The ship _Endeavour_ sailed from Plymouth on 26 August, 1768, with a crew of officers, naturalists, seamen, and servants, of ninety-four in all, with provisions for eighteen months, and an armament of guns which would be quite sufficient to keep at bay any attack by savages. Captain Cook, from the first, was resolved to combat resolutely that foe of seamen-adventurers--scurvy--the disease which is constantly alluded to in the earlier pages of this book, and which I have described elsewhere as so seriously impeding the first attempts of colonization on the part of the French in Canada. In this resolve he was backed up by Banks, who had made special enquiries on the subject of antiscorbutics. An attempt was made to convey fresh cabbage from England to the Pacific, and casks of this vegetable lasted out for nearly a year. The leaves and the heart of the cabbage were preserved between layers of salt. But the greatest benefit in checking scurvy was derived from lemon juice, of which Banks himself took nearly 6 ounces a day. The juice of oranges and lemons mixed with a little brandy had been evaporated till it was very thick, and this essence was enclosed in small casks before the _Endeavour_ left England. The expedition also took with it treacle, turpentine, and "wort" (the unfermented infusion of malt), with which they were to brew some kind of beer. The _Endeavour's_ course towards the Pacific was via Brazil (where she was mistaken by the Portuguese for a privateer or pirate and received very badly) and the extremity of South America. Off the coast of Patagonia Banks noticed "shoals of red lobsters", as Dampier had done in the southern Pacific. These "sea crayfish", or Langoustes as they really were (allied to the excellent Langouste of the Mediterranean[72]), frequently astonished the pioneers of the Pacific and south Indian Oceans by their immense numbers which passed in shoals swimming on the surface, very often proving a godsend to the crew by providing them with fresh and savoury food. Unlike the lobster, which is only red when it is boiled, these Langoustes (probably of the genera _Iasus_ or _Panulirus_) were naturally of a bright crimson or scarlet colour. [72] The real lobster is limited in its range to the northern Atlantic.