Captain James Cook

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. C O '0 called, by which means he faid that he had feen a mer chant {hip brought from Virginia to London after {he had fprung a leak that admitted more than four feet water in an hour'. The expedient being approved of, it was put in estecution in the following manner. He took a. Lower fiudding-fail, and having mixed a large quantity of oakum and wool together, {litched them down by handfuls as lightly as pollible the whole be ing afterwards fpread over with the dung of the iheep and other filth. The fail was then hauled under the fhip's bottom by means of ropes which kept it ex tended. When it came under the leak, the wool and oakum, with part of the fail, were forced inwards by the prefl'ure of the water, which thus prevented its own ingrefs in foch an effeelual manner, that one pump, mftead of three, was now fufficrent to keep it under. Thus they got the [hip into a convenient port on the coait'of New Holland, where they had an op portunity of repairing the injury. Here they difeo vered that their prefervation had not been owing entire ly to the expedient above mentioned; for one of the holes was in a great meafure filled up by a piece of rock which. Had broken off and (luck in it; and this hole was {33 large, that had it not been filled up in the manner full mentioned, they mull undoubtedly have perithed hotwithl'tanding all the afiiflance that could have been derived from the pumps.