. By the end of the year, the expedition was mostly a success - all of the Dutch forts were seized with the exception of Fort Elmina.

Background

In 1780,

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declared war on the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

, opening the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. As part of its offensive strategy, the British organized an expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

(present-day

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

). Captain Thomas Shirley led the expedition, commanding together with the

sloop-of-war During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all u ...

''Alligator'' with a small convoy consisting of a few merchant-vessels, several transports carrying two small regiments of independently raised troops under the command of Captain Kenneth Mackenzie of the 78th Foot.

Expedition

The expedition sailed late in 1780, and arrived off the coast of Africa in January 1781. Pursuant to orders, Shirley first stopped at the primary British outpost of Cape Coast Castle on 5 February, where plans were developed to take the principal Dutch castle at Elmina by land while ''Leander'' made a diversionary attack on the nearby St. Jago castle. The expedition arrived at Elmina on 15 February, but an attack on the fort failed. Over the next several weeks the expedition seized, with minimal resistance, four small Dutch forts: Moree ( Fort Nassau - 20 guns), Kormantin (Courmantyne or Fort Amsterdam - 32 guns), Apam ( Fort Lijdzaamheid or Fort Patience - 22 guns), Senya Beraku ( Fort Goede Hoop - 18 guns), and

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

( Fort Crêvecoeur - 32 guns). Leaving those facilities garrisoned with personnel from Cape Coast, Shirley then sailed for the

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. In November near the African coast

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, he captured and destroyed the French store-ship ''Officeuse'', supposed to be worth £30,000. before crossing the Atlantic to join the British West Indies fleet.Crooks (1973), p. 62.

Aftermath

Shirley sent two sets of dispatches back to Britain. One set went in the transport sloop ''Ulysses'', which was under the command of Captain Frodsham. The French frigate ''Fée'' captured ''Ulysses'' and took her into Brest, but not before her captain had weighted the dispatches and thrown them overboard. Shirley's

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

, Mr. Van court, took the second set in the transport

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''Mackerel'', which also carried the Dutch governors of the forts to Europe.

References

Citations

Sources

* Crooks, John Joseph (1973) ''Records Relating to the Gold Coast Settlements from 1750 To 1874''. (London: Taylor & Francis), pp. 51 and 62.

{{coord missing, Ghana 18th century in Ghana Conflicts in 1781 Gold Coast Gold Coast 1781 in the British Empire 1781 in Africa Fourth Anglo-Dutch War