CHAPTER V.

Precautions for securing the Ships and Stores.—­For promoting Good Order, Cleanliness, Health, and Good-Humour among the Ships’ Companies.—­Establishment of a Theatre and of the North Georgia Gazette.—­Erection of an Observatory on Shore.—­Commence our Winter’s Amusements.—­State of the Temperature, and various Meteorological Phenomena.—­Miscellaneous Occurrences to the Close of the Year 1819.

Having, on the 19th October, reached the station where, in all probability, we were destined to remain for at least eight or nine months, during three of, which we were not to see the face of the sun, my attention was immediately and imperiously called to various important duties; many of them of a singular nature, such as had, for the first time, devolved on any officer in his majesty’s navy, and might, indeed, be considered of rare occurrence in the whole history of navigation.  The security of the ships and the preservation of the various stores were objects of immediate concern.  A regular system to be adopted for the maintenance of good order and cleanliness, as most conducive to the health of the crews during the long, dark, and dreary winter, equally demanded my attention.

Not a moment was lost, therefore, in the commencement of our operations.  The whole of the masts were dismantled except the lower ones and the Hecla’s main-topmast; the lower yards were lashed fore and aft amidships, to support the planks of the housing intended to be erected over the ships; and the whole of this framework was afterward roofed over with a cloth.  The boats, spars, running rigging, and sails were removed on shore; and, as soon as the ships were secured and housed over, my whole attention was directed to the health and comfort of the officers and men.  The surgeon reported that not the slightest disposition to scurvy had shown itself in either ship.

Soon after our arrival in Winter Harbour, when the temperature of the atmosphere had fallen considerably below zero of Fahrenheit, we found that the steam from the coppers, as well as the breath and other vapour generated in the inhabited parts of the ship, began to condense into drops upon the beams and the sides, to such a degree as to keep them constantly wet.  In order to remove this serious evil, a large stone oven, cased with cast iron, in which all our bread was baked daring the winter, was placed on the main hatchway, and the stovepipe led fore and aft on one side of the lower deck, the smoke being thus carried up the fore hatchway.  On the opposite side of the deck an apparatus had been attached to the galley-range for conveying a current of heated air between decks.  This apparatus simply consisted of an iron box, about fifteen inches square, through which passed three pipes of two inches diameter, communicating below with the external air, and uniting above in a metal box, fixed to the side of the galley-range;