26 LOSS OF THE 
this fortunate incident, all on board, even the ladies and chil- 
dcen, got safe on shore, except the cook's mate, a black, who 
being drunk, could not be prevailed upon to leave the wreck. 
Before this arduous business was well effected night came 
on, and the natives having retired, several iires were lighted 
with fuel from the wreck, and the whole company supped on 
such provisions as they picked up on shore. Two tents 
were formed of sails that had drifted to the shore, and in these 
the ladies were left to repose, while the men wandered about 
in search of such articles as might be of service. 
On the morning of the 5th the natives returned, and with- 
out ceremony carried off whatever suited their fancy. This 
conduct excited a thousand apprehensions, particularly in the 
minds of the females, for .their personal safety ; but observing 
that the savages contented themselves with plunder, their 
fears were somewhat allayed. 
The next day was employed in collecting together all the 
articles that might be useful in their journey to the Cape, to 
which they imprudently resolved to direct their course : a 
resolution which involved them in complicated misery, and 
which can be justified by no wise principle. From the wreck 
they might easily have built a vessel capable of containing 
them all, and by coasting along, they might have reached the 
nearest of the Dutch settlements with half the danger or risk 
to which they were then exposing themselves. Distress, how- 
ever, sometimes deprives men of all presence of mind ; so 
the crew of the Grosvenor, having just escaped the dangers 
of the sea, appear to have considered land as the most desira- 
ble alternative, without reflecting on the almost insuperable 
obstacles that lay in their way. 
On examining their stores, they found themselves in pos- 
session of two casks of flour and a tub of pork that had been 
washed on the beach, and some arrack, which the captain 
prudently ordered to be staved, lest the natives should get at 
it, and by intoxication increase their natural ferocity. 
Captain Coxson now called together the survivors, and hav- 
ing divided the provisions among them, asked if they consent- 
ed to his continuing in the command, to which they unani- 
mously agreed. He then informed them that from the best 
calculation he could make, he was in hopes of being able to 
reach some of the Dutch settlements in fifteen or sixteen 
days. In this calculation the captain was probably not much 
mistaken. Subsequent observations prove that the Grosvenor 
niust have been wrecked between the 27ih and 2Sth decree 
