CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, 
11 
to be on shore, went down to the beach, and, though the evening 
was so dark that the vessel could only be seen for a moment 
during the flashing of the guns, succeeded, with the assistance of 
his supercargo and two captains of merchant-vessels who volun- 
teered their services on the occasion, in launching a boat and 
getting her olF to the ship, where he arrived just in time to remedy 
the disaster and prevent farther mischief. Admiral Bertie con- 
sidered the situation of the vessel extremely dangerous, and 
exerted himself very strenuously to prevent the loss of lives 
and property likely to ensue in the event of her being driven on 
shore, for which purpose he ordered out a patrole of dragoons on 
the beach, while he himself waited in great anxiety to render any 
personal assistance that might be requisite. 
Owing to the entrance into the Bay being at this season 
interdicted by the Dutch law, it appears that there exists no 
provision at Cape Town, with respect to boats or seamen, for the 
purpose of affording aid in cases of distress, the whole of the 
naval establishment being removed to Simon's Town. This de- 
ficiency ought to be remedied, or at least a life-boat might be 
kept in readiness to preserve the lives of persons endangered, as 
it is by no means unusual for merchant-vessels to run all hazards 
rather than subject their cargo to the heavy expenses attendant 
on the land carriage from Simon's Bay. 
The reader will easily imagine the anxious state of suspense 
m which I was kept during this distressing occurrence ; it, how- 
ever, seemed to turn out ultimately to our advantage, for the 
delay it occasioned enabled me to obtain convoy for the Marian 
as far as Mosambique, in consequence of a representation I had 
