358 ANTARCTIC CRUISE. 



COPY OF REPLY. 



U. S. Schooner Flying-Fish, 

 Lat. 66° S., long. 143° E., Feb. 5th, 1840. 

 Sir, — 



Agreeably to your order of this date, we, the undersigned officers, 

 have to express our most thorough conviction, that the condition of 

 this vessel's crew, and the vessel, loudly demand an immediate return 

 to milder latitudes. 



The causes of this opinion are these : that the crew of this vessel, 

 consisting of fifteen persons (four officers and eleven men), even if 

 well, are entirely inadequate to her safe management; but five are 

 now confined to sick beds (one a servant), one of them is in a very 

 critical state of health, and three others dragging out upon duty, 

 complaining, and under medical treatment. Out of four, nominally 

 performing duty, one of them, the cook, is totally unfit to a turn at 

 the helm, and another cannot be trusted without the closest watching ; 

 indeed, so deficient in force are we, that in the gale of yesterday and 

 the day before, and on a previous occasion, when it became extremely 

 necessary to reef the foresail, the men were so deficient in physical 

 strength as to make it impossible to accomplish it. 



The crew's apartment is in the most deplorable state, leaking like a 

 sieve, all their beds being wet, their clothes on them being so, even to 

 their under flannels, for one week, and without a dry change on hand, 

 and no prospect of having one ; so miserable is their situation, that at 

 length you have been compelled to allot them the cabin, in common 

 with us, for the purpose of cooking, eating, and sleeping. 



Furthermore, sir, in the gale now abating we find that nearly 

 constant application to the pump is barely sufficient to keep the water 

 from flooding the cabin-floor, evidently having started a leak ; notwith- 

 standing this, the condition of the crew is more imperative, much more 

 so in this, our recommendation, for a return to the northward ; in fact, 

 we would cheerfully continue to the southward, if we had a proper crew. 



Lastly, understanding that the crew, through one of their body, 

 have waited upon you, and, by written application, also stated their 

 inability to live through these hardships much longer, and begging 

 your return. 



We are respectfully, your obedient servants, 



(Signed) George T. Sinclair, 



Acting Master 

 William May, 



George W. Harrison, 



Passed Midshipmen. 

 Lieut. Com. R. F. Pinkney, 



Commanding U. S. Schooner Flying-Fish. 



