Saxon prisoners taken at Leuthen were at the ‘New Prison,’ Plymouth, in 1758. In this year they addressed a complaint to the authorities, praying to be sent elsewhere, as they were ostracized1, and even reviled2, by the French captives, and a round-robin to the officer of the guard, reminding him that humanity should rule his actions rather than a mere4 delight in exercising authority, and hinting that officers who had made war the trade of their lives probably knew more about its laws than Mr. Tonkin, the Commissioner5 in charge of them, appeared to know.
In 1760 no less than 150 prisoners contrived6 to tunnel their way out of the prison, but all except sixteen were recaptured.
Of the life at the old Mill Prison, as it was then called, during the War of American Independence, a detailed7 account is given by Charles Herbert of Newburyport, Massachusetts, captured in the Dolton, in December 1776, by H.M.S. Reasonable, 64.
With his sufferings during the voyage to England we have nothing to do, except that he was landed at Plymouth so afflicted8 with ‘itch’, which developed into small-pox, that he was at once taken to the Royal Hospital. It is pleasing to note that he speaks in the highest terms of the care and kindness of the doctor and nurses of this institution.
When cured he was sent to Mill Prison, and here made money by carving9 in wood of boxes, spoons and punch ladles, which he sold at the Sunday market.
Very soon the Americans started the system of tunnelling out of the prison, and attempting to escape, which only ceased with their final discharge. Herbert was engaged in the scheme of an eighteen feet long excavation10 to a field outside, the earth 221from which, they rammed11 into their sea-chests. By this, thirty-two men got out, but eleven were captured, he being one.
Men who could make no articles for sale in the market sold their clothes and all their belongings12.
Theft among the prisoners was punished by the offenders13 being made to run the gauntlet of their comrades, who were armed with nettles14 for the occasion.
Herbert complains bitterly of the scarcity15 and quality of the provisions, particularly of the bread, which he says was full of straw-ends. ‘Many are tempted16 to pick up the grass in the yard and eat it; and some pick up old bones that have been laying in the dirt a week or ten days and pound them to pieces and suck them. Some will pick snails17 out of holes in the wall and from among the grass and weeds in the yard, boil them, eat them, and drink the broth18. Men run after the stumps19 of cabbages thrown out by the cooks into the yard, and trample20 over each other in the scuffle to get them.’
Christmas and New Year were, however, duly celebrated21, thanks to the generosity22 of the prison authorities, who provided the materials for two huge plum-puddings, served out white bread instead of the regulation ‘Brown George’, mutton instead of beef, turnips23 instead of cabbage, and oatmeal.
Then came a time of plenty. In London ￡2,276 was subscribed24 for the prisoners, and ￡200 in Bristol. Tobacco, soap, blankets, and extra bread for each mess were forthcoming, although the price of tobacco rose to five shillings a pound. Candles were expensive, so marrow-bones were used instead, one bone lasting25 half as long as a candle.
On February 1, 1778, five officers—Captains Henry and Eleazar Johnston, Offin Boardman, Samuel Treadwell, and Deal, got off with two sentries27 who were clothed in mufti, supplied by Henry Johnston. On February 17, the two soldiers were taken, and were sentenced, one to be shot and the other to 700 lashes28, which punishment was duly carried out. Of the officers, Treadwell was recaptured, and suffered the usual penalty of forty days Black Hole, and put on half allowance. Continued attempts to escape were made, and as they almost always failed it was suspected that there were traitors29 in the camp. A black man and boy were discovered: 222they were whipped, and soon after, in reply to a petition from the whites, all the black prisoners were confined in a separate building, known as the ‘itchy yard.’
Still the attempts continued. On one occasion two men who had been told off for the duty of emptying the prison offal tubs into the river, made a run for it. They were captured, and among the pursuers was the prison head-cook, whose wife held the monopoly of selling beer at the prison gate, the result being that she was boycotted30.
Much complaint was made of the treatment of the sick, extra necessaries being only procurable31 by private subscription32, and when in June 1778, the chief doctor died, Herbert writes: ‘I believe there are not many in the prison who would mourn, as there is no reason to expect that we can get a worse one.’
On Independence Day, July 4, all the Americans provided themselves with crescent-shaped paper cockades, painted with the thirteen stars and thirteen stripes of the union, and inscribed33 at the top ‘Independence’, and at the bottom ‘Liberty or Death’. At one o’clock they paraded in thirteen divisions. Each in turn gave three cheers, until at the thirteenth all cheered in unison34.
