ing
never been trusted for a moment into any other hands than those of Captain
Cook and mine. No accident could therefore have happened to it, to which we
could attribute its stopping; nor could it have arisen from the effects of
intense cold, as the thermometer was very little below the freezing point.
As soon as the discovery was made, I consulted with Captain Clerke what
course it was best to pursue; whether to let it remain as it was, entirely
useless to us, for the purpose of satisfying the curious at home, where it
was sure of being examined by proper judges, or suffer it to be inspected
by a seaman on board, who had served a regular apprenticeship to a
watchmaker in London, and appeared sufficiently knowing in the business,
from his success in cleaning and repairing several watches since we had
been out. The advantages we had derived from its accuracy, made us
extremely unwilling to be deprived of its use during the remaining part of
the voyage; and that object appeared to us to be of much greater importance
than the small degree of probability, which we understood was all that
could be expected, of obtaining any material knowledge respecting its
mechanism, by deferring the inspection of it. At the same time, it should
be remembered, that the watch had already a sufficient trial, both in the
former voyage and during the three years we had now had it on board to
ascertain its utility. On these considerations, we took the opportunity of
the first clear day, after our arrival in Awatska Bay, of opening the
watch, which was done in the captain's cabin, and in our presence. The
watchmaker found no part of the work broken; but not being able to set it
a-going, he proceeded to take off the cock and balance, and cleaned both
the pivot-holes, which he found very foul, and the rest of the work rather
dirty; he also took off the dial-plate; and, between two teeth of the wheel
that carries the second-hand, found a piece of dirt, which he imagined to
be the principal cause of its stopping. Having afterward put the work
together, and oiled it as sparingly as possible, the watch appeared to go
free and well.

Having received orders the next day to go to Bolcheretsk, the time-keeper
was left in the care of Mr Bayley, to compare it with his watch and clock,
in order to get its rate. On my return, I was told it had gone for some
days with tolerable regularity, losing only from fifteen to seventeen
seconds a-day, when it stopped a s