PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
3 
lion to the discipline of the ship; held out prospects of reward to 
those who should be vigilant in the performance of their duty; 
and gave assurances that the first man I should feel myself under 
the necessity of punishing should receive three dozen lashes, ex¬ 
pressing, however, a hope that punishment during the cruize 
would be altogether unnecessary. I directed, as a standing regu¬ 
lation, that the ship should be fumigated in every part every 
morning, by pouring vinegar on a red-hot shot, and confided to 
lieutenant Finch the superintendance of the birth-deck, in order to 
preserve it in a cleanly and wholesome state. Lime being pro¬ 
vided in tight casks, for the purpose of white-washing, and sand 
for dry-rubbing it, and orders given not to wet it if there should 
be a possibility of avoiding it, a comfortable place was fitted up 
for the accommodation of the sick on the birth-deck ; cleats 
were put up for the slinging as many hammocks as possible 
on the gun-deck ; and orders given that no wet clothes or wet 
provisions should be permitted to remain on the birth-deck, or 
that the crew should be permitted to eat any where but on the 
gun-deck, except in bad weather. Having established the above 
and other regulations, as regarded the health and comfort of the 
crew, I exhorted the officers to keep them occupied constantly 
during working hours, in some useful employment, and directed 
that between the hours of four and six o’clock in the afternoon, 
should be allowed to them for amusement, when the duties of the 
ship would admit. 
The 30th was devoted entirely to airing the bedding, drying 
the clothing of the crew that were wet during the gale, getting 
the birth-deck in the most comfortable state, exercising the crew 
at the great guns, and getting the ship in the best state for ser¬ 
vice. We found the powder in several of our guns wet, all of 
which we reloaded, and more carefully secured. 
Previous to leaving the Delaware, we landed at the hospital 
the following men, whose health I did not conceive would enable 
them to stand the fatigues of the cruize; and as they had most 
of them been a long time on the surgeon’s list, and were consi¬ 
dered incurable, I believed it advisable not to take them to sea : 
to wit, William Stanwood, quarter-gunner, John Francis, car- 
