Wednesday 31 August 1836

AUGUST 31.-This morning, at about 11 o’clock, we passed some rocks, of which I forget the name. Two only were visible from the deck, one very large, the other smaller, but a man from the masthead said that four could be distinctly seen. This was the first time that we had seen anything like land since we passed the Island of Madeira. We had now been rather more than two months at sea, and though we were all well stocked with clothes I found it necessary sometimes, as, I believe, most of the passengers did, to wash a few small things such as pocket handkerchiefs, partly to prevent them from getting mouldy, a condition to which I found everything very liable, whether dirty or clean. I mention this to show that our supply of water was sufficient with economy for so doing, but I could not boast of their whiteness when washed in muddy water. Some of the steerage passengers, I understand, washed all their clothes. How they managed it I do not know, but one of the women washed for the surgeon I before mentioned (an Irishman), and, of course, charged an extravagant price, which caused him to make the observation in my hearing that every man while on board of ship ought to be his own washerwoman.