Hi Paul,

I've had a look in my notes but don't have anything that is very helpful. As you know Arthur Wellesley travelled separately and later as far as the Cape, where he joined the regiment. Brereton & Savory's History of the 33rd says that the regiment sailed from England in April 1796 and 'After an inexplicable delay at the Cape, the Regiment finally arrived at Calcutta on 17 February 1797' (p 96) but gives no further details, and may not be completely accurate.

I don't know of any memoirs etc for the regiment at this point except the unpublished journals of John Chetwood and Charles Mcgrigor both of which are quoted at times in Brereton & Savory (though not for the voyage). I have never been able to track either of these down. I wrote the the regimental museum back in 2011 and got a pleasant reply from the archivist saying that they had no record of them. They would be a great find.

Otherwise I can only suggest looking at newspapers for April-May 1796 which might give accounts of the embarkation and sailing of the regiment (I've seen cases where they do), but which are unlikely to give any information about what happened at Cape Town. I don't think it was usual to transfer to new ships there, but you probably have reasons for your surmise.

Of course you've seen George Elers' account of the voyage out in his Memoirs which gives you a sense of what it was like even if he is in the wrong regiment and the wrong convoy and is, perhaps, not entirely reliable.

Good luck

Rory