1853.] PREVIOUS ARRANGEMENTS CONTRASTED. 19 



I must now revert to the practice of last year, to which 

 I submitted, because " it was so before," for quiet's sake. 

 Will any one credit that I was so simple ? Read and 

 judge. 



The washhouse was on the shore, distant about two 

 hundred yards. Here the consumption of fuel was lost, 

 as it did not aid in heating the ship : it was cold and 

 comfortless. It was quite impossible that the clothes 

 could be properly washed and wrung : they were brought 

 on board frozen. Where were they sent to be dried ? 

 Thus charged with ice and moisture, they were sent to the 

 main hold, to be dried by the aid of the Sylvester. The 

 main hatchway being closed, where did the vapour es- 

 cape ? To the lower deck. Again : the officers and men 

 bathed in warm water ; all this was also diffused, and 

 no vent ! The main hatchway at present, owing to the 

 rarefied state of the atmosphere, enables this vapour to 

 escape. It was remarked during last winter that the 

 wettest place in the ship was around the mainmast : the 

 water ran down upon the chronometers ! Why ? Be- 

 cause the after-companion, alternately open and shut, 

 threw down such volumes of cold air, condensing these 

 warm vapours, seeking the nearest escape, that of neces- 

 sity nothing but wet could result. 



In the present condition of the Sylvester, at the keel, 

 aided by the warm current of air ascending, I hope to 

 maintain, throughout the winter, a temperature not under 

 -j-32, or the freezing-point : at all events, never as low 

 as 32 to 62 minus. The air, before it can descend, will 

 be of a temperature better adapted to support combus- 

 tion and maintain a high temperature, simply on the 



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