the foul ground in Karakakooa Bay, and whilst we were at anchor off
Oneeheow, that we were obliged to cut forty fathoms from it; in converting
of which, with other old cordage into spunyarn, and applying it to
different uses, a considerable part of the people were kept constantly
employed by the boatswain. The airing of sails and other stores, which,
from the leakiness of the decks and sides of the ships, were perpetually
subject to be wet, had now become a frequent as well as a laborious and
troublesome part of our duty.

Besides these cares, which had regard only to the ships themselves, there
were others, which had for their object the preservation of the health of
the crews, that furnished a constant occupation to a great number of our
hands. The standing orders, established by Captain Cook, of airing the
bedding, placing fires between deck, washing them with vinegar, and smoking
them with gunpowder, were observed without any intermission. For some time
past, even the operation of mending the sailors' old jackets had risen into
a duty both of difficulty and importance. It may be necessary to inform
those who are unacquainted with the disposition and habits of seamen, that
they are so accustomed in ships of war to be directed in the care of
themselves by their officers, that they lose the very idea of foresight,
and contract the thoughtlessness of infants. I am sure, that if our people
had been left to their own discretion alone, we should have had the whole
crew naked, before the voyage had been half finished. It was natural to
expect, that their experience, during our voyage to the north last year,
would have made them sensible of the necessity of paying some attention to
these matters; but if such reflections ever occurred to them, their
impression was so transitory, that upon our return to the tropical
climates, their fur-jackets, and the rest of their cold country clothes,
were kicked about the decks as things of no value; though it was generally
known in both ships, that we were to make another voyage toward the Pole.