Once they had taken up their posts, the weary sailors studied the sea for buried shoals, examined the rigging, dried the dew from the lines, and checked the sails for damage. They scrubbed, repaired, overhauled, and polished every exposed surface of the ships. They applied pitch to fraying hemp, and repaired torn or stressed sails. They made their weapons gleam, and fought a constant, losing battle against protecting their food supply from vermin. After several months at sea, the five ships of the Armada de Molucca were in far better shape than they had been when they sailed from Seville.
