[4] Newark Island is the highest point of one of those long ridges of
sand which abound on the south and southeastern coasts of the North
Sea, formed by the deposits of ages from the rivers that empty
themselves into the German Ocean, acted upon by the alternate ebb and
flow of the tide, till they assume a form and establish a position and
a name. Upon Newark Island is a village and light-house, situated a
few miles from Cuxhaven, and accessible at low water by the sand. The
sand ridge takes a north-westerly direction from Newark Island, and
extends about six miles further. It was on the extremity of the
northwestern bank that the Proserpine was wrecked.




THE SCEPTRE.


Early in the spring of 1799, a large convoy of transports and
merchantmen sailed from the Cape of Good Hope, with troops and stores
for the siege of Seringapatam. The Sceptre, 64 guns, commanded by
Captain Valentine Edwards, was appointed to the sole charge of the
convoy, and to take Sir David Baird and the whole of the 84th regiment
on board. The Sceptre may, perhaps, have been the only king's ship
then at the Cape; it is certain that she had been an unusual length of
time on that station, and had become so weak and leaky as to be hardly
sea-worthy, when she was dispatched on this important service.

Happily, the insecure state of the vessel induced extreme watchfulness
on the part of both officers and men, and all went on well till she