8 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
and keenness of the officers on board that a complete hourly 
log was kept from beginning to end of the numbers and 
species which were seen, generally with the most complete 
notes as to any peculiarity or habit which was noticed. It 
is to be hoped that full use will be made, by those in charge 
of the working out of these results, of these logs which were 
kept so thoroughly and sometimes under such difficult cir- 
cumstances and conditions of weather and sea. Though 
many helped, this log was largely the work of Pennell, who 
was an untiring and exact observer. 
We lost the N.E. Trade about July 7, and ran into the 
Doldrums. On the whole we could not complain of the 
weather. We never had a gale or big sea until after leaving 
South Trinidad, and though an old ship with no modern 
ventilation is bound to be stuffy in the tropics, we lived and 
slept on deck so long as it was not raining. If it rained at 
night, as it frequently does in this part of the world, a 
number of rolled-up forms could be heard discussing as to 
whether it was best to stick it above or face the heat below ; 
and if the rain persisted, sleepy and somewhat snappy 1n- 
dividuals were to be seen trying to force themselves and a 
maximum amount of damp bedding down the wardroom 
gangway. At the same time a thick wooden ship will keep 
fairly cool in the not severe heat through which we passed. 
One want which was unavoidable was the lack of fresh 
water. There was none to wash in, though a glass of water 
was allowed for shaving! With an unlimited amount of 
sea water this may not seem much of a hardship; nor is it 
unless you have very dirty work to do. But inasmuch as 
some of the officers were coaling almost daily, they found 
that any amount of cold sea water, even with a euphemisti- 
cally named ‘sea-water soap,’ had no very great effect in 
removing the coal dust. The alternative was to make 
friends with the engine-room authorities and draw some 
water from the boilers. 
Perhaps therefore it was not with purely disinterested 
motives that some of us undertook to do the stoking during 
the morning watch, and also later in the day during our 
passage through the tropics, since the engine-room staff 
