all the crew, were got into the boats and safely
landed on the shore. We were at first very thankful for our escape; but
if we had known the fate that awaited nearly all of us, I think we
should have preferred being swallowed up by the raging sea to undergoing
it. The sea-coast at that point consists of long stretches of sandy
beach, overgrown at a short distance from the sea by thick scrub and
underwood, while further inland are dense and almost impassable forests.
Our first step was to provide ourselves with some shelter against the
wind and rain which continued unabated for several days. By the help of
the carpenter's chest, and the various articles which were thrown ashore
from the wreck, we soon established ourselves comfortably enough. Huts
were run up in which the whole of the party were lodged, hunting parties
organised, and then a general meeting was summoned to determine what
steps were to be taken to deliver ourselves from the embarrassing
position in which we were placed.

"I remember there was great difference of opinion. Some proposed to
build a barque out of the remains of the _Grosvenor_, sufficiently large
to convey the whole party round to Table Bay. The distance, it was
reckoned, was six or seven hundred miles. We might easily row or sail
on an average forty or fifty miles a day. And even if Cape Town should
be too far to be so reached, we should be safe to come to some of the
villages scattered here and there along the coast, which kept up some
kind of communication with the interior. Others urged our continuing in
our present quarters until we succeeded in attracting the attention of
some passing vessel. Others, again, proposed a plan compounded of
these. One of the small boats was to be repaired sufficiently to allow
two or three of the most experienced sailors to go in search of help for
the whole party.

"On the whole, I believe the last-named suggestion would have had the
best chance of success. Any one of the three would certainly have been
preferable to the one adopted, and which had in the first instance been
proposed by the Captain himself, viz., that the whole of the party
should make their way overland to the nearest inhabited district. This
was strongly opposed by Colonel Harrison and old Mr Hickson; the former
of whom warned us, that the attempt would probably result in the
destruction of all. But there were among the passengers, as well as
among the junior officers of the