42 A VOYAGE TO [Cape of Good Hope. 
November Through the kind attention of sir Roger Curtis, the commander 
Tuesday s. in chief, the state of the ship and our provisions and stores were as 
complete as when leaving Spithead. The ship's company had been 
regularly served with fresh meat every day, beef and mutton alter- 
nately ; vegetables were not to be purchased, but we several times 
received small quantities, with oranges and lemons, from the naval 
hospital in Cape Town ; and a proportion of these for a week, with 
a few days fresh meat, were carried to sea. Two of my ship's com- 
pany, whose dispositions required more severity in reducing to good 
order tban I wished to exercise in a service of this nature, were ex- 
changed by the vice-admiral ; as also two others, who from want of 
sufficient strength, were not proper for so long a voyage. In lieu 
of these, I received four men of good character from the flag ship, 
who made pressing application to go upon a voyage of discovery. 
Mr. Nathaniel Bell, one of the young gentlemen of the quarterdeck, 
having expressed a wish to return to England, he was discharged; and 
Mr. Denis Lacey, midshipman of the Lancaster, received in his place. 
Simon's Bay is known to be a large and well-sheltered cove, 
in the north-western part of the sound, called False Bay. Since the 
loss of the Sceptre in Table Bay, it has been more frequented than 
formerly ; and I found it to be a prevailing sentiment, that were it 
not for the advantages of Cape Town, Simon's Bay would, in every 
respect, be preferable for the royal dockyard, and the equipment of 
His Majesty's ships. It was remarked to me by an officer of discern- 
ment, captain of the flag ship, that instances of vessels being driven 
from their anchors by winds blowing into Simon's Bay, were exceed- 
ingly rare. He had observed that the strain upon the cables with 
these winds, was much less than with those of equal strength blow- 
ing off the land ; and he accounted for it from the water thrown 
into the bay by sea winds, rebounding from the shore and forming 
what is called an under-tow, which tended to keep a ship up to her 
anchors. This takes place in Simon's Bay, with the south-east winds, 
but not in Table Bay with those from the north-west, which blow 
