the hands as thought proper. But it has pleased Almighty God to assist my endeavours, with the remaining part of the crew, to arrive with his Majesty’s ship in this bay yesterday. A Dutch packet is now under sail for Europe, which prevents me from giving any further particulars; especially as at this instant I find it more necessary than ever to exert myself, to preserve the ship from sinking at her anchors. I am, Sir, most respectfully, ever your obedient servant,
“After this Lieutenant Riou was in hopes he should be able to get the ship round to Saldanha Bay, where he might have a chance to repair and put her in such a condition, as to return to Europe; but notwithstanding his unceasing exertions to gain this point, he was baffled in the attempt; as she continued to make so much water, that he was at length obliged to run her on the beach in Table Bay.
The persons saved in the Guardian were, besides Lieutenant Riou, the Hon. Thomas Pitt (afterwards Lord Camelford), and Messrs. John Gore and David Gilmour, midshipmen; John Williams, boatswain; Murray Sampson, carpenter; John Fairclough, surgeon’s-mate; thirty seamen and boys, twenty-one convicts, three of their superintendants, and one female. This singular preservation was attributed, under Divine Providence, to the casks in the hold pressing against the lower-deck, the hatches of which were excessively strong, and caulked down. She was completely stove in under the counter, and had a very large hole in her bows, by which the ballast washed out and rendered her more buoyant. On her arrival at the Cape she was nothing more than a floating raft.
“The good and gallant Riou,” as he was emphatically styled by our greatest naval hero, subsequently commanded the Rose, Beaulieu, and Amazon frigates; in the latter of which ships he was killed at the battle of Copenhagen, April 2d, 1801. There is a monument to his memory in the cathedral church of St. Paul’s.
Mr. David Gilmour next joined the Druid frigate. Captain Joseph Ellison, on the Channel station; and served under that respectable officer from Oct. 1790 until May, 1791; at which latter period he was removed into the Assistance, a
