276 TRAVELS IN 
melancholy occasion. The body of young: Edwards, a fine? 
boy of about fourteen years, was found the next day with a 
bible in his bosom ; that of the father not till several days 
after. The morning after this melancholy accident happened, 
exhibited a dismal scene of distress. The strand was strewed 
with dead carcases, most of them mangled in so shocking a 
manner by the shattered fragments of the ship, 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 usual burying-ground. 
The Oldenburg, a Danish man of war of 64 guns, went on 
shore the same day, but, from her having drifted upon a 
smooth sandy beach, the crew were saved, as were those of alt 
the other ships. The Sceptre was unfortunately thrown upon 
a ledge of rocks near the mouth of the Salt River. Captain 
Edwards, it seems, conformably to the custom of the navy, 
employed every means to bring her up while drifting, and, 
having lost their last anchor, bent even the forecastle guns to 
the cable. The Dutch, knowing from experience how inef- 
fectual is every attempt when once a ship has parted her 
cables, pay no further attention to her safety but, setting 
some of the head sails, run her ashore between the wharf and 
the centre of the sea-lines, upon a smooth sandy beach, by 
which means, though t!ie ship be lost, the crew are generally 
saved. 
Our officers seem to be divided in opinion as to the prefe- 
rence to be given to Table Bay or Simon's Bay. They are 
certainly both defective, but the latter would appear to be the 
