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[Page 3]
That the Ship from being constantly in very high seas began to be leaky and required carefully to be attended with the Pumps, and increased our labour. -
That my People now being but ten on whom the hard Duty of furling & reefing principally fell upon, felt much the severity of the weather and were much harrassd and fatigued and might soon fall sick, and in this case failing after all I thereby endangered the grand pursuit of the Voyage, and I became reprehensible having discretionary orders, for which I return you Sir my grateful thanks as I was near sailing with positive orders directions to sail go by way of Cape Horn.
That upon the whole, the one amounting the matter to a certainty and the other to a doubt I made my mind up on the first being the only one eligible however it may prove successful. -
Under these considerations I bore away on the 22d of April to the great Joy of everyone, & repassed Staten Land the next day. - The limits of my track was between 61º & 58ºS.-
It was a most happy circumstance that the Ship was fitted & rigged to my desire, otherwise I believe she would have remained off Cape Horn. - I have also been obliged to attend & [indecipherable] my People with the utmost care, for it has been nearly three months that we have scarce ever been able to haul the hatches open.-To remedy this I kept constant fires below & saw regularly their cloaths dryed, so that no one ever came on deck with wet apparel of any kind.- They were always at three watches - I gave them constantly hot breakfasts of ground wheat, and sugar to sweeten it, & every day at eleven o'clock a pint of the infusion of malt at of the rate of four gallons of water to one of Malt.- One day in the week I gave them