The behaviour of a section of blackguards in the community gave rise to fears that it would lead to the withdrawal35 of charitable donations. So articles were drawn36 up forbidding, under severe penalties, gambling37, ‘blackguarding’, and bad language. This produced violent opposition38, but gradually the law-abiders won the day.
An ingenious attempt to escape is mentioned by Herbert. Part of the prison was being repaired by workmen from outside. An American saw the coat and tool-basket of one of these men hanging up, so he appropriated them, and quietly sauntered out into the town unchallenged. Later in the day, however, the workman recognized his coat on the American in the streets of Plymouth, and at once had him arrested and brought back.
On December 28, 1778, Herbert was concerned in a great attempt to escape. A hole nine feet deep was dug by the side of the inner wall of the prison, thence for fifteen feet until it came out in a garden on the other side of the road which bounded the outer wall. The difficulty of getting rid of the excavated39 223dirt was great, and, moreover, excavation could only be proceeded with when the guard duty was performed by the Militia40 regiment41, which was on every alternate day, the sentries of the 13th Regular regiment being far too wideawake and up to escape-tricks. Half the American prisoners—some two hundred in number—had decided42 to go. All was arranged methodically and without favour, by drawing lots, the operation being conducted by two chief men who did not intend to go.
Herbert went with the first batch43. There were four walls, each eight feet high, to be scaled. With five companions Herbert managed these, and got out, their aim being to make for Teignmouth, whence they would take boat for France. Somehow, as they avoided high roads, and struck across fields, they lost their bearings, and after covering, he thinks, at least twenty miles, sat down chilled and exhausted44, under a haystack until daybreak. They then restarted, and coming on to a high road, learned from a milestone45 that, after all, they were only three miles from Plymouth!
Day came, and with it the stirring of the country people. To avoid observation, the fugitives46 quitted the road, and crept away to the shelter of a hedge, to wait, hungry, wet, and exhausted, during nine hours, for darkness. The end soon came.
In rising, Herbert snapped a bone in his leg. As it was being set by a comrade, a party of rustics47 with a soldier came up, the former armed with clubs and flails48. The prisoners were taken to a village, where they had brandy and a halfpenny cake each, and taken back to Plymouth.
At the prison they learned that 109 men had got out, of whom thirty had been recaptured. All had gone well until a boy, having stuck on one of the walls, had called for help, and so had given the alarm. Altogether only twenty-two men escaped. Great misery49 now existed in the prison, partly because the charitable fund had been exhausted which had hitherto so much alleviated50 their lot, and partly on account of the number of men put on half allowance as a result of their late escape failure, and so scanty51 was food that a dog belonging to one of the garrison52 officers was killed and eaten.
Herbert speaks in glowing terms of the efforts of two 224American ‘Fathers’, Heath and Sorry, who were allowed to visit the prison, to soften53 the lot of the captives.
In a table at the end of his account, he states that between June 1777, and March 1779, there were 734 Americans in Mill Prison, of whom thirty-six died, 102 escaped, and 114 joined the British service. Of these last, however, the majority were British subjects.
In 1779 Howard reported that there were 392 French and 298 American prisoners in Millbay. He noted55 that neither the wards56 nor the court-yards apportioned57 to the Frenchmen were so spacious58 and convenient as were those in the American part of the prison, nor were the provisions so good. In the hospital there were fifty patients; it was dirty and offensive, and Howard found only three pairs of sheets in use.
(Herbert, above quoted, said that the hospital was not worthy59 of the name, that when it rained the wet beat upon the patients as they lay in their beds.)
A new hospital was building, Howard continues, but he considered the wards were being made too low and too close, being seventeen feet ten inches wide, and ten feet high. In the American blocks the regulations were hung up according to rule, and he notes Article 5 of these to the effect that: ‘As water and tubs for washing their linen60 and clothes will be allowed, the prisoners are advised to keep their persons as clean as possible, it being conducive61 to health.’
I now make an extract from The Memoirs62 of Commodore Barney, published in Boston, 1832, chiefly on account of his stirring escape from Millbay, therein described.
