The remaining five could not be found, and at the end of a fortnight the rescuers were forced to return on account of the lack of provisions.

Roe immediately left with another party, and, after experiencing trouble in tracking the erratic wanderings of the unfortunates, came upon most of them hopelessly regarding a face of rock that stopped their march along the beach, unable to muster sufficient strength to climb it.

They had then been three days without water, having nothing in their canteens but a loathsome substitute.
One of them, Smith, a lad of eighteen who had accompanied the expedition as a volunteer, had died two days before the rescue; his body was recovered and buried in the wilderness.

Walker, the surgeon and second in charge, was still absent; but he had voluntarily left the main body and had pushed on for assistance towards Fremantle, which he safely reached.
During these unfortunate expeditions, Grey had shown a generous spirit of self-sacrifice combined with high courage and a fine enthusiasm for geographical discovery.

But his lack of experience and his ignorance of the local seasonal conditions counterbalanced these, and explained his failures.