Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

44 WIND — DISCIPLINE — BISCAY. 1831. result proved that we were right ; for although the Beagle had a fair wind all the way to the Canary Islands, vessels which sailed from England only one day after her, and steered more westerly, lost the east wind very soon, and were retarded by another succession of strong and contrary gales, similar to those which had detained us a whole month. Individual misconduct, arising out of harbour irregularities, obliged me to have recourse to harsh measures before we had been two days at sea ; but eery naval officer knows the abso- lute necessity of a certain degree of what inexperienced per- sons might think unnecessary coercion, when a ship is recently commissioned. Hating, abhorring corporal punishment, I am nevertheless fully aware that there are too many coarse natures which cannot be restrained without it, (to the degree required on board a ship,) not to have a thorough conviction that it could only be dispensed with, by sacrificing a great deal of discipline and consequent efficiency. " Certainty of punish- ment, without severity," was a maxim of the humane and wise Beccaria ; which, with our own adage about a timely ' stitch,' is extremely applicable to the conduct of affairs on board a ship, where so much often depends upon immediate decision, upon instant and implicit obedience. We crossed the Bay of Biscay without a gale ; though the heavy rolling of a vessel so deep in the water, running before a strong wind, was almost as disagreeable as the effects of one would have been. After witnessing high seas and storms in various parts of the world, I can call to mind only two or three that exceeded what I have myself experienced, or what I have heard described, as having been sometimes encountered in this famed bay. Why should the sea be higher, or more dangerous, in the bay of Biscay, than it is in the middle of the Atlantic, or elsewhere .'' — Is it really so ? — are questions often asked. I believe that there is a shorter, higher, and consequently worse sea, in and near the Bay of Biscay, than is often found in other places, and attribute it to the effect of im- mense Atlantic waves, rolling into a deep bight, or bay, where