s to tear
and snap with the least strain; adding thereby great difficulty and
labour to the working of the ship, benumbing the hands and limbs of
our people, and rendering them incapable of exerting themselves
with their accustomed activity, and even disabling many of them, by
inducing mortification of their toes and fingers. It were, indeed,
endless to enumerate the various disasters of different kinds which
befel us, and I shall only mention the most material, which will
sufficiently evince; the calamitous condition of the whole squadron,
during this part of our navigation.

As already observed, it was on the 7th of March that we passed the
Straits of Le Maire, and were immediately afterwards driven to the
eastwards, by a violent storm, and by the force of the current setting
in that direction. During the four or five succeeding days, we had
hard gales of wind from the same western quarter, attended by a most
prodigious swell; insomuch that, although we stood all that time
towards the S.W. we had no reason to imagine we had made any way to
the westwards. In this interval we had frequent squalls of rain and
snow, and shipped great quantities of water. After this, for three
or four days, though the sea ran mountains high, yet the weather was
rather more moderate; but, on the 18th; we had again strong gales of
wind with excessive cold, and at midnight the main top-sail split, and
one of the straps of the main dead-eyes broke. From the 18th to the
23d the weather was more moderate, though, often intermixed with rain
and sleet and some hard gales; but, as the waves did not subside,
the ship, by labouring sore in this lofty sea, became so loose in her
upper-works that she let in water at every seam, so that every part of
her within board was constantly exposed to the sea-water, and scarcely
any even of the officers ever lay dry in their beds. Indeed, hardly
did two nights pass without many of them being driven from their beds
by deluges of water.

On the 23d we had a most violent storm of wind, hail, and rain, with a
prodigious sea; and, though we handed the main-sail before the height
of the squall, yet we found the yard spring; and soon after, in
consequence of the foot-rope of the main-sail breaking, the main-sail
itself split instantly into rags, and much the greater part of it
was blown away, in spite of every endeavour to save it. On this the
commodore made the signal for the squadron to bring to; and as
the storm