there & sq other danger than that of being driven out to fea
froufi the wear and tear of the cablesthough the water is not
finooth, yet the fea is not high, and it is .next to impoffible for
a ihip to go on ffior-e, unlefs on the fouth point of Robben
Iliand, which they have always: time enough to avoid, the
diftance being feven or eight miles. Within this iliand and the
continent there is excellent anchorage, ¿where ihips io driven cut
ufpally bring Here, too, drips intending to* come into Table
Bay generally wait the abatement of a fouth-eaft winds if'
it ihould happen to blow too ft-rong for their working up againft
tfs This ¡hand is too final!, and at too great a dill a nee, to afford
the lea ft Ihelter to Table. Bay in the north-weft winds that
blow ia the winter months..
The frequency, the ftrength, and the long duration of the
fonth-eaft winds are attended with eonfidfcrable difad vantage to
commerce, it being fometimes iroprafitica-ble to ihip or to land
goods for many fneceffive days.
Thefe winds are very uncertain in their duration, there being
fcarcely two years in which their periods do not vary. The
Dutch ufed to bring their Ihips round about the beginning of
September; but as Simon’s Bay is fafe, at all times of the year,
for a few ffiips, the Engliffi protraSed the time of entering
Table Bay rothe beginning of Oitober, yet, in the year 1799,
hls Majefty s ihip, the Sceptre, with feven others, were driven
oft ftiore OH the fifth of November.
T he
The lofs of this ihip was attended with many diftrefsful cir-
eumftances. At one o’clock ihe fired a Jeu-de joyet in commemoration
of the anniverfary of the popiih plot ;• at ten the fame
evening fcarcely a veftige was to be feen, but the fragments of
the wreck fcattered on the ftrand, in myriads of pieces, not a
fingle plank remaining whole not two attached together. Captain
Edwards, his fon, with ten other officers, and near three
hundred Teamen and marines periihed on this melancholy oc-
cafion. Young Edwards, a fine boy of about fourteen years,
Was found the next day with a bible in his bofom; the father
not till feveral days after. The following morning exhibited a
difmal fcene of diftrefs. The ftrand was ftrewed with dead car-
eafes, moil of them mangled in fo fhoeking a manner by the
fhattered fragments of the ihip, that they were obliged to bury
them, in holes upon the beach; the bodies that could be taken
up whole were placed in waggons and carried to the ufual bury-
ing-ground.
The Oldenburg, a Daniih man of war of 64 guns, went on
ihore the fame day, but having drifted upon a fmooth Tandy
beach, the crew were faved, as were ihofe of all the other ihips.
The Sceptre was unfortunately thrown upon a ledge of rocks
near the mouth of the Salt River. Captain Edwards, it Teems,
conformably to the cuftom of the navy, employed every means
to bring her up while drifting, and, having, loft their laft anchor,
bent even the forecaftle guns to the cable. The Dutch, knowing
from experience how ineffectual is every attempt when once
a ihip has parted her cables, pay no further attention to her