Chapter XI (3)

An officer of distinguished rank, another of Captain Cook's experienced friends, mentioned to me a common and just observation in the fleet, which was, that all the old twenty-gun ships were remarkably less sickly than those of the same size of a modern construction. This, he said, was a circumstance he could not otherwise account for, than, by the former having their _galley_* in the fore-part of the _orlop_**, the chimney vented so ill, that it was sure to fill every part with smoke whenever the wind was a-stern. This was a nuisance for the time, but, as he thought, abundantly compensated by the extraordinary good health of the several crews. Possibly those fire-places were also beneficial, by drying and ventilating the lower decks, more when they were below, than they can do now that they are placed under the fore-castle upon the upper deck.

[* Their fire-place or kitchen.]

[** The deck immediately above the hold.]

But the most obvious use of the portable fires was their drying up the moisture, and especially in those places where there was the least circulation of air. This humidity, composed of the perspirable matter of a multitude of men, and often of animals (kept for a live-flock) and of the steams of the bilge water from the well, where the corruption is the greatest; this putrid moisture, I say, being one of the main sources of the scurvy, was therefore more particularly attended to, in order to its removal. The fires were the powerful instrument for that purpose, and whilst they burned, some men were employed in rubbing hard, with canvass or oakum, every part of the inside of the ship that was damp and accessible. But the advantage of fire appears no where so manifest as in cleansing the well; for this being in the lowest part of the hold, the whole leakage runs into it, whether of the ship itself, or of the casks of spoilt meats or corrupted water. The mephitic vapours, from this sink alone, have often been the cause of instantaneous death to those who have unwarily approached to clean it; and not to one only, but to several successively, when they have gone down to succour their unfortunate companions: yet this very place has not only been rendered safe but sweet, by means of an iron pot filled with fire and let down to burn in it.

When, from the circumstances of the weather, this salutary operation could not take place, the ship was fumigated with gun-powder, as described in the Paper; though that smoke could have no effect in drying, but only in remedying the corruption of the air, by means of the acid spirits from the sulphur and nitre, aided perhaps by some species of an aerial fluid, then disengaged from the fuel, to counteract putrefaction. But as these purifications by gun-powder, as well as by burning tar and other resinous substances, are sufficiently known, I shall not insist longer on them here.

Among the several means of sweetening or renewing the air, we should expect to hear of Dr. Hales's _Ventilator_. I must confess it was my expectation, and therefore, persuaded as I was of the excellence of the invention, it was not without much regret that I saw so good an opportunity lost, of giving the same favourable impression of it to the Public. If a degree of success, exceeding our most sanguine hopes, is not sufficient for justifying the omission of a measure, deemed one of the most essential for attaining an end, I would plead in favour of our worthy brother, that by a humiliating fatality, so often accompanying the most useful discoveries, the credit of this ventilator is yet far from being firmly established in the navy. What wonder then, if Captain Cook being so much otherwise taken up, should not have had time to examine it, and therefore avoided the encumbering his ship with an apparatus, he had possibly never seen used, and of which he had at best received but a doubtful character? Nor was he altogether unprovided with a machine for ventilation. He had the _Wind-Sails_, though he hath not mentioned them in his Paper, and he told me that he had found them at times very serviceable, and particularly between the Tropics. They have the merit of taking up little room, they require no labour in working, and the contrivance is so simple that they can sail in no hands. But their powers are small in comparison with those of the ventilator; they cannot be put up in hard gales of wind, and they are of no efficacy in dead calms, when a refreshment of the air is most wanted. Should there be any objection to the employing both?

Such were the measures taken by our sagacious Navigator for procuring a purity of air. It remains only to see in what manner he supplied pure water; another article of so great moment, that the thirsty voyager, upon his salt and putrid diet, with a short allowance of this element, and that in a corrupted Rate, must account a plentiful provision of fresh water to be indeed the _best of things_.

