The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, contemporary with the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), broke out over British and Dutch disagreements on the legality and conduct of Dutch trade with Britain's enemies in that war.
HMS Sceptre was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 8 June 1781 at Rotherhithe. The ship was wrecked in a hurricane on 5 November 1799 in Table Bay near the Cape of Good Hope.
The Battle of Porto Praya was a naval battle that took place during the American Revolutionary War on 16 April 1781 between a British squadron under Commodore George Johnstone and a French squadron under the Bailli de Suffren.
George Johnstone was a Royal Navy officer who saw service during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of post-captain and serving for a time as commodore of a British naval squadron. In a multifaceted career he was also a member of parliament, a director of the East India Company, a member of the Carlisle Peace Commission and the first Governor of West Florida from 1763 until 1767.
Héros was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, known mostly for being the flagship of Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez during the Anglo-French War.
HMS Monmouth was an Intrepid-class 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Israel Pownoll and launched on 18 April 1772 at Plymouth. Being relatively compact in relation to her gun power, she was affectionately known as the "Little Black Ship".
Sir Richard John Strachan, 6th Baronet GCB was a British officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of admiral. Sir Dicky, as his friends referred to him, was the last Chief of Clan Strachan. The Baronetcy became dormant in 1854 as he died without male heir.
Vice-Admiral Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez, bailli de Suffren was a French naval officer and nobleman. Beginning his career during the War of the Austrian Succession, he briefly served in the Maltese Navy before fighting in the Seven Years' War, where Suffren was taken prisoner by the British at the Battle of Lagos. Promoted to captain in 1772, he served under Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing during the naval battles of the American Revolutionary War, taking part in the siege of Savannah in 1779.
HMS Adamant was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate warship of the British Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned thirty years.
HMS Medea was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Medea was first commissioned in May 1778 under the command of Captain William Cornwallis. She was sold for breaking up in 1805.
The capitulation of Saldanha Bay was the surrender to the British of a Batavian expeditionary force sent to recapture the Dutch Cape Colony in 1796. In 1795, early in the War of the First Coalition, French troops overran the Dutch Republic which then became a French client state, the Batavian Republic. Great Britain was concerned by the threat that the Cape Colony posed to its trade routes to British India. It therefore sent an expeditionary force that landed at Simon's Town in June 1795 and forced the surrender of the colony in a short campaign. British Vice-Admiral Sir George Elphinstone, then reinforced the garrison and stationed a naval squadron at the Cape Colony to protect it.
The invasion of the Cape Colony, also known as the Battle of Muizenberg, was a British military expedition launched in 1795 against the Dutch Cape Colony at the Cape of Good Hope. The Dutch colony at the Cape, established and controlled by the United East India Company in the seventeenth century, was at the time the only viable South African port for ships making the journey from Europe to the European colonies in the East Indies. It therefore held vital strategic importance, although it was otherwise economically insignificant. In the winter of 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars, French troops entered the Dutch Republic, which was reformed into the Batavian Republic.
Osterley was a three-decker East Indiaman, launched in 1780, that made seven trips for the British East India Company between 1781 and 1800. She was present at two battles, and an engagement in which four Indiamen and a country ship engaged a French frigate. On her last trip a French frigate captured her in a single-ship action, but sent her on her way. Osterley eventually returned to Britain in 1800. Her subsequent fate is unknown.
The action of 10 September 1782 was a minor engagement between five merchant vessels — four East Indiamen of the British East India Company and a country-ship — on the one side, and a French frigate on the other. The action resulted in only a few casualties and was inconclusive. What was noteworthy was that the Indiamen sought out the French man-of-war and attacked it; it would have been more usual for the merchantmen to have avoided combat as they had little to gain from a battle.
Asia was launched in 1780 and made six voyages as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She participated in three actions, two against the French and one against the Dutch. She left the EIC's service in 1799 and traded between London and Lisbon until 1802 when new owners from Embden renamed her Reine Louise de Prusse and returned her to trading with the East Indies. Asia is last listed in Lloyd's Register for 1808 on the London-Batavia trade.
Essex was launched in 1780 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC). On her first voyage she was present at an inconclusive battle with the French, and later at a second inconclusive engagement with a French frigate. In 1798 she was sold to be hulked or broken up.
Valentine was launched in 1780 as an East Indiaman. She made six voyages for the British East India Company (EIC), and was a transport for one military campaign. On her first voyage she was present at an inconclusive battle with the French, but did not take an active part. She was sold in 1796 for breaking up.
Dankbaarheid, also written as Dankbaarheit or Dankbaarheyt, was an 18th-century East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company.
Honkoop, also written as Honcoop or Hencoop, was an 18th-century East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company. She was a merchant ship that made multiple voyages from Texel, Dutch Republic to Batavia, the Dutch East Indies. The Royal Navy captured her in 1781 during the Battle of Saldanha Bay. In 1782 during a gale, the ship with up to 313 crew members, was lost; she was believed to have foundered with all hands.
Middelburg, also written as Middelburgh, was an 18th-century East Indiaman of the Dutch East India Company.
Great Britain 
Dutch Republic 