Not clear who is writing these letters, signed as W.B., since they refer to Dixon. Dixon’s Introduction describes the author as “a person aboard the Queen Charlotte, who has been totally unused to literary pursuits, and equally so to a sea-faring life” (p. xxii). Some editions show Portlock as the author.
p. 17, October 1785: I must inform thee that we keep the Sabbath-day in a decent and orderly manner; all hands appearing, as the Spectator says of country villages on the same occasion, “with their cleanest looks and best cloaths, clearing away the rust of the week,” and employ themselves in reading good books, no duty being carried on that can be avoided.
p. 45, between Falklands and Staten Island, transcribes passage in 107th Psalm about those who go down to the sea in ships…. He scarcely mentions anything about rounding the Horn and is soon in the Sandwich Islands, and not long after in Alaska.