viii PREFACE. 



they will never require, any kind of corporal punish- 

 ment. 



The perilous incidents and adventures to which 

 many, both officers and men, were necessarily ex- 

 posed — the hopes and fears by which they were 

 alternately excited— -are so well and forcibly de- 

 scribed in the several Journals of the former, that I 

 have endeavoured to preserve, as far as it could be 

 done, their own respective statements, in their own 

 words, singly, or interwoven into the text of the 

 present narrative. 



The physical power of the navy of England has 

 long been duly appreciated at home, also by most 

 foreign nations, and is matter of public record ; 

 its moral influence, though less the object of pub- 

 licity, requires only to be more extensively known 

 to be equally felt and esteemed; and nothing 

 can be more conducive to this end, than the results 

 to be derived from voyages of discovery, such as 

 those under consideration; whose great aim has 

 been the acquisition of knowledge, not for England 

 alone, but for the general benefit of mankind. 



It may be noticed that the present epitome is 

 meant to convey the substance of six or seven large 