Barney was captured in December 1780 by H.M.S. Intrepid63, Captain Malloy, whom he stigmatizes64 as the embodiment of all that is brutal65 in man. He was carried to England on the Yarmouth, 74, with seventy other American officers. They were confined, he says, in the hold, under three decks, twelve feet by twenty feet, and three feet high, without light and almost without air. The result was that during the fifty-three days’ passage in the depths of winter, from New York to Plymouth, eleven of them died, and that when they arrived at Plymouth, 225few of them were able to stand, and all were temporarily blinded by the daylight.
It sounds incredible, but Mrs. Barney, the editress of the volume, says: ‘What is here detailed is given without adornment66 or exaggeration, almost in the very words of one who saw and suffered just as he has described.’
Barney was sent first to a hulk, which he describes as a Paradise when compared with the Yarmouth, and as soon as they could walk, he and his companions went to Mill Prison, ‘as rebels.’
He lost no time in conspiring67 to escape. With infinite pains he and others forced their way through the stone walls and iron gratings of the common sewer68, only to find, after wading69 through several hundred feet of filth70, their exit blocked by a double iron grating. He then resolved to act independently, and was suddenly afflicted by a sprain71 which put him on crutches72. He found a sympathetic friend in a sentry73 who, for some reason or other, had often manifested friendship for the American prisoners. This man contrived to obtain for him a British officer’s undress uniform. One day Barney said to him, ‘To-day?’ to which the laconic74 reply was ‘Dinner’, by which Barney understood that his hours on duty would be from twelve till two.
Barney threw his old great coat over the uniform; arranged with his friends to occupy the other sentries’ attention by chaff75 and chat; engaged a slender youth at roll-call time to carry out the old trick of creeping through a hole in the wall and answer to Barney’s name as well as his own; and then jumped quickly on to the shoulders of a tall friend and over the wall.
Throwing away his great-coat, he slipped four guineas into the accomplice76 sentry’s hand, and walked quietly off into Plymouth to the house of a well-known friend to the American cause. No little alarm was caused here by the sudden appearance of a visitor in British uniform, but Barney soon explained the situation, and remained concealed77 until night, when he was taken to the house of a clergyman. Here he found two Americans, not prisoners, desirous of returning to America, and they agreed to buy a fishing boat and risk the crossing to France.
226So the British uniform was exchanged for fisher garb78, the boat purchased, and the three started. As his companions were soon prostrate79 from sea-sickness, Barney had to manage the craft himself; passed through the British war-ships safely, and seemed to be safe now from all interference, when a schooner81 rapidly approached, showing British colours, and presently lowered a boat which was pulled towards them.
Instantly, Barney resolved to play a game of bluff82. Luckily, in changing his attire83 he had not left the British uniform behind. The boat came alongside and a privateer officer came aboard and asked Barney his business.
‘Government business to France,’ replied Barney with dignity—and displayed the British uniform.
The officer was not satisfied, and said that he must report to his captain. This he did; the privateer captain was no more satisfied than his lieutenant84, and politely but firmly declared his intention of carrying Barney back to Plymouth, adding that it must be funny business to take a British officer in uniform over to France in a fishing boat.
‘Very well,’ said Barney, calm and dignified85 to the end; ‘then I hold you responsible, for the interruption of my errand, to Admiral Digby, to whose flag-ship I will trouble you to take me.’
All the same Barney saw that the game was up, and back towards Plymouth he had to turn. Barney’s story is not very clear as to how he managed to escape the notice of the crew of the privateer, on board which he now was, but he slipped into a boat alongside, cut her adrift, and made for ‘Cawsen’. Landing here, and striking away inland, he thought it best to leave the high road, and so, climbing over a hedge, he found himself in Edgcumbe Park. Presently he came upon an old gardener at work. Barney accosted86 him, but all the reply he got was: ‘It’s a fine of half a guinea for crossing a hedge.’ Barney had no money, but plenty of pleasant talk, the result of which was that the old man passed him out by a side gate and showed him a by-way towards the river. Barney, for obvious reasons, wished to avoid the public ferry, so crossed over in a butcher’s boat, and passing under the very wall of Mill Prison, was soon in Plymouth and at the clergyman’s house.
227He had had a narrow escape, for in less than an hour after Admiral Digby had received the privateer captain’s report, a guard had been sent off from Mill Prison to Cawsand, and had he kept to the high road he would assuredly have been captured. Whilst at the clergyman’s house, the Town Crier passed under the window, proclaiming the reward of five guineas for the apprehension87 of ‘Joshua Barney, a Rebel Deserter from Mill Prison’.
