OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 
159 
unhealthiness of the crew was to be chiefly attributed. I, therefore, directed a i820. 
survey to be held by the three medical officers, and a report to be made of 
their opinions, as to the expediency of altogether removing the bed-places, or 
of adopting any other means for obviating the evil in question. These gen- 
tlemen were of opinion that the extreme dampness was “ occasioned by 
the necessary proximity of the bed-places to the vessels’ sides, and the 
smallness of the lower-deck, in consequence of which the vapours formed 
were deposited in so great abundance, particularly during meal-times, that 
the heat of the fires was inadequate to remove the evil, before the cause was 
again renewed.” They therefore recommended taking down the bed-places, 
in order to admit a more free ventilation, as well as a more equal distribution 
of the warmth, and that hammocks should be substituted in their place ; an 
alteration which was immediately adopted. While on this subject, which 
is so intimately connected with the health of seamen in the Arctic Regions, 
it may be proper for me to remark that, although the bed-places, which were 
fitted on board the Hecla and Griper, give a neat and comfortable appearance ' 
to the lower-deck, and are in reality a great convenience to the men in many 
respects, yet that our winter’s experience plainly shews them to be so 
favourable to the accumulation of dampness or ice within them, that there 
can remain little doubt of their unfitness for this service ; and, I believe, 
that hammocks will be found warmer, and in every respect more comfortable 
to the men, than any other kind of sleeping-place that could be adopted. To 
the officers’ cabins, which are necessarily closer to the ship’s side, the same 
remark applies still more strongly ; and with this difference only, that, on 
account of the want of length, cots must be used instead of hammocks. The 
advantage of thus removing from the ship’s side was remarkably proved in 
the case of Lieutenant Liddon, whose state of health was so bad during the 
winter, that we at one time entertained very serious apprehensions respecting 
him. It was proposed, therefore, about the end of February, that he should sleep 
in a cot, at some distance from the side ; and, from that period, his recovery 
was so rapid and so decided, that in a few weeks he was enabled to walk out 
every fine day in the open air for exercise, with the thermometer at twenty 
degrees below zero, and without the slightest degree of inconvenience. 
On the 23d, we found, by digging a hole in the ice, in the middle of the har- Thur. 23. 
hour, where the depth of water was four fathoms and a quarter, that its thickness 
was six feet and a half, and the snow on the surface of it eight inches deep. 
This may be considered a fair specimen of the average formation of ice in this 
