50 PREPARATIONS 1787 almost naked and so very filthy that nothing but cloathing them April, could have prevented them from perishing, and which could not be done in time to' prevent a fever, which is still on board that ship, and where there are many with venereal complaints that must spread in spite of every precaution I may take hereafter, and will be fatal to thousands. Th6 There is a necessity for doing something for the young man who the^ATried is on board the ship as surgeon, or I fear that we shall lose him, women. ^^^ ^Yien a hundred women will be left without any assistance, several of them with child. Let me repeat my desire that orders immediately may be given to increase the convict allowance of bread — 16 lb. of bread for forty-two days is vei7 little; to supply all the, convicts with fresh meat while they remain at Portsmouth, the sick with some small quantity of wine; lighters to be ordered to attend the Alexander while that ship is smoaked, &c. ; to wash washinjfand and cloathe the convicts that are still to be sent down before they °^' are put on board the transports ; and to have one of the transports ordered to serve as a hospital ship. This is a long letter, but it is my duty to repeat complaints that may be redressed, and which I am certain you desire equally with myself. Other little matters that had occurred to him subse- quently were touched upon in a further letter to Nepean, dated April 11th. The request for *' sour krout and port- able soup* for the convicts that may be sick" shows his extreme desire to secure their health on the passage : — When you find a quarter of an hour, be so good as to give me a line to the Navy Board, sufficiently explicit to prevent any further delays, with respect to the ordinary caps for the conWcts, one Porter and hogshead of porter in bottles as a present to the commanding ^^ officer in the island from which we are to procure stock, and ducats to the value of £30 for the same purposa The beer may be bought at Portsmouth, and I will find room for it on board the Sirius. A line likewise is necessary to the Admiralty, that I may have an order to receive on board the Sirius the Commissary and
- Cap»tain Cook, in a letter to Sir John Pringle, written for the purpose
of explaining his success in preserving the health of his crew on boara the Kesolution, mentions " sour krout and portable broth *' as excellent means for preventing scurvy. Digitized by Google
