1852.] THOUGHTS ON ARCTIC FITTINGS. 145 



I purposely introduce these remarks, not in any man- 

 ner as a reflection on my predecessors, who, I am con- 

 vinced, were quite as much alive as myself to every pre- 

 caution for the preservation of the health and comfort 

 of their men, but to show what a very difficult position 

 a man of common sense is placed in, when he accepts 

 such a command. He can hardly be deemed a free agent ; 

 he is pestered by assertions that such was the course 

 Captain H. pursued ; and if he either doubts, opposes, or 

 varies from these self-constituted Mentors, he must look 

 for sulkiuess, opposition, and the petty mutiny of petty 

 minds. It is this underhand tyranny attempted on the 

 chief, that has made so many officers declare " that no 

 inducement would bring them here again." It is the 

 duty of every man who may command such service to 

 institute a full and complete inquiry into all its work- 

 ings, and, if able, to afford such information as may be of 

 service to his successors. 



But such matters are not merely to be confined to 

 Arctic vessels. The same principles, narrowly watched, 

 are involved in every ship and every private dwelling; 

 it is a sanitary question, and must stand on its philoso- 

 phical merits alone. I do not, at this late period, begin 

 my reflections on these matters ; I carried them out suc- 

 cessfully between 1830 and 1833, three years and a half, 

 on the coast of Africa, without the loss of a man, and 

 have been generally successful in other ships. Another 

 season may afford different results; I will then stub- 

 bornly, no doubt some will say put in practice my own 

 views. Doubtless this work may contain many theories 

 not at all in accordance with the views entertained by 



VOL. i. L 



