468 RETURN TO MANILLA [1830. 



sea is always more or less impure. This is readily corrected by a 

 little vinegar, which also tends to promote that salutary perspiration 

 which, til hot weather, prevents putrid fevers, and inflammations of 

 / various kinds. I would also recommend that every vessel be supplied 

 with a quantity of shrub for the use of the seamen after hard fatigue, 

 instead of ardent spirits. It will have a much better effect, as the 

 vegetable acid it contains gives it a superior efficacy against putrefac- 

 tion. These two highly important articles, vinegar and shrub, would 

 be found to be great preventives against the scurvy, on board of vessels 

 which are engaged in long voyages. 



But the above are not ail, nor perhaps the most important benefits re- 

 sulting from a proper use of vinegar at sea. Every part of the ship, 

 where it is possible for foul air to engender or to lurk, should be 

 washed or sprinkled with it at least once a week. Its antiscorbutic 

 and disinfecting qualities are not so generally known among mariners 

 as they ought to be. By its influence the lungs and other tender parts 

 of the human vitals become, as it were, sheathed, or defended against 

 the volatile particles of every noxious exhalation ; so that it is either 

 repelled or neutralized, and rendered harmless. 



December \4th. — After taking on board the necessary supplies at 

 Santa Sinto, we pursued our way to Manilla, where we arrived on 

 Tuesday, December the 14th, and at eleven, A. M., came to anchor 

 in Manilla Roads, in four fathoms of water, clay ground. Our safe 

 arrival in port was announced by three exhilarating cheers from our 

 noble crew of eighty-five men ; who, I am proud to publish to the world, 

 during the whole of this cruise, from Manilla and back again, a period 

 of about six months, uniformly conducted themselves in the most faith- 

 ful, manly, and amiable manner. Not a solitary individual among 

 them had rendered himself obnoxious to punishment, or even reproof ; 

 not a man of them but, in the way of duty, would have followed me 

 into the very jaws of death. So much for treating seamen like men, 

 instead of lording it over them as if they were slaves. 



December %5th. — On the following day we discharged the Antarctic, 

 and soon after sold the cargo to the best advantage, and settled with 

 our faithful crew. Our friends received us in the most cordial and 

 affectionate manner ; and my wife was hailed as the heroine of a ro- 

 mance in real life. Her own feelings and sensations through all the 

 little incidents of this fourth voyage are described in her own Journal, 

 which will soon be published, and to that I shall refer the reader. 

 Those friends who were so anxious for our safety, and who, the reader 

 will recollect, endeavoured to dissuade us from this eventful cruise, 

 now flocked around us with the most animated congratulations. My 

 two captives, Sunday and Monday, excited the most intense interest 

 among citizens of all classes ; and the adventures of Leonard Shaw 

 were the common topic of conversation. In short, the safe return of 

 the Antarctic to Manilla was hailed as a triumph, and excited as much 

 enthusiasm as did the return of the Argo, with Jason and his compan- 

 ions, to Thessaly with the celebrated golden fleece. 



i 



