The 1795 Cape Town Wreck of the "First Fleet" Ships

In 1795, a British convoy of 20 ships bound for India was scattered by a storm off the Cape of Good Hope. Four ships wrecked:

• HMS Sceptre
• HMS Jupiter
• HMS Crescent
• HMS Star

Their crews survived, were taken to Cape Town, and interned as prisoners of war (Britain had just seized the Cape from the Dutch). The remaining ships continued to India.