10(3 PASSAGE DOWN 



1824. soundings. The thermometer was at 24°^ but 

 sTpt. the cold was exquisitely painful to men who 

 had been constantly exposed for two days and 

 nights to the wash of a freezing sea^ without 

 any rest_, or a single warm meal, and sounding, 

 with hands nearly raw, every half hour with 

 the deep sea lead, and frequently with the 

 hand leads. 



The morning of the 14th was fine but 

 cloudy^ and the wind, still from north-west, 

 had decreased to a fresh breeze. Temp. 26°. 

 After some hour's labour in breaking the ice 

 from the decks and rigging, we succeeded in 

 swaying up the lower yards and topmasts, and 

 bv ten A.M. set reefed courses, and close 

 reefed topsails ; steering south-west. It was 

 now observed that the head of the foremast 

 was much wrung, and there was every reason 

 to fear that the bowsprit was injured. As the 

 ship's company had no bedding but what was 

 thoroughly soaked, and in our small between- 

 decks we could not at this time dry it, I or- 

 dered all the store blankets in the ship to 

 be lent to them, two to each man, until their 

 own should be fit for use, for I feared their 

 health would suffer, and indeed several cases 

 of rheumatism had already appeared. 



