ought all who
were below upon the deck in great consternation, and upon looking out we
saw the water to a very large extent, tinged with blood; this put an end
to our fears, and we concluded that we must have struck either a whale
or a grampus, from which the ship was not likely to receive much damage,
nor in fact did she receive any. About this time also we had the
misfortune to bury our carpenter's mate, a very ingenious and diligent
young man, who had never been well after our leaving Batavia.[47]

[Footnote 47: "By the tenderness and care of the Honourable Mr Byron,
our excellent commodore, in causing the crews to be served with portable
soup, and with the greatest humanity distributing provisions to the sick
from his own table, that dreadful disease the sea-scurvy was rendered
less inveterate and fatal, and we lost a less number of men, than any
other ship in such a voyage: For, to the honour of that humane
commander, let it be known to posterity, that under him the Dolphin and
Tamar encompassed the earth, and in so long a voyage through various
seas and climates, and after sailing several thousand leagues under the
torrid zone, lost six men only out of each ship, including those that
were drowned: A number so inconsiderable, that it is highly probable
more of them would have died had they staid on shore."]

On the 25th, we crossed the equator, in longitude 17 deg. 10' W. and the
next morning, Captain Cumming came on board, and informed me that the
Tamer's three lower rudder-braces on the stem were broken off, which
rendered the rudder unserviceable. I immediately sent the carpenter on
board, who found the condition of the braces even worse than had been
reported, so that the rudder could not possibly be new hung; he
therefore went to work upon a machine, like that which had been fixed to
the Ipswich, and by which she was steered home: This machine in about
five days he completed, and with some little alterations of his own, it
was an excellent piece of work. The Tamar steered very well with it, but
thinking that it might not be sufficient to secure her in bad weather,
or upon a lee-shore, I ordered Captain Cumming to run down to Antigua,
that he might there heave the ship down, and get the rudder new hung,
with a fresh set of braces which he had with him for that purpose; for
the braces with which the ship went out, being of iron, were not
expected to last as long as ours, the lower ones, with the sheathing,
bein