| Shirley's Gold Coast expedition | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theFourth Anglo-Dutch War | |||||||
 1704 engraved plate ofFort Nassau atMoree on the Dutch Gold Coast which was captured during the expedition | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Great Britain |  Dutch Republic France | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Adam Mackenzie Thomas Shirley | Pieter Volkmar | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | 4 forts captured 1 store ship captured | ||||||
Shirley's Gold Coast expedition was British expedition sent out to capture the Dutch forts on theDutch Gold Coast during theFourth 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 ofFort Elmina.
In 1780,Great Britain declared war on theDutch Republic, opening the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. As part of its offensive strategy, the British organized an expedition againstDutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast ofAfrica (present-dayGhana). CaptainThomas Shirley led the expedition, commandingHMS Leander together with thesloop-of-warAlligator 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 the78th Foot.[3]
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 ofCape Coast Castle on 5 February, where plans were developed to take the principal Dutchcastle at Elmina by land whileLeander made a diversionary attack on the nearby St. Jago castle. The expedition arrived atElmina on 15 February, but anattack on the fort failed.[4]
Over the next several weeks the expedition seized, with minimal resistance, four small Dutch forts:Moree (Fort Nassau - 20 guns),Kormantin (Courmantyne orFort Amsterdam - 32 guns),Apam (Fort Lijdzaamheid or Fort Patience - 22 guns),Senya Beraku (Fort Goede Hoop - 18 guns), andAccra (Fort Crêvecoeur - 32 guns).[5]
Leaving those facilities garrisoned with personnel from Cape Coast, Shirley then sailed for theWest Indies. In November near the African coastSenegal, he captured and destroyed the French store-shipOfficeuse, supposed to be worth£30,000.[6] before crossing the Atlantic to join the British West Indies fleet.[7]
Shirley sent two sets of dispatches back to Britain. One set went in the transport sloopUlysses, which was under the command of Captain Frodsham. The French frigateFée capturedUlysses and took her intoBrest, but not before her captain had weighted the dispatches and thrown them overboard. Shirley'sfirst lieutenant, Mr. Van court, took the second set in the transportcartelMackerel, which also carried the Dutch governors of the forts to Europe.[6]