We Unbent The Sails To Repair
Them; Several Having Been Split, And Otherwise Damaged In The Late Gale.
The Main And Fore Courses, Already Worn To The Very Utmost, Were Condemned
As Useless.
I ordered the top-masts to be struck and unrigged, in order to
fix to them moveable chocks or
Knees, for want of which the trestle-trees
were continually breaking; the forge to be set up, to make bolts and repair
our iron-work; and tents to be erected on shore for the reception of a
guard, coopers, sail-makers, &c. I likewise gave orders that vegetables (of
which there were plenty) should be boiled every morning with oatmeal and
portable broth for breakfast, and with pease and broth every day for dinner
for the whole crew, over and above their usual allowance of salt meat.
In the afternoon, as Mr Wales was setting up his observatory, he discovered
that several trees, which were standing when we last sailed from this
place, had been cut down with saws and axes; and a few days after, the
place where an observatory, clock, &c. had been set up, was also found, in
a spot different from that where Mr Wales had placed his. It was,
therefore, now no longer to be doubted, that the Adventure had been in this
cove after we had left it.
Next day, wind southerly; hazy clouded weather. Every body went to work at
their respective employments, one of which was to caulk the ship's sides, a
thing much wanted.
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