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.
Ridderschap van Holland was a large retourschip, the largest class of merchantmen built by the Dutch East India Company to trade with the East Indies. In 1694 the ship sailed for Batavia on her fifth voyage, but was never heard from again. She is now thought to have been shipwrecked off the west coast of Australia.
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.
HMS Hero was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Thomas Slade built by Thomas Bucknall at Plymouth Dockyard and launched on 28 March 1759. She was the only ship built to her draught.
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".
Baron Joachim Ammena van Plettenberg was the governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 11 August 1771 to 14 February 1785. Plettenberg was presiding governor after Ryk Tulbagh's death. On 18 May 1774 he was permanently appointed as governor.
HMS Romney was a 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned forty years. Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Romney. The origins of the name are from the town of New Romney, although it may be that the name entered the Royal Navy in honour of Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney.
The Battle of Saldanha Bay was a naval action that occurred off the Dutch Cape Colony on 21 July 1781 during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. A squadron of Royal Navy warships under the command of commodore George Johnstone captured five Dutch East India Company ships; her own crew destroyed a sixth. Casualties on the Dutch side were minimal if any, and there were no British casualties.
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.
The Lisbon station also known as Lisbon Station and Coast of Spain was a formation of the British Navy operating off the coast of Portugal from 1779 to 1782 before being disbanded and then again from 1783 until 1841.
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.
Abraham Chiron was a German-born book-keeper and banker who played a key role in the establishment of Freemasonry in South Africa and served as the country's first Masonic Grand Master. He also played a significant role in the early European settlement of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.
HMS Princess was the Dutch East Indiaman Williamstadt en Boetzlaar that the British Royal Navy captured on 18 August 1795 at the Capitulation of Saldanha Bay. The Royal Navy initially rated her a 28-gun sixth rate. She quickly became a receiving ship, a guard ship, and a floating battery. The Navy sold her in 1816.
Candia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company which only once traveled for Asia in 1790 and never returned to the Netherlands.
Horssen was an East Indiaman operated by the Delft chamber of the Dutch East India Company. She was launched in 1784 and made the voyage to the Far East in 1786. She then had sailed for several nearby ports in Asia, when she finally set out for the successful return voyage in 1791, carrying aboard the prisoner Mary Bryant to Cape Town. After arriving in Europe in 1792 she was put out of service.
Constantia was launched in 1782 at the Delft Shipyard as an East Indiaman for the Delft Chamber of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The British Royal Navy captured her in 1795 when the British occupied Malacca.
Glatton was launched as an East Indiaman. She made four voyages for the British East India Company (EIC) before her owners sold her in 1772. Her new owner, James Mather, renamed her Lord Howe and first deployed her to bring timber from North America to England. Mather then hired her out as a transport. She was last listed in 1782 and was probably the "ordinance storeship Lord Howe" that foundered in that year.
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.
Dutch Republic 
Great Britain