178°. Refolution loft but five men by ficknefs, three o f whom
^ Oflober. ^ in a precar;ous ftate o f health at our departure from
E n g lan d ; the DifcoveFy did not lofe a man. An unremitting
attention to the regulations eftabliihed by Captain Cook,
•with which the world is already acquainted, may be juftly
eonfidered as the principal caufe, under the bleifing o f Divine
Providence, o f this fingular fuccefs. But the baneful
effects o f fait provifions might perhaps, in the end, have
been felt, notwithftanding thefe falutary precautions, i f we
had not afiifted them, by availing ourfelves o f every fubfti-
-tute, our fituation a t -various times afforded. Thefe frequently
confiding o f articles, which our people had not been
ufed to confider as food for men, and being fometimes exceedingly
naufeous, it required the joint aid o f perfuafion,
.authority, and example, to conquer their prejudices and
.difgufts.
T he preventives we principally relied on were four krout
and portable foup. As to the antifcorbutic rerfiedies, with
w h ich we were amply fupplied, we had no o p p o r tu n ity^
try in g their effects, as there did not appear the flighted
fymptoms o f the fcurvy, in either fhip, during the whole
voyage. Our malt and hops had alfto been kept as a re-
■ fource, in cafe o f adtual ficknefs, and on examination at the
Cape o f Good Hope, were found intirely fpoiled. About
th e fame time, were opened fome cades o f bifcuit, flour,
malt, peafe, oatmeal, and groats, which, by way o f expe-
. Timenr, had been put up in -fmall cafks, lined with tin-
frail, and found all, except the peafe, in a much better ftate,
than could have been .exported in the ufual manner o f
package.
I cannot negledt this opportunity o f recommending to the
icenfideration o f Government, the necefiity o f allowing a fufficieat
cient quantity o f Peruvian bark, to fuch o f his Majefty’s fliips «780.
as may be expofed to the influence o f unwholefome climates.
It happened very fortunately in the Difcovery, that only one
o f. the men that had fevers in the Straits o f Sunda, flood in
need o f this medicine, as he alone confumed the whole
quantity u fua lly carried out by Surgeons, in fuch veffels as.
ours. Had more been affedted in the fame manner, they
would probably all have periflied, from the want o f the
only remedy capable o f affording them effectual relief.
Another circumftance attending this voyage, which, i f we
qonfider its duration, and the nature o f the fervice in which
w e were engaged, w ill appear fcarcely lefs fingular than the
extraordinary healthinefs o f the crews, was, that the two
fhips never loft fight o f each other for a day together, except
tw ic e ; which was owing, the firft time, to an accident
that happened to the Difcovery o ff the coaft o f Owhy-
h e e ; and the fecond, to the fogs we met with at the entrance
o f Awatika Bay. A ftronger proof cannot be given o f the
ik ill and vigilance o f our, fubaltern officers, to whom this
fhare o f merit almoft intirely belongs.
V ol. III. A P P E N D I X ,