The Author of this Collection had the curiosity the next day to view the place and to observe the posture they lay in, which nevertheless 'tis impossible to describe; there lay, by the best Account he could take, few less than 700 sail of Ships, some very great ones between _Shadwel_ and _Limehouse_ inclusive, the posture is not to be imagined, but by them that saw it, some Vessels lay heeling off with the Bow of another Ship over her Waste, and the Stem of another upon her Fore-Castle, the Boltsprits of some drove into the Cabbin Windows of others; some lay with their Sterns tossed up so high, that the Tide flowed into their Fore-Castles before they cou'd come to Rights; some lay so leaning upon others, that the undermost Vessels wou'd sink before the other could float; the numbers of Masts, Boltsprits and Yards split and broke, the staving the Heads, and Sterns and Carved Work, the tearing and destruction of Rigging, and the squeezing of Boats to pieces between the Ships, is not to be reckoned; but there was hardly a Vessel to be seen that had not suffer'd some damage or other in one or all of these Articles. There was several Vessels sunk in this hurry, but as they were generally light Ships, the damage was chiefly to the Vessels; but there were two Ships sunk with great quantity of Goods on Board, the _Russel_ Galley was sunk at _Lime-house_, being a great part laden with Bale Goods for the _Streights_, and the _Sarah_ Gally lading for _Leghorn_, sunk at an Anchor at _Blackwall_; and though she was afterwards weighed and brought on shore, yet her back was broke, or so otherwise disabled, as she was never fit for the Sea; there were several Men drown'd in these last two Vessels, but we could never come to have the particular number. Near _Gravesend_ several Ships drove on shoar below _Tilbury_ Fort, and among them five bound for the _West Indies_, but as the shoar is ouzy and soft, the Vessels sat upright and easy, and here the high Tides which follow'd, and which were the ruin of so many in other places, were the deliverance of all these Ships whose lading and value was very great, for the Tide rising to an unusual height, floated them all off, and the damage was not so great as was expected. If it be expected I should give an account of the loss, and the particulars relating to small Craft, _as the Sailors call it_, in the River it is to look for what is impossible, other than by generals. The Watermen tell us of above 500 Wheries lost, most of which were not sunk only but dasht to pieces one against another, or against the Shores and Ships, where they lay: Ship Boats without number were driven about in every corner, sunk and staved, and about 300 of them is supposed to be lost. Above 60 Barges and Lighters were found driven foul of the _Bridge_: some Printed accounts tell us of sixty more sunk or staved between the _Bridge_ and _Hammersmith_.