SOUTHERN AFRICA. 257 
The lofs of this fhip was attended with many diftrefsful cir- 
cumftances. At one o'clock £he fired a feu-de joye^ in comme- 
moration of the anniverfary of the popiih plot; at ten the fame 
evening fcarcely a veftige was to be leen, but the fragments of 
the wreck fcattered on the flrand, in myriads of pieces, not a 
fmgle plank remaining whole nor two attached together. Cap- 
tain Edwards, his fon, with ten other officers, and near three 
hundred feamen and marines perifhed on this melancholy oc- 
cafion. Young Edwards, a line 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- 
cafes, moft of them mangled in fo fhocking a manner by the 
fhattered fragments of the fliip, 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 Danifh man of war of 64 guris, went on 
fliore the fame day, but having drifted upon a fmooth fandy 
beach, the crew were faved, as were thofe of all the other fhips. 
The Sceptre was unfortunately thrown upon a ledge of rocks 
near the mouth of the Salt River. Captain Edwards, it feems^ 
conformably to the cuflom 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, know- 
ing from experience how ineffedual is every attempt when once 
a fhip has parted her cables, pay no further attention to her 
VOL. II. L L fafety 
