To Prevent The
Rain, And The Sea-Water Which Broke Over The Bows, From Washing Down,
We Were Obliged To Keep The Scuttle Closed, So That The Forecastle
Was Nearly Air-Tight.
In this little, wet, leaky hole, we were all
quartered, in an atmosphere so bad that our lamp, which swung in
the middle from the beams, sometimes actually burned blue, with a
large circle of foul air about it.
Still I was never in better
health than after three weeks of this life. I gained a great
deal of flesh, and we all ate like horses. At every watch, when we
came below, before turning-in, the bread barge and beef kid were
overhauled. Each man drank his quart of hot tea night and morning;
and glad enough we were to get it, for no nectar and ambrosia were
sweeter to the lazy immortals, than was a pot of hot tea, a hard
biscuit, and a slice of cold salt beef, to us after a watch on
deck. To be sure, we were mere animals and had this life lasted
a year instead of a month we should have been little better than
the ropes in the ship. Not a razor, nor a brush, nor a drop
of water, except the rain and the spray, had come near us all
the time; for we were on an allowance of fresh water; and who
would strip and wash himself in salt water on deck, in the snow
and ice, with the thermometer at zero?
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