Si lt 3>W> JOHN P R ING L E ’ S DI SCOURSE.
An officer of diftinguiffied rank, another of Captain Cook’s
«experienced friends, mentioned to me a common and juft
obfervation in the fleet, which was, that all the old twenty-
gun fliips w.ere remarkably lefs fickly than tho.fe.of the fame
fize of a modern coaftnnftion. This, he faid, was a cir-
cumftance he could not otherwife account for, than by the
former haying, their galley ^ in the fore-part of the orlop *, the
chimney vented fo ill, that it was fare to fill every part with
fmoke.whenever the wind was a-ftern. This was a nufance
for the time, but, as he thought, abundantly compenfated
by the extraordinary good health of the feveral crews. Poffi-
bly thofe fire-places were alfo beneficial, by drying and ventilating
the lower deckéj1 more when they were below, than
they can do now that they are placed under the fore-caftle
upon the upper deck.
But the molt obvious ufe of the portable fires was their drying
up thé moifture, and efpecially in thofe places where there
■ was the leaft circulation of air. This humidity, compofed of
the breath and perfpirable matter of a multitude of men, and
often of. animals (kept for a live-ftock) and of the fleams of
the bilge water from the well, where the corruption is the
greateft; this putrid moifture, I fay, being one of the main
caufes of the feurvy, was -therefore more particularly attended
to., in order to its removal. The fires were the powerful
inftrument for that purpofe, and whilft they burned,, fome
men were employed in rubbing hard, " with canvafs or
oakum, every part of the infide of the fhip that was damp
and acccftible. But the advantage of fire appears no where
if Their fire-pjace or kitchen. * The deejt imnjediatejj aboye the-hold.
fo
SIR JOHN PRTNGLE’s DISCOURSE. 391
fb manifeft as in .cleanfing the well ; for this being, in the
loweft part of the hold, the whole -leakage runs- into it, whether
of the fhip -kfelf, or of the calks of fpoilt meats or corrupted
water. The mephitic vapours from this fink alone
have often been -the ca-ufé of inftantaneous death to thofe
who have unwarily approached to clean i t ; and not to one
only, but to feveral fucceffively, when they have gone down
to fuccour their, unfortunate companions. Yet this very
place hath notonly been rendered fafe but fweet, by means
of an iron pot filled with fire and let down to burn in it.
When, from the circumftances of the weather, this Palmary
operation could not take place, the fhip was fumigated with
gun-powder, as deferibed in Captain Cook’s Paper; though that,
fmoke could have little or no effect in drying, but only in remedying
thé corruption of the air, by means of the acid fpirits
from the fulphur and nitre, aided perhaps by fome fpecies of
an aerial fluid, then difengaged from the fuel, to counteract
putrefaction. But as thefe purifications by gun-powder, as
well as by burning tar and other refinous fubftances, arc
fufficiently known, I fhall not infill longer on them here..
Among the feveral means of fweeteningor renewing the air,,
we fhould expeCt to hear of Dr, Hales’s ventilator. Ianuft con-
fefs it was my expectation, and therefore, perfuadéd as I was
of the excellence of the invention, it was not without much
regret that I faw fo good an opportunity loft, of giving the
fame favourable impreffionof it to the public. If a degree.'
of fuccefs, exceeding our moft fanguine hopes, is not fuffi-
eient for juftifying the omiffion of a meafure, deemed one
of the moft eflential for attaining an end, I would plead in
favour o f our worthy,brother, that by a humiliating fatality,
fo often accompanying the moft ufeful difeoveries, thé
t . credit