444 CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGES 



August, at eleven in the morning, both ships came to an 

 anchor at Stromness. From hence I was despatched by 

 Captain Gore, to acquaint the Board of Admiralty with 

 our arrival ; and on the 4th day of October the ships 

 arrived safe at the Nore, after an absence of four years 

 two months and twenty-two days. 



" On quitting the Discovery at Stromness, I had the satis- 

 faction of leaving the whole crew in perfect health, and, at 

 the same time, the number of convalescents on board the 

 Resolution did not exceed two or three, of whom only one 

 was incapable of service. In the course of our voyage the 

 Resolution lost but five men by sickness, three of whom 

 were in a precarious state of health at our departure from 

 England ; the Discovery did not lose a man. An unremit- 

 ting attention to the regulations established by Captain 

 Cook, with which the world is already acquainted, may be 

 justly considered as the principal cause, under the blessing 

 of Divine Providence, of this singular success. But the 

 baneful effects of salt provisions might, perhaps, in the end 

 have been felt, notwithstanding these salutary precautions, 

 if we had not assisted them, by availing ourselves of every 

 substitute our situation at various times afforded. These 

 frequently consisting of articles, which our people had not 

 been used to consider as food for men, and being sometimes 

 exceedingly nauseous, it required the joint aid of persuasion, 

 authority, and example, to conquer their prejudices and 

 disgust. 



" The preventives we principally relied on were sour 

 krout and portable soup. As to the anti-scorbutic 

 remedies, with which we were amply supplied, we had no 

 opportunity of trying their effects, as there did not appear 

 the slightest symptoms of the scurvy in either ship during 

 the whole voyage. Our malt and hops had also been kept 

 as a resource in case of actual sickness ; and on examination 

 at the Cape of Good Hope were found entirely spoiled. 



" About the same time were opened some casks of 

 biscuits, flour, pease, oatmeal, and groats, which, by way 

 of experiment, had been put up in small casks, lined with i 

 tin-foil, and found all, except the pease, in a much better 

 state than could have been expected in the usual manner 

 of package. 



" I cannot neglect this opportunity of recommending to 

 the consideration of government the necessity of allowing a . 

 sufficient quantity of Peruvian bark to such of His Majesty's 

 ships as may be exposed to the influence of unwholesome 

 climates. It happened very fortunately in the Discovery, 

 that only one of the men, who had fevers in the Straits of ; 

 Sunda, stood in need of this medicine, as he alone consumed 



