The regulations adopted on other matters were the following; and I
point them out, that future adventurers in this country may gain, without
labour, the experience which had now been purchased by many successive
voyages. . . . The men slept in hammocks, which were taken down at six
in the morning, and hung up at ten at night, being also aired twice
a week. The lower deck, being the dwelling floor, was covered with hot
sand every morning, and scrubbed with sand till eight, when the men
breakfasted. Monday was settled in future as washing day; and this operation
being finished by noon, the linen was dried at the stove. The upper
deck having been at length covered with snow two feet and a half in
thickness, it was trod down till it became a solid mass of ice, and
was then sprinkled with sand, so as to put on the appearance of a rolled
gravel walk. Above this, was the roof already mentioned, of which the
canvas sides were continued so low as to cover those of the ship. The
surrounding bank of snow, being completed, reached to the ship's gunwale,
so that the union of this with the roof formed a perfect shelter from
all wind, and thus excluded, very materially, the impressions of the
external cold. In the same manner there was a covering of snow to the
cabin deck, while the skylight was fitted with double sashes. . .[Ross,
pp. 211- 212.]