with fresh water before they are filled with the water in^ 

 tended for use. These particulars, as I have before ob- 

 served, have never been neglected by me since I had the 

 command of a vessel ; and consequently no one on board 

 has ever suffered from the use of bad water. This is an 

 object that well merits the attention of every commander, 

 when the chief comfort and the health of his crew are so 

 much dependent thereon. For who has experienced, at 

 sea, a greater enjoyment than a draught of pure water ? Or 

 who can say that the ship-fever and scurvy do not origi- 

 nate, frequently, in the stinking and disgusting water which 

 seamen are too often driven to the necessity of drinking at 

 sea, even when their stomachs revolt at it ? 



On the 24th, after experiencing a heavy gale from the 

 northwest, I had the extreme satisfaction to find our- 

 •selves as far to the westward as 80°; and as the wind 

 shifted and blew from the southwest, I had no doubt of 

 being able to effect our passage into the Pacific ocean. 

 I consequently thought it adviseable to increase the allow- 

 ance of water, in order that the crew might be enabled to 

 spare enough to afford them tea, morning and evening, as I 

 was convinced it would conduce as much to their health as 

 their comfort. When I communicated to them this ar- 

 rangement, I took an opportunity of thanking them for 

 their good conduct, during our boisterous and unpleasant 

 passage around the Cape ; encouraged them to a continu- 

 ance of it, by holding out prospects of indulgence to those 

 who should so distinguish themselves ; and, as some thefts 

 had been committed, for which the perpetrators were then 

 under the punishment of wearing a yoke, I gave a general 

 pardon, on condition that the first olfender brought to the 

 gang-way should receive three dozen lashes. 



It was with no little joy, we now saw ourselves fairly in 

 the Pacific ocean, and calculated on a speedy end to all our 

 sufferings. We began also to form our projects for annoy- 

 ing the enemy, and had already equipped, in imagination, 

 one of their vessels of fourteen or sixteen guns, and manned 

 from the Essex, to cruise against their commerce ; indeed, 

 various were the schemes we formed at this time for in- 

 juring them, and we had already, in fancy, immense wealth 

 to return with to our country. As the gale continued to 

 blow from the southwest, every hour seemed to brighten 



