[Chap. XX] LONDON: VOYAGE TO SINGAPORE 303 



set me right in a few days, but I remained rather weak, and 

 spent most of my time reading in the cabin, which was very 

 comfortable. On Friday, August 6, we were in N. Lat. 30 30', 

 W. Long. 52°, when, about nine in the morning, just after 

 breakfast, Captain Turner, who was half-owner of the vessel, 

 came into the cabin, and said, ' I'm afraid the ship's on fire. 

 Come and see what you think of it.' Going on deck I found 

 a thick smoke coming out of the forecastle, which we both 

 thought more like the steam from heating vegetable matter 

 than the smoke from a fire. The fore hatchway was im- 

 mediately opened to try and ascertain the origin of the 

 smoke, and a quantity of cargo was thrown out, but the 

 smoke continuing without any perceptible increase, we went 

 to the after hatchway, and after throwing out a quantity of 

 piassaba, with which the upper part of the hold was filled, 

 the smoke became so dense that the men could not stay in 

 it. Most of them were then set to work throwing in buckets 

 of water, and the rest proceeded to the cabin and opened the 

 lazaretto or store-place beneath its floor, and found smoke 

 issuing from the bulkhead separating it from the hold, which 

 extended halfway under the fore part of the cabin. Attempts 

 were then made to break down this bulkhead, but it resisted 

 all efforts, the smoke being so suffocating as to prevent any 

 one stopping in it more that a minute at a time. A hole was 

 then cut in the cabin floor, and while the carpenter was doing 

 this, the rest of the crew were employed getting out the boats, 

 the captain looked after his chronometer, sextant, books, 

 charts and compasses, and I got up a small tin box contain- 

 ing a few shirts, and put in it my drawings of fishes and 

 palms, which were luckily at hand ; also my watch and a purse 

 with a few sovereigns. Most of my clothes were scattered 

 about the cabin, and in the dense suffocating smoke it was im- 

 possible to look about after them. There were two boats, the 

 long-boat and the captain's gig, and it took a good deal of 

 time to get the merest necessaries collected and put into 

 them, and to lower them into the water. Two casks of biscuit 

 and a cask of water were got in, a lot of raw pork and some 

 ham, a few tins of preserved meats and vegetables, and some 



