LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
475 
ever distinguished the conduct of any individual, to w hose care 
and superintendence the valuable health of a number of men 
was confided. 
In the various fishing parties, in which the officers and men 
had been employed, a great inconvenience had been felt, for the 
want of some utensil, in which to cook their provisions, and 
which frequently obliged the men to eat their food in an un¬ 
cooked state. Capt. Ross, no doubt, had heard in England, of 
copper kettles and saucepans, and as he was in possession of an 
ample supply of the material where-from they could be manu¬ 
factured, he ordered the engineer to cut off two pieces of the 
funnelling, for the purpose of converting them, with all possible 
expedition, into two kettles, for the benefit of the fishing parties, 
in which to boil their food. Capt. Ross was perhaps not aware, 
that another metal is necessary, before copper can be used with 
any safety, for culinary purposes; and in extenuation of his con¬ 
duct on this occasion, it must be admitted, that that metal was 
not to be had, and therefore, perhaps, a cautious and prudent 
man would never have converted the funnels .into either ket¬ 
tles or saucepans, in which the food, that was to be eaten by his 
men, was to be dressed, without first taking into his considera¬ 
tion, whether the lives of the consumers of the food might not 
thereby be forfeited. The saucepans were, however, made, 
and to the deleterious effects of the food, that was cooked in 
them, were ascribed the fits, to which Anthony Buck became 
subject, and which terminated in his blindness. Buck, as well 
as others of the crew, who were engaged in the fishing par¬ 
ties, were accustomed to eat a great deal of fish ; and frequently 
they would not wait until they were boiled enough, which was 
always done in the copper funnelling, which so impregnated 
the food with copperas, that scarcely a man escaped the ef¬ 
fects of it. As an aggravation of the evil, they would make 
meal after meal, with not a bit of bread to neutralise the 
poisonous quality of the food; for their allowance of bread was 
so small, that they would frequently consume their weekly portion 
in three days, leaving themselves, during the other four, with 
no other food than what was cooked in the copper funnelling. 
