The time soon came when the British officers thought an advance might be made. The Dutch had been remiss in not strengthening their earthwork defenses toward the sea. They had permitted English boats to take soundings off Muizenburg unmolested. And the English commanders had been encouraged to hope that the nationals in the colonial force did not intend to seriously oppose the British advance—that in all probability they would come over in a body to the British side as soon as the first engagement opened. On the other hand, the invading army was utterly without field guns and could not muster more than sixteen hundred men. Re-enforcements were on the way, but no one could foretell the time of their arrival. To advance any part of their military force beyond the range of the guns on the ships would expose the whole expedition to destruction in the event of a French squadron appearing in Table Bay to co-operate with the Dutch colonists. In view of all the circumstances the British commanders determined to capture Muizenburg, to reopen negotiations with the Cape government from that position and to attempt no further aggressive movement until the arrival of the expected re-enforcements. On the morning of the 7th of August it became evident to the Dutch officers at Muizenburg that the British were about to attack. A column of sixteen hundred infantry and marines was advancing from Simonstown. Two small gunboats, and the ships’ launches, carrying lighter guns, moved close in shore about five hundred yards in advance of the column, to keep the road open. The war vessels America, Stately, Echo and Rattlesnake were heading for Muizen Beach. The Dutch camp was at the foot of the mountain facing False Bay on the west, the camp looking south and east, for it was at the northwest angle of the bay. They had planted eleven pieces of artillery so as to command the road from Simonstown, which ran along the west coast of False Bay. From Kalk Bay to Muizenburg the roadway was narrow, having the water on one side and the steep mountain, only a few paces away, on the other. The mountain terminates abruptly at Muizenburg, where begin the Cape Flats, a sandy plain stretching across from False Bay to Table Bay. Near the north end of the mountain is a considerable sheet of shallow water called the Sandvlei, fed in the rainy season by an intermittent brook called Keyser’s River, emptying into the north side of the vlei.