"st george" was refloated and underwent a month of repairs, escorted by ships of the line hms "defence" and hms "cressy". on 17 december the battered flagship returned to sea, reynolds hoping to reach britain before the weather worsened further. seven days later however, on christmas eve, the remains of the convoy was struck by the biggest storm in the north sea in many years. "st george", "defence" and numerous other ships were flung onto the reefs on jutland's western coast, where they were broken up by the heavy seas. of "st george's" 850 crew only 12 survived, reynolds not among them. all but six of "defence's" crew were drowned and only "cressy" escaped the disaster. hours later another large british convoy was driven onto the haak sands off the texel, bringing the death toll in the royal navy alone to over 2,000. reynolds's last moments were recorded by survivor john anderson, who recounted that the admiral had remained below decks after the ship had struck and was only brought on deck, having been seriously injured, when the sea flooded his cabin. just a few hours later he was dead, succumbing to exposure with over 500 of his crew. an attempt was made some days later to recover his remains, but they were not found, the deck having been washed away by the high seas. his remains are probably interred with the other bodies which washed ashore over the next weeks in an area now known as "dead men's dunes".