f the officers on board that a complete hourly log was
kept from beginning to end of the numbers and species which were seen,
generally with the most complete notes as to any peculiarity or habit
which was noticed. It is to be hoped that full use will be made, by those
in charge of the working out of these results, of these logs which were
kept so thoroughly and sometimes under such difficult circumstances and
conditions of weather and sea. Though many helped, this log was largely
the work of Pennell, who was an untiring and exact observer.

We lost the N.E. Trade about July 7, and ran into the Doldrums. On the
whole we could not complain of the weather. We never had a gale or big
sea until after leaving South Trinidad, and though an old ship with no
modern ventilation is bound to be stuffy in the tropics, we lived and
slept on deck so long as it was not raining. If it rained at night, as it
frequently does in this part of the world, a number of rolled-up forms
could be heard discussing as to whether it was best to stick it above or
face the heat below; and if the rain persisted, sleepy and somewhat
snappy individuals were to be seen trying to force themselves and a
maximum amount of damp bedding down the wardroom gangway. At the same
time a thick wooden ship will keep fairly cool in the not severe heat
through which we passed.

One want which was unavoidable was the lack of fresh water. There was
none to wash in, though a glass of water was allowed for shaving! With an
unlimited amount of sea water this may not seem much of a hardship; nor
is it unless you have very dirty work to do. But inasmuch as some of the
officers were coaling almost daily, they found that any amount of cold
sea water, even with a euphemistically named 'sea-water soap,' had no
very great effect in removing the coal dust. The alternative was to make
friends with the engine-room authorities and draw some water from the
boilers.

Perhaps therefore it was not with purely disinterested motives that some
of us undertook to do the stoking during the morning watch, and also
later in the day during our passage through the tropics, since the
engine-room staff was reduced by sickness. A very short time will
convince anybody that the ease with which men accustomed to this work get
through their watch is mainly due to custom and method. The ship had no
forced draught nor modern ventilating apparatus. Four hours in the
boiling fiery furnace which the Terra N