14 INTRODUCTION TO 



what ought to be the first considerations, namely,* 

 the preservation of the adventurers and ships ; and 

 this will ever chiefly depend on the kind, the size, 

 and the properties of the ships chosen for the 

 service. 



These primary considerations will not admit of 

 any other that may interfere with the necessary pro- 

 perties of the ships. Therefore, in choosing the ships, 

 should any of the most advantageous properties be 

 wanting, and the necessary room in them be in any 

 degree diminished, for less important purposes, such 

 a step would be laying a foundation for rendering the 

 undertaking abortive in the first instance. 



As the greatest danger to be apprehended and 

 provided against on a voyage of discovery, especially 

 to the most distant parts of the globe, is that of the 

 ship's being liable to be run aground on an unknown 

 desert, or, perhaps, savage coast, so no consideration 

 should be set in competition with that of her being 

 of a construction of the safest kind, in which the 

 officers may, with the least hazard, venture upon a 

 strange coast. A ship of this kind must not be of a 

 great draught of water, yet of a sufficient burden 

 and capacity to carry a proper quantity of provisions 

 and necessaries for her complement of men, and for 

 the time requisite to perform the voyage. 



She must also be of a construction that will bear 

 to take the ground ; and of a size which, in case of 

 necessity, may be safely and conveniently laid on 

 shore, to repair any accidental damage or defects. 

 These properties are not to be found in ships of war 

 of forty guns, nor in frigates, nor in East India 

 Company's ships, nor in large three-decked West 

 India ships, nor indeed in any other but north-coun- 

 try-built ships, or such as are built for the coal-trade, 

 which are peculiarly adapted to this purpose. 



In such a vessel an able sea-officer will be most 

 venturesome, and better enabled to fulfil his instruc- 

 tions, than he possibly can (or indeed than would be 