Barney remained here three days. Then, with a fresh outfit88, he took a post chaise for Exeter. At midnight the Town Gate was reached, and a soldier closely examined Barney and compared him with his description on the Apprehension bill. Again his sang-froid came to the rescue, and he so contorted his face and eyes that he was allowed to proceed, and his escape was accomplished89.
In 1783 Barney was at Plymouth again; this time as a representative of the Republic in a time of peace, and although an individual of importance, entertaining all the great officials of the port on the George Washington, and being entertained by them in return, he found time not only to visit the kindly90 clergyman who had befriended him, but to look up the old gardener at Mount Edgcumbe, amply pay the fine so long due, and discover that the old man was the father of the sentry who had enabled him to escape from Mill Prison!
An account by another American, Andrew Sherburne, published at Utica, in 1825, of a sojourn91 in Mill Prison in 1781, is quoted only for his remarks on the hospital system, which do not accord with those of other writers. He says:
‘However inhuman92 and tyrannical the British Government was in other respects, they were to be praised and respected for the suitable provision they made for the sick in the hospitals at Mill Prison.’
In 1798 Vochez, the official sent to England by the French Directory to inquire into the true state of French prisoners under our care, brought an action against certain provision contractors93 for astounding94 breaches95 of their engagements, in the shape of a system of short weightage carried on for years, and of supplying provisions of an inferior character. In this he was supported by Captain Lane, a travelling inspector96 of 228prisons, and an honest official, and this, wrote Vochez, ‘despite the contradiction by a number of base and interested prisoners brought to London for that express purpose to attack the unblemished character of that officer.’
Captain Lane insisted that the Governor of the Prison should give certificates as to the badness of the provisions supplied; this was done, and Vochez’s case was established. The Admiralty entirely97 endorsed98 Captain Lane’s recommendation that in every case the Governors of Prisons should certify99 as to the character of provisions supplied by contractors, highly complimented him on his action, and very heavily mulcted the rascally100 contractors. Unhappily, the vile3 system was far from being abolished. The interests of too many influential101 people were linked with those of the contractors for a case such as the above to be more than a flash in the pan, and the prison contractors continued to flourish until the very end of the Great War period.
In 1799 Mill Prison was practically rebuilt, and became known as Millbay. The condition of it at this time seems to have been very bad. It was said that some of the poor inmates102 were so weak for lack of proper food that they fell from their hammocks and broke their necks, that supplies of bedding and clothing were only to be had from ‘capitalists’ among the prisoners, who had bought them from the distribution officers and sold them at exorbitant103 rates.
In 1806, at the instance of some Spanish prisoners in Millbay, a firm of provision contractors was heavily mulcted upon proof that for a long time past they had systematically104 sent in stores of deficient105 quality.
In 1807 the Commissioners106 of the Transport Office refused an application that French prisoners at Millbay should be allowed to manufacture worsted gloves for H.M.’s 87th Regiment, on the grounds that, if allowed, it would seriously interfere80 with our own manufacturing industry, and further, would lead to the destruction by the prisoners of their blankets and other woollen articles in order to provide materials for the work.
I now proceed to give a very interesting account of prisoner life in Millbay Prison from édouard Corbière’s book, Le Négrier.
When a lad of fifteen, Corbière was captured on the Val de 229Grace privateer by H.M.S. Gibraltar, in 1807. The Val de Grace must have been a very small craft, for not only did she not show fight, but the Gibraltar simply sent off a boat’s crew, made fast hawsers107 and tackles, and hoisted108 the Frenchman bodily on board. Corbière and his fellows were sent to Millbay. Before describing his particular experiences, he gives a page or so to a scathing109 picture of our shore prisons, but he impressively accentuates110 the frightful111 depravity brought about by the sufferings endured, and says that nobody who had not lived in an English war-prison could realize the utter depths of wickedness to which men could fall. At Millbay, he says, the forts à bras ruled all by mere brute112 strength. Victories at fights or wrestling matches were celebrated by procession round the airing grounds, and the successful men formed the ‘Government’ of the Pré, as the airing ground was called, regulating the gambling, deciding disputes, officiating at duels—of which there were many, the weapons being razors or compass points fixed113 on the ends of sticks—and generally exercising despotic sway. They were usually topsmen and sailors. The Romains were the pariahs114 at Millbay, and the Rafalés the lowest of all, naked rascals115 who slept in ranks, spoon fashion, as described elsewhere.
