[67] All sail set—at present its signification is confined to a vessel rigged and ready for sea.
[68] It is still the custom to attribute all similar discordancies to the effect of current. This is a simple if not very philosophical mode of making the reckoning agree with observation. In this case, probably both the reckoning of the ship and the position of the land on the chart were faulty.
[69] The term height is used for latitude; probably because the pole star was the principal object used to determine position.
[70] The current in the West Indies, known as the Gulf stream, still runs to the northward through the Gulf of Florida, and then trending to the eastward, expends its force in the Atlantic.
[71] At the present day, by the general use of chronometers, the longitude can be determined with almost as great facility as the latitude.
[72] The cause of scurvy is now known to be, the use for a long period of one diet, and that unwholesome. Since greater attention has been paid to the proper admixture of articles of food, and also to the cleanliness and ventilation of the vessel, this disease has nearly disappeared.
“The very deep did rot!
That ever this should be!
Yea slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.”
Ancient Mariner.—Coleridge.
[74] It forms part of a naval surgeon’s instructions, that in tropical countries, when the crew are likely to be employed on shore, each is to take a morning draught of spirits or wine, with bark infused.
[75] The scurvy is not peculiar to seamen. It raged with great violence during the siege of Gibralter. Oranges and lemons were found of great benefit in arresting the disease. Lime juice has been long a fixed article of diet in men-of-war, and lately merchant vessels are compelled to carry it as an article of provision.