A very important day in the annals of the Beagle; at one
oclock she was loosed from the moorings & sailed about a mile to
Barnett pool.
Here she will remain till the day of sailing arrives.
This little sail was to me very interesting, everything so new & different to what one has ever seen, the Coxswains piping, the manning the yards, the men working at the hawsers to the sound of a fife, but nothing is so striking as the rapidity & decision of the orders & the alertness with which they are obeyed.
There remains very little to be done to make all ready for sailing. All the stores are completed & yesterday between 5 & 6 thousands canisters of preserved meat were stowed away.
Not one inch of room is lost, the hold would contain scarcely another bag of bread. My notions of the inside of a ship were about as indefinite as those of some men on the inside of a man, viz a large cavity containing air, water & food mingled in hopeless confusion.
Here she will remain till the day of sailing arrives.
This little sail was to me very interesting, everything so new & different to what one has ever seen, the Coxswains piping, the manning the yards, the men working at the hawsers to the sound of a fife, but nothing is so striking as the rapidity & decision of the orders & the alertness with which they are obeyed.
There remains very little to be done to make all ready for sailing. All the stores are completed & yesterday between 5 & 6 thousands canisters of preserved meat were stowed away.
Not one inch of room is lost, the hold would contain scarcely another bag of bread. My notions of the inside of a ship were about as indefinite as those of some men on the inside of a man, viz a large cavity containing air, water & food mingled in hopeless confusion.
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