The usual industries were carried on at Millbay. Much money was made by the straw plaiters and workers, some of the latter earning 18 sous a day. But the straw ‘capitalists’, the men who bought straw wholesale116 through the soldiers of the guard, and who either employed workers themselves, or sold the straw to other employers, accumulated fortunes, says Corbière, of from 30,000 to 40,000 francs. There were teachers of sciences, languages, music, dancing and fencing. There were eating-cabins where a ‘beef steak’ could be got for four sous. There were theatrical118 performances, but not of the same character or quality as, for instance, at Portchester.
On Sundays, as at Stapleton, the prayers of the Mass were read. Each province was particular in observing its own festivals—Basques and Bretons notably119.
A great many ‘broke-paroles’ were here, and, Corbière remarks, the common sailors took advantage of their fallen position and ostentatiously treated them as equals, and even as inferiors. Not so the soldiers, who punctiliously120 observed 230the distinctions of rank; and there were even instances of private soldiers helping121 officers not used to manual labour to supplement their daily rations122.
Corbière also emphasizes the fact that, notwithstanding the depth of degradation123 to which the prisoners sank among themselves, they always preserved a proud attitude towards strangers, and never begged of visitors and sight-seers.
In the prison, regular Courts of Justice were held, the chief ma?tre d’armes being generally elected President if he could read. The Court was held within the space of twelve hammocks, shut in by hangings of old cloth. The only ordinary punishment was flogging, but a very terrible exception was made in the following case. One of the grandest and boldest projects for escape from a war-prison which had ever been conceived had been secretly proceeded with at Millbay for some time. It consisted of a tunnel no less than 532 yards long (Corbière’s words are ‘half a quarter league’, and the French league of this time measured 2 miles 743 yards) coming out in a field, by which the whole of the 5,000 prisoners were to get away after overcoming and disarming124 the guard. The enormous quantity of earth excavated was carried by the workers in their pockets and emptied into the latrines, and although I give the account as written, I cannot repress a doubt that Corbière, who was then but a boy, may have been mistaken in his figures, for this process alone of emptying a tunnel, big enough to allow the passage of a man, in continual fear of detection, must have been very long and laborious125.
At any rate one Jean Caffé sold the secret to the authorities, the result being that on the appointed night, when the tunnel was full of escaping prisoners, the first man to emerge at the outlet126 was greeted by Scots soldiers, and the despairing cry arose, Le trou est vendu!
Drums beat, the alarm brought more soldiers from Plymouth, and the would-be escapers were put back into prison, but, so maddened were they at the failure at the eleventh hour of their cherished plot, that they refused to put out the lights, sang songs of defiance127, and broke out into such a riot that the guard fired into them, with what result Corbière does not state.
The next morning, search was made for Caffé, who no doubt 231had been hidden by the authorities, and the miserable128 man was found with some guineas in his pocket. The rage of his countrymen was the deeper because Caffé had always been regarded as a poor, witless sort of fellow, for whom everybody had pity, and who existed upon the charity of others, and the cry arose that he should be at once put to death. But the chief of the Pré, who happened to be Corbière’s captain on the Val de Grace, and of whom more anon, said ‘Non! Il faut auparavant le flétrir!’
So Caffé was dragged before the entire assembly of prisoners. A professional tattooer129 then shaved his head, laid him on a table, and held him down whilst on his forehead was pricked130: ‘Flétri pour avoir VENDU 5000 de ses camarades dans la nuit du 4 Septembre 1807.’
This accomplished, he was taken to a well, thrown down it, and stones hurled131 on him until he was hidden from sight, and his cries could be heard no more. Corbière adds that, so far from the authorities trying to stop this summary execution, the British commander said that it served him right, and that he would have done the same.
Ivan, the privateer captain who had been chief official at the foregoing execution, had won his position as a Chef de Pré in the following way. He was dancing at a ball in Calais when the news was brought him that a rich British prize had been sighted, and without stopping to change his costume, he had hurried on board the Val de Grace, so that the prize should not escape him. Hence, when captured by the Gibraltar, he was in full dancing kit,—laced coat, ruffles132, silk stockings and all—and in the same garb had been introduced into Millbay Prison, much to the amusement of his fellow countrymen. Particularly did he attract the attention of the chief fort à bras, who had a good deal to say about carpet knight133 and armchair sailor, which was so distasteful to Ivan that he challenged him, fought him, and half-killed him. The result of which was that the same night he was elected a Chef de Pré with much pomp and circumstance. Furthermore, discovering among the prisoners old comrades of the Sans Fa?on privateer, they elected him head cook, a position in the prison of no small consideration.
