Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp4.djvu/363

 “Such were the employments which usually occupied us for six days in the week, with such exceptions only as circumstances at the time suggested. On Sundays, divine service was invariably performed, and a sermon read on board both ships; the prayer appointed to be daily used at sea being altered, so as to adapt it to the service in which we were engaged, the success which had hitherto attended our efforts, and the peculiar circumstances under which we were at present placed. The attention paid by the men to the observance of their religious duties, were such as to reflect upon them the highest credit, and tended, in no small degree, to the preservation of that regularity and good conduct, for which, with very few exceptions, they were invariably distinguished.

“Our theatrical entertainments took place regularly once a fortnight, and continued to prove a source of infinite amusement to the men. Our stock of plays was so scanty, consisting only of one or two volumes, which happened accidentally to be on board, that it was with difficulty we could find the means of varying the performances sufficiently; our authors, therefore, set to work, and produced as a Christmas piece, a musical entertainment, expressly adapted to the audience, and having such a reference to the service on which we were engaged, and the success we had so far experienced, as at once to afford a high degree of present recreation, and to stimulate, if possible, the sanguine hopes which were entertained by all, of the complete accomplishment of our enterprise.

“We were at one time apprehensive, that the severity of the weather would have prevented the continuance of this amusement; but the perseverance of the officers overcame every difficulty; and, perhaps for the first time since theatrical entertainments were invented, more than one or two plays were performed, on board the Hecla, with the thermometer below zero on the stage.

“The snow which falls during the severe winter of this climate is composed of spiculae so extremely minute, that it requires very little wind to raise and carry it along. To mark Christmas day in the best manner which circumstances would permit, divine service was performed; and I directed a small increase in the usual proportion of fresh meat, as well as an additional allowance of grog; 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 properties of a cold atmosphere .” 