h the reverse, that we should
lie to the westward of her. I therefore decided to keep all fast with
the oars for the present, and employ such time as might be left to us
upon the task of preparing the boats, as far as possible, for the ordeal
to which it seemed probable that they were about to be subjected.

I was far less anxious about the safety of the longboat than I was about
that of the gig, which, being a more lightly built and much smaller
craft, and excellent in every way for service in fine weather and smooth
water, yet was not adapted for work at sea except under favourable
conditions; and in the event of it coming on to blow hard I feared that
in the resulting heavy sea she would almost inevitably be swamped. I
therefore turned my attention to her in the first instance, causing her
to be brought alongside the longboat and her painter to be made fast to
the ring-bolt in the stern of the latter, thus reversing the original
arrangement; my intention being that, in the event of bad weather, the
longboat should tow the gig. This done, I caused Simpson to unstep the
gig's single mast and lay it fore and aft in the boat, with the heel
resting upon and firmly lashed to the small grating which covered the
after end of the boat between the backboard of the stern-sheets and the
stern-post, while the head was supported by a crutch formed of two
stretchers lashed together and placed upright upon the bow thwart, the
whole being firmly secured in place by the two shrouds attached to the
mast-head. Thus arranged, the mast formed a sort of ridge pole which
sloped slightly upward from the boat's stern toward the bow. The
lugsail was then unbent from the yard, stretched across the mast, fore
and aft--thus forming a sort of tent over the open boat for about two-
thirds of her length from the stern-post,--and the luff and after-leach
of the sail were then strained tightly down to the planking of the boat
outside, by short lengths of ratline led underneath the gig's keel. The
result was that, when the job was finished, the gig was almost
completely covered in by the tautly stretched sail, which I hoped would
not only afford a considerable amount of protection to her crew, but
would also keep out the breaking seas that would otherwise be almost
certain to swamp her.

So pleased was I with the job, when it was finished, that I determined
to attempt something similar in the case of the longboat. This craft
was rigged with two