Wrecking
While under the command of Captain Edwards, Sceptre was caught at anchor in a storm on 5 November 1799 along with seven other ships in Table Bay, near the Cape of Good Hope. At 10:30am, the captain ordered the topmasts struck, and the fore and main yards lowered in order to ease the ship in the strengthening winds. At midday, the ship fired a feu de joie on the occasion of the Gunpowder Plot, suggesting no apparent apprehension about the oncoming storm. However within half an hour, the main anchor cable parted followed by the secondary one. At approximately 7pm, the ship was driven ashore onto a reef at Woodstock Beach at the site of the present-day Royal Cape Yacht Club. The ship was battered to pieces, and approximately 349 seamen and marines were killed or drowned. One officer, two midshipmen, 47 seamen and one marine were saved from the wreck, but nine of these died on the beach.
Read more about this topic: HMS Sceptre (1781)