KAAPSCHE COURANT Deel IV: Saturdag den 4 January 1806. No. 1.

4 pages. Frayed along edges and with fold lines and foxing.

On 4 January 1806 the sixty-three ships of the Royal Navy finally came in sight of Table Mountain. On board, under Lieutenant-General Sir David Baird, were over 6500 troops who landed on Blaauwberg beach and defeated the small motley force the Batavian Governor J.W. Janssens could muster. On 9 January 1806, the Union Jack was raised on the Castle ramparts. 'It was to prove one of the great turning points in South African history'. (Viney & Simons CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, p. 27).

This is probably the last document issued under the Dutch who had controlled the Cape for the previous 154 years. It is full of requests from Governor Janssens for the populace to stand firm in  the 'bescherming en verdeediging van het land hunner inwooning'. He was not to know how many men were assembled in the approaching fleet, but he tried to defend his post. The Drostdy of Stellenbosch was asked to supply 'drie-en-veertig Manschappen', Zwellendam 50, Graaff-Reynet 40, Uitenhage 25, Tulbagh 25 and so on. The Courant also records other instructions issued by Janssens to the Procureur Generaal, Beelarts van Blokland, Commandant der Troupes, P.L. Henry and others.

The rest of the Courant is devoted to local matters. Sales of slaves, land and goods are recorded, the winding up of estates (including that of Petrus Johannes Hiebner), the concert to be held on 6 January where the first item on the programme would be the 'Groete Simphonie van Mozart' arranged by J.C. Schrumpf (who would also play the lead violin), a person pleading for the return of his 'Zak-boekje' that was lost to him to 45 Bree Street, the sale of the house of Willem Koekke, 5 Peperstraat and even the sale of a book for 5 Rds. titled ORDANNANTIE, RAAKENENDE HET BUITEN-DISTRICHTEN, in de Nederlandsch Zuid-Africaansche Volkplanting aan de Kaap de Goede Hoop'.

An extraordinary item of Africana providing an unrivaled glimpse into life on the eve of what would prove a far-reaching change in the way the Cape was governed and in the lives of those who lived in that far-flung corner of Africa.