ABSTRACT
In August 1786, Captain Francis Light, a former opium trader on the Kedah coast, took possession of the island of Penang on behalf of the British East India Company under lease from the Sultan of Kedah. Accompanied by a fleet of three ships (two of them Company vessels and the other his own trading vessel, the Speedwell), 150 sepoys, their five European officers and two assistants, Light renamed the island, 'Prince of Wales Island' in honour of the future Prince Regent.
