The regiment was stationed in the neighbourhood of Southampton, and in the Isle of Wight, until the 8th of June, 1796, when it embarked in the 'Rockingham,' 'Hawksbury,' 'Airly castle,' and 'Melville castle' Indiamen, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Henry Harvey Aston, in order to transfer its services to the East Indies. The regiment sailed from St. Helens on the 27th of June, and on the 19th of September anchored in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope; that colony having been captured from the Dutch a short time previously. The regiment remained on board, but small parties landed daily for the benefit of their health. While the Indiamen were in Table Bay, a dreadful hurricane threatened the destruction of every ship, and they all sustained some injury, several losing their anchors. Serious apprehensions were entertained for the safety of the regiment; but providentially it did not sustain any loss, and it sailed from the Cape of Good Hope on the 10th of November. [Sidenote: 1797] On the 10th of January, 1797, the Indiamen anchored in Madras roads; the regiment landed on the following day at Fort St George, and mustered eight hundred and seventy rank and file, whose appearance excited admiration. The regiment was employed on garrison duty at Fort St. George until the middle of August, when it embarked for Manilla, the capital of the Spanish settlements in the Philippine Islands, situate on the banks of a bay, at the mouth of the river Pasig, in the island of Luconan. On the 23rd of August six companies proceeded on the voyage; the other four companies were embarked on board of men-of-war, and were about to follow, when orders were received for their disembarking, in consequence of intelligence from the Mysore country, indicating a projected irruption into the British territory by the celebrated Tippoo Saib.