The North Georgia Gazette, which I have already mentioned, was a source of great amusement, not only to the contributors, but to those who, from diffidence of their own talents or other reasons, could not be prevailed on to add their mite to the little stock of literary composition which was weekly demanded; for those who declined to write were not unwilling to read, and more ready to criticise than those who wielded the pen; but it was that good-humoured sort of criticism that could not give offence. The subjects handled in this paper were of course various, but generally applicable to our own situation.
The return of each successive day had been always very decidedly marked by a considerable twilight for some time about noon, that on the shortest day being sufficient to enable us to walk out very comfortably for about two hours.[*] There was usually, in clear weather, a beautiful arch of bright red light overspreading the southern horizon for an hour or two before and after noon, the light increasing, of course, in strength, as the sun approached the meridian. Short as the day now was, if, indeed, any part of the twenty-four hours could be properly called by that name, the reflection of light from the snow, aided occasionally by a bright moon, was at all times sufficient to prevent our experiencing, even under the most unfavourable circumstances, anything like the gloomy night which occurs in more temperate climates. Especial care was taken, during the time the sun was below the horizon, to preserve the strictest regularity in the time of our meals, and in the various occupations which engaged our attention during the day; and this, together with the gradual and imperceptible manner in which the days had shortened, prevented this kind of life, so novel to us in reality, from appearing very inconvenient, or, indeed, like anything out of the common way. It must be confessed, however, that we were not sorry to arrive, without any serious suffering, at the shortest day; and we watched, with no ordinary degree of pleasure, the slow approach of the returning sun.
[Footnote: It will, perhaps, give the best idea of the power of the sun's light afforded us on this day, to state, that we could, at noon, read with tolerable ease the same sized type as that in which this note is printed; but this could only be done by turning the book directly towards the south.]
On Christmas day the weather was raw and cold, with a considerable snowdrift, though the wind was only moderate from the N.W.; but the snow which falls during the severe winter of this climate is composed of spiculæ so extremely minute, that it requires very little wind to raise it and carry it along. To mark the day in the best manner which circumstances would permit divine service was performed on board the ships; and I directed a small increase in the men's usual proportion of fresh meat as a Christmas dinner, as well as an additional allowance of grog, to drink the health of their friends in England. The officers also met at a social and friendly dinner, and the day passed with much of the same kind of festivity by which it is usually distinguished at home; and, to the credit of the men be it spoken, without any of that disorder by which it is too often observed by seamen. A piece of English roast-beef, which formed part of the officers' dinner, had been on board since the preceding May, and preserved without salt during that period merely by the antiseptic powers of a cold atmosphere.
A great many frostbites occurred about this time, 30th, principally in the men's feet, even when they had been walking quickly on shore for exercise. On examining their boots, Mr. Edwards remarked, that the stiffness of the thick leather of which they were made was such as to cramp the feet, and prevent the circulation from going on freely; and that this alone was sufficient to account for their feet having been frostbitten. Being very desirous of avoiding these accidents, which, from the increased sluggishness with which the sores healed, were more and more likely to affect the general health of the patients by long confinement, I directed a pair of canvass boots, lined with blanketing or some other woollen stuff, to be made for each man, using raw hide as soles: this completely answered the desired purpose, as scarcely any frostbites in the feet afterward occurred, except under circumstances of very severe exposure.
CHAPTER VI.
First Appearance of Scurvy.—The Aurora Borealis and other
Meteorological Phenomena.—Visits of the Wolves.—Reappearance of
the Sun.—Extreme low Temperature.—Destruction of the House on
Shore by Fire.—Severe Frostbites occasioned by this Accident.
January 1, 1820.—I received this morning the first unpleasant report of the scurvy having made its appearance among us: Mr. Scallon, the gunner of the Hecla, had for some days past been complaining of pains in his legs, which Mr. Edwards at first took to be rheumatic, but which, together with the appearance of his gums, now left no doubt of the symptoms being scorbutic. It is so uncommon a thing for this disease to make its first appearance among the officers, that Mr. Edwards was naturally curious to inquire into the cause of it; and at length discovered that Mr. Scallon's bedding was in so damp a state, in consequence of the deposite of moisture in his bed-place, which I have before mentioned, as to leave no doubt that to this circumstance, as the immediate exciting cause, his illness might justly be attributed. The difficulty of preventing this deposite of moisture, and the consequent accumulation of ice, was much greater in the officers' bed-places than in those of the men, in consequence of the former being necessarily placed in close contact with the ship's sides, and forming an immediate communication, as it were, with the external atmosphere; whereas in the latter there was a vacant interval of eighteen inches in width interposed between them. To prevent as much as possible, therefore, the injurious effects of this evil upon the health of the officers, I appointed certain days for the airing of their bedding by the fires, as well as for that of the ships' companies. Every attention was paid to Mr. Scallon's case by the medical gentlemen, and all our anti-scorbutics were put in requisition for his recovery: these consisted principally of preserved vegetable soups, lemon-juice, and sugar, pickles, preserved currants and gooseberries, and spruce beer. I began also, about this time, to raise a small quantity of mustard and cress in my cabin, in small shallow boxes filled with mould, and placed along the stovepipe; by these means, even in the severity of winter, we could generally ensure a crop at the end of the sixth or seventh day after sowing the seed, which, by keeping several boxes at work, would give to two or three scorbutic patients nearly an ounce of salad each daily, even though the necessary economy in our coals did not allow of the fire being kept in at night. The mustard and cress thus raised were necessarily colourless, from the privation of light; but, as far as we could judge, they possessed the same pungent aromatic taste as if grown under ordinary circumstances. So effectual were these remedies in Mr. Scallon's case, that, on the ninth evening from the attack, he was able to walk about on the lower deck for some time, and he assured me that he could then "run a race."
At noon on the 7th, the temperature of the atmosphere had got down to 49° below zero, being the greatest degree of cold which we had yet experienced; but the weather being quite calm, we walked on shore for an hour without inconvenience, the sensation of cold depending much more on the degree of wind at the time than on the absolute temperature of the atmosphere as indicated by the thermometer. In several of the accounts given of those countries in which an intense degree of natural cold is experienced, some effects are attributed to it which certainly did not come under our observation in the course of this winter. The first of these is the dreadful sensation said to be produced on the lungs, causing them to feel as if torn asunder when the air is inhaled at a very low temperature. No such sensation was ever experienced by us, though in going from the cabins into the open air, and vice versâ, we were constantly in the habit for some months of undergoing a change of from 80° to 100°, and, in several instances, 120° of temperature in less than one minute; and, what is still more extraordinary, not a single inflammatory complaint, beyond a slight cold, which was cured by common care in a day or two, occurred during this particular period. The second is, the vapour with which the air of an inhabited room is charged, condensing into a shower of snow immediately on the opening of a door or window communicating with the external atmosphere. This goes much beyond anything that we had an opportunity of observing. What happened with us was simply this: on the opening of the doors at the top and bottom of our hatchway ladders, the vapour was immediately condensed, by the sudden admission of the cold air, into a visible form, exactly resembling a very thick smoke, which settled on all the panels of the doors and bulkheads, and immediately froze, by which means the latter were covered with a thick coating of ice, which it was necessary frequently to scrape off; but we never, to my knowledge, saw the conversion of the vapour into snow during its fall.
On the evening of the 15th, the atmosphere being clear and serene, we were gratified by a sight of the only very brilliant and diversified display of Aurora Borealis which occurred during the whole winter. I believe it to be almost impossible for words to give an idea of the beauty and variety which this magnificent phenomenon displayed.