d fortunately been on shore at the
time; all the others, with the captain, were lost on the wreck,
together with about three hundred and ninety-one seamen and marines.
The people of Cape Town and the troops were employed the whole night
in searching for the dead, amongst whom they discovered the son of
Captain Edwards, with one hand grasping an open Bible, which was
pressed to his bosom, the parting gift, perhaps, of a fond mother, who
had taught the boy to revere in life that sacred volume, from which he
parted not in death.
Three waggon-loads of the dead were next morning taken to a place near
the hospital, and there buried. About one hundred bodies, shockingly
mangled, were buried in one pit on the beach. The remains of all the
officers (with the exception of Captain Edwards) were found, and were
interred the following Sunday with military honours.
The reader may be interested by being informed of a few of the
providential escapes which were experienced by Lieutenant Jones (now
Rear-Admiral Jones), one of the few survivors of the catastrophe above
described. This officer had been midshipman of the Providence,
discovery-ship, commanded by Captain William Broughton, which vessel,
after many dangerous vicissitudes, was finally wrecked among the
Japanese islands. Mr. Jones having faced all the dangers consequent on
such a trying position, with difficulty escaped a watery grave, by
taking refuge, with the rest of the officers and crew, on board the
tender which accompanied this ill-fated ship. This great addition to
her small complement, and her want of accommodation, produced a
virulent disease amongst the crew, from which Sir. Jones did not
escape. On arrival at Macao, Mr. Jones was ordered a passage, with his
surviving shipmates and crew of the Providence, to England, in the
Swift, sloop of war, selected to convoy a large fleet of Indiamen. The
evening before their departure, it was found that the accommodation in
the Swift was not sufficient for the supernumeraries, and,
consequently, Mr. Jones and Lord George Stuart (also a midshipman of
the Providence) were, by order of Captain Broughton, distributed among
the merchant ships, the former to the Carnatic, the latter to the
Duke of Buccleugh. The Swift and her convoy sailed on the morrow. They
had not proceeded far, before a succession of violent typhoons
overtook them, which scattered and disabled the Indiamen, most of
which were obliged to return to India; but
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