Captain Cook was not without an apparatus for distilling sea-water, and though he could not obtain nearly so much as was expected from the invention, yet he sometimes availed himself of it; but for the most of his voyage he was otherwise provided. Within the Southern Tropic, in the Pacific Ocean, he found so many islands, and those so well stored with springs, that, as I have hinted before, he seldom was without a sufficiency of fresh water for every useful purpose. But not satisfied with plenty, he would have the purest; and therefore whenever an opportunity offered, he emptied what he had taken in but a few days before, and filled his casks anew. But was he not above four months in his passage from the Cape of Good Hope to New Zeeland, in the frozen zone of the South, without once seeing land? and did he not actually complete his circumnavigation, in that high latitude, without the benefit of a single fountain? Here was indeed a _wonder of the Deep_! I may call it the _Romance of his Voyage_! Those very shoals, fields, and floating mountains of ice, among which he steered his perilous course, and which presented such terrifying prospects of destruction; those, I say, were the very means of his support, by supplying him abundantly with what he most wanted. It had been said that those stupendous masses of ice, called _islands_ or _mountains_, melted into fresh water, though Crantz, the relator of that paradox, did not imagine they originated from the sea, but that they were first formed in the great rivers of the North, and being carried down into the ocean, were afterwards increased to that amazing height by the snow that fell upon them*. But that all frozen sea-water would thaw into fresh, had either never been asserted, or had met with little credit. This is certain that Captain Cook expected no such transmutation, and therefore was agreeably surprised to find he had one difficulty less to encounter, that of preserving the health of his men so long on salt-provisions, with a scanty allowance of corrupted water, or what he could procure by distillation The melted ice of the sea was not only fresh but soft, and so wholesome, as to show the fallacy of human reason unsupported by experiments. An ancient of great authority had assigned, from theory, bad qualities to melted snow; and from that period to the present times, this prejudice extended to ice had not been quite removed.

[* Hist. of Greenland, b. I. ch, ii. para 11, 12.]

In this circumnavigation, amidst sleets and falls of snow, fogs, and much moist weather, the _Resolution_ enjoyed nearly the same good state of health she had done in the temperate and torrid zones. It appears only from the journal of the Surgeon, that towards the end of the first course* some of the crew began to complain of the scurvy; but the disease made little progress, except in one who had become early an invalid from another cause. The other disorders were likewise inconsiderable, such as common colds, slight diarrhoeas, and intermittents that readily yielded to the Bark: there were also some fevers of a continued form, but which by timely care never rose to an alarming height. Much commendation is therefore due to the attention and abilities of Mr. PATTEN, the Surgeon of the _Resolution_, for having so well seconded his Captain in the discharge of his duty. For it must be allowed, that in despite of the best regulations and the best provisions, there will always be among a numerous crew, during a long voyage, some casualties more or less productive of sickness; and that unless there be an intelligent medical assistant on board, many under the wisest Commander will perish, that otherwise might have been saved.

[* Viz. The voyage between the Cape of Good Hope and New Zealand.]

These, Gentlemen, are the reflections I had to lay before you on this interesting subject; and if I have encroached on your time, you will recollect that much of my discourse hath been employed in explaining some things but just mentioned by Captain Cook, and in adding other materials, which I had procured partly from himself, and partly, after his departure, from those intelligent friends he alludes to in his Paper. This was my plan; which, as I have now executed, you will please to return your thanks to those gentlemen, who, on your account, so cheerfully communicated to me their observations.

As to your acknowledgments to Captain Cook, and your high opinion of his deserts, you will best testify them by the honourable distinction suggested by your Council, in presenting him with this medal: for I need not gather your suffrages, since the attention with which you have favoured me hath abundantly expressed your approbation. My satisfaction therefore had been complete, had he himself been present to receive the honours you now confer upon him. But you are apprized that our brave and indefatigable Brother is at this instant far removed from us, anticipating, I may say, your wonted request on these occasions, by continuing his labours for the advancement of Natural Knowledge, and for the honour of this Society: as you may be assured, that the object of his new enterprize is not less great, perhaps still greater than either of the former.

Allow me then, GENTLEMEN, to deliver this medal, with his unperishing name engraven upon it, into the hands of one who will be happy to receive that trust, and to know that this respectable Body never more cordially nor more meritoriously bestowed that faithful symbol of their esteem and affection. For if Rome decreed the _Civic Crown_ to him who saved the life of a single citizen, what wreaths are due to that Man, who, having himself saved many, perpetuates in your Transactions the means by which Britain may now, on the most distant voyages, preserve numbers of her intrepid sons, her Mariners; who, braving every danger, have so liberally contributed to the fame, to the opulence, and to the maritime empire, of their Country*.

[* Here followed Captain Cook's Paper, which was presented to the Society, and is inserted in part 2. vol. 1xvi. of the Philosophical Transactions; but as the Substance of that Publication is now contained in the last pages of Captain Cook's Voyage, it was judged unnecessary to repeat it here. The only material circumstance of Captain Cook's communication to the Society, omitted in his journal, is the following Extract of a Letter which he wrote to the President, just before his late embarkation, dated _Plymouth Sound_, July 7, 1776; and is as follows:

"I entirely agree with you, that the dearness of the Rob of lemons, and of oranges, will hinder them from being furnished in large quantities; but I do not think this so necessary, for though they may assist other things, I have no great opinion of them alone. Nor have I a higher opinion of vinegar: my people had it very sparingly during the late voyage; and towards the latter part, none at all; and yet we experienced no ill effects from the want of it. The custom of washing the inside of the ship with vinegar I seldom observed, thinking that fire and smoke answered the purpose much better."]

END OF VOLUME II.