Sea the NORTH GEORGIAN ISLANDS.




CHAPTER V.

Precautions for securing the Ships and Stores.--For promoting Good
Order, Cleanliness, Health, and Good-Humour among the Ships'
Companies.--Establishment of a Theatre and of the North Georgia
Gazette.--Erection of an Observatory on Shore.--Commence our
Winter's Amusements.--State of the Temperature, and various
Meteorological Phenomena.--Miscellaneous Occurrences to the Close
of the Year 1819.


Having, on the 19th October, reached the station where, in all
probability, we were destined to remain for at least eight or nine
months, during three of, which we were not to see the face of the
sun, my attention was immediately and imperiously called to
various important duties; many of them of a singular nature, such
as had, for the first time, devolved on any officer in his
majesty's navy, and might, indeed, be considered of rare
occurrence in the whole history of navigation. The security of the
ships and the preservation of the various stores were objects of
immediate concern. A regular system to be adopted for the
maintenance of good order and cleanliness, as most conducive to
the health of the crews during the long, dark, and dreary winter,
equally demanded my attention.