Now Mr. Milliken, purser of the prison, had a pretty wife 232who took such a fancy to the handsome, dashing young French privateer captain that she made him a present of a New Testament134, although it was well she did not hear his description of it as ‘le beau fichu cadeau’. At the same time Milliken, socially superior, Corbière remarks, to his wife, pitying the boy (Corbière himself) thus thrust by fate at the very threshold of his life into the wild, wicked world of a war-prison, offered him employment in his office, which he gladly accepted, going there every day, but returning every night to the prison. Milliken’s office was on the ground floor of his dwelling-house, and Mrs. Milliken with her servant Sarah were constantly in and out, the result being that the boy became very friendly with them, and their chief object seemed to be to make his life as happy as possible, the only cloud upon it being his separation every day from Ivan, for whom he had an affection bordering upon idolatry. For weeks Corbière had the happiest of lives, indulged in every way by Mrs. Milliken, and made much of by her visitors, to most of whom a lively, intelligent, French lad was a refreshing135 novelty. To dress him up in feminine attire was a favourite amusement of the ladies, ‘and’, says Corbière, ‘they were good enough to say that, except for my rolling gait, begot136 of a lifetime spent afloat, I should pass well for a distinguished-looking girl.’
One morning Mrs. Milliken gave him bad news. Ivan had escaped from the prison. He says: ‘Whatever feeling I had of gladness that my dear friend was out of prison, was smothered137 not merely by the sense of my own desolate138 position, but by surprise that he should have left me.’
A day or two later a young woman appeared at the back door of the Millikens’ house, which gave on to the street, looked around cautiously for a few moments, and then rapidly passed down the street. It was Corbière. It was a daring move, and it was not long before he wished he had not made it, for Plymouth streets in these piping war-times were no place for a respectable girl, and no doubt his flurried, anxious look, and palpable air of being a stranger, commanded unusual attention. Whither he was going he had no idea, and for an hour he went through what he confesses to have been one of the severest trials of a life full of adventure and ordeal139. He was on the 233point of trying to find his way back to the Millikens’ house, when an old Jew man, with a bag over his shoulder, brushed against him, and at the same time whispered his name. It was Ivan. The boy could have shouted for joy, but Ivan impressed silence, and motioned him to follow. Arrived at Stonehouse, Ivan paused at a house, whispered to Corbière to walk on, return, and enter, and went in himself. This was done, and Corbière describes how, when at last together in the house, they unrestrainedly indulged their joy at being again together, and Ivan explained how both of their escapes had been arranged by Mrs. Milliken. Then Ivan detailed his plan for getting out of England. He had thirty false one-pound notes, manufactured in Millbay Prison, which he had bought for a guinea, and the next day they would start off on foot for Bigbury, about fifteen miles distant, on the coast, near which they would charter a smuggler140 to take them across.
That evening they went into the town to make a few necessary purchases, and in his delight at being free again, Ivan proposed that they should go to the theatre at Plymouth Dock. They did, and it nearly proved the undoing141 of them, for some American sailors were there who naturally regarded as fair game a nice-looking, attractively dressed girl in the company of a bearded old Jew, and paid Corbière attentions which became so marked as to provoke Ivan, the result being a row, in the course of which Ivan’s false beard was torn off, and Corbière’s dress much deranged142, and the cry of ‘Runaway prisoners!’ beginning to be heard, the two rushed out of the theatre, and through the streets, until they were in the open country.
They spent the night, which luckily was warm and fine, in a ditch, and the next morning saw an anchored boat riding close in shore. They swam out and boarded her, and found that there were rudder and oars143 chained, but no sails or mast. Ivan broke the chain, and rigged up some of Corbière’s female clothes on an oar26, for sail and mast. Some days ensued of much suffering from hunger and thirst, as, being without bearings, they simply steered144 by the sun, south-east, and at last they were sighted and picked up by the Gazelle, French ‘aventurier’, of St. Malo, and in her went to Martinique.
