1853.] FITTINGS NOT SCIENTIFIC. 15 



gers, to the Equator, or to Quebec, in either cold or hot 

 weather, the law demands, and the Emigration Officers 

 take care, that a certain height shall be available between 

 decks. This, be it remembered, is simply for security 

 from ordinary disease, as well as comfort. Surely we, 

 who have to live in these vessels for years perhaps, re- 

 quire it more, where vital interests are at stake ! The 

 evil however principally lies in pushing out these ships, 

 and determining the command at the latest moment, 

 when the consent of Parliament for the outlay may be 

 obtained, or possibly to save the expense of a few 

 weeks' wages ! 



To fit a ship properly for this service requires some- 

 thing more than a seaman's head. These vessels were or- 

 dered by the Admiralty to be fitted with air-tight sections; 

 but this was not satisfactorily, or trustworthily, executed; 

 indeed the steamers were not close ceiled ; however, had 

 I known all the requirements before I left England, I 

 could easily, with our own resources alone, have remedied 

 them. Most certainly I would have hatched, instead of 

 decked, the hold-beams ; I would have made preparation 

 beneath for placing the hatches during winter on the 

 level with the Sylvester apparatus, and thus ensured a 

 space sufficient for the escape of noxious air and damp 

 from the lungs. These fittings would have strengthened 

 the ship considerably at the expected position of nip. 

 The great evil we are infested with the immediate con- 

 densation of the breath on the beams would thus be 

 obviated. 



On this true lower deck I would have shifted the range 

 or cooking galley during winter, which, in addition to the 



