maietime

Introduction and Contents ' are we there yet?'                Descendant: A. Maie After another two months at sea, on Saturday 13 th October, Cape Town was in sight [1] .   Whereas Teneriffe was owned by the Spanish and Rio de Janeiro was a Portuguese colony, Cape Town had been colonised by the Dutch and as the fleet entered the harbour they ‘found riding heer one Dutch Sloop of War, Dutch Eastindiaman 1 and two French Eastindiamen -- the Town appear very pretty from wher we lay but very little wood and the hills very hight’. the third leg to Cape Town (drawing: A. Maie) The seas were populated with ships from many countries, including The Netherlands, Portugal, France and England, and the Fleet had passed a number already during their journey.  Both the Dutch and the British had their East India Companies.  Britain traded with China for tea and had large holdings in India, which it was just beginning to exploit.  In this it was competing with France, a compet