176 
A VOYAGE TO 
1779. chor off Oneeheow, that we were obliged to cut forty fa- 
thorns from it; in converting of which, with other old 
cordage, into fpun-yard, and applying it to different ufes, 
a confiderable part of the people were kept conftantly em¬ 
ployed by the boatfwain. The airing of fails and other 
Bores, which, from the leakinefs of the decks and lides of 
the fhips, were perpetually fubjeCt to be wet, had now be¬ 
come a frequent as well as a laborious and troublefome part 
of our duty. 
Befides thefe cares, which had regard only to the fhips 
themfelves, there were others, which had for their object 
the prefervation of the health of the crews, that furnifhed a 
conftant occupation to a great number of our hands. The 
Banding orders, eBablifhed by Captain Cook, of airing the 
bedding, placing fires between decks, wafhing them with 
vinegar, and fmoking them with gunpowder, were ob- 
ferved without any intermiffion. For fome time paff, even 
the operation of mending the failors old jackets had rifen 
into a duty both of difficulty and importance. It may be 
neceffary to inform thofe who are unacquainted with the 
difpofition and habits of feamen, that they are fo accuf- 
tomed in fhips of war to be directed in the care of them¬ 
felves by their officers, that they lofe the very idea of fore¬ 
light, and contract the thoughtleffnefs of infants. I am 
fure, that if our people had been left to their own difcre- 
tion alone, we fhould have had the whole crew naked, be¬ 
fore the voyage had been half finifhed. It was natural to 
expert, that their experience, during our voyage to the 
North laff year, would have made them fenfible of the ne- 
ceffity of paying fome attention to thefe matters; but if 
fuch reflections ever occurred to them, their impreffion was 
fo tranfitory, that, upon our return to the tropical climates, 
their 
