Indeed, habit, we are told, will reconcile a person to unsavory diet.

But neither habit nor necessity could reconcile me to the food and drink which, to sustain life, I was compelled to swallow on board the John.
The water, owing to causes to which I have already alluded, was exceedingly offensive to the palate and the olfactories.

It was also slimy and ropy; and was drank only as a means and a wretched one of prolonging life.

For the inmates of the cabin the water was boiled or diluted with brandy, which, in a slight degree, lessened its disgusting flavor.

But this was a luxury that was denied the seamen, who had to quaff it in all its richness.
Our beef, in quality, was on a par with the water.