234In 1809 the Transport Office, in reply to French prisoners at Millbay asking leave to give fencing lessons outside the prison, refused, adding that only officers of the guard were allowed to take fencing lessons from prisoners, and those in the prison.
In 1811 a dozen prisoners daubed themselves all over with mortar145, and walked out unchallenged as masons. Five were retaken. Another man painted his clothes like a British military uniform, and got away, as he deserved to.
In 1813 a notable scene, indicative of the prevalence occasionally of a nice feeling between foes147, was witnessed at Millbay, at the funeral of Captain Allen of the United States ship Argus, who had died of wounds received in the action with the Pelican148. Allen had been first lieutenant of the United States in her victorious149 action with the British Macedonian, and had received his promotion150 for his bravery in that encounter. Moreover, all the British prisoners taken by him testified to his humanity and kindness. A contemporary newspaper says:
‘The Funeral Procession as it moved from the Mill Prison to the Old Church, afforded a scene singularly impressive to the prisoners, who beheld151 with admiration152 the respect paid by a gallant153, conquering enemy to the fallen hero. 500 British Marines first marched in slow time, with arms reversed; the band of the Plymouth Division of Marines followed, playing the most solemn tunes117. An officer of Marines in military mourning came after these. Two interesting black boys, the servants of the deceased, then preceded the hearse. One of these bore his master’s sword, and the other his hat. Eight American officers followed the hearse, and the procession was closed with a number of British Naval154 officers.
‘On the arrival of the body at the Old Church, it was met by the officiating Minister, and three volleys over the grave closed the scene.’
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ostracized
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| v.放逐( ostracize的过去式和过去分词 )；流放；摈弃；排斥 | |
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reviled
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| v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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10
excavation
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| n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地 | |
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11
rammed
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| v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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12
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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13
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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14
nettles
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| n.荨麻( nettle的名词复数 ) | |
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15
scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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16
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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17
snails
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| n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 ) | |
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18
broth
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| n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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19
stumps
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| （被砍下的树的）树桩( stump的名词复数 )； 残肢； （板球三柱门的）柱； 残余部分 | |
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20
trample
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| vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯 | |
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21
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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22
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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23
turnips
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| 芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表 | |
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24
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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25
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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26
oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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27
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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28
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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29
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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30
boycotted
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| 抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
procurable
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| adj.可得到的，得手的 | |
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32
subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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33
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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34
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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35
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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36
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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37
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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38
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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39
excavated
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| v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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40
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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41
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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42
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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43
batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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44
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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45
milestone
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| n.里程碑；划时代的事件 | |
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46
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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47
rustics
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| n.有农村或村民特色的( rustic的名词复数 )；粗野的；不雅的；用粗糙的木材或树枝制作的 | |
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48
flails
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| v.鞭打( flail的第三人称单数 )；用连枷脱粒；（臂或腿）无法控制地乱动；扫雷坦克 | |
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49
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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50
alleviated
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| 减轻，缓解，缓和( alleviate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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52
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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53
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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54
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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55
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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56
wards
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| 区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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57
apportioned
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| vt.分摊，分配（apportion的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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58
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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59
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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60
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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61
conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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62
memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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63
intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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64
stigmatizes
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| v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的第三人称单数 ) | |
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65
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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66
adornment
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| n.装饰；装饰品 | |
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67
conspiring
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|
| 密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
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68
sewer
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| n.排水沟，下水道 | |
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69
wading
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的现在分词 ) | |
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70
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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71
sprain
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| n.扭伤,扭筋 | |
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72
crutches
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| n.拐杖, 支柱 v.支撑 | |
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73
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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74
laconic
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| adj.简洁的；精练的 | |
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75
chaff
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|
| v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳 | |
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76
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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77
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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78
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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79
prostrate
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|
| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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80
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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81
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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82
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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83
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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84
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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85
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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86
accosted
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|
| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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87
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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88
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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89
accomplished
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|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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90
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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91
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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92
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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93
contractors
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| n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
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94
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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95
breaches
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| 破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背 | |
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96
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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97
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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98
endorsed
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| vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品 | |
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99
certify
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| vt.证明，证实；发证书(或执照)给 | |
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100
rascally
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| adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地 | |
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101
influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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102
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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103
exorbitant
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| adj.过分的；过度的 | |
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104
systematically
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| adv.有系统地 | |
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105
deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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106
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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107
hawsers
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| n.（供系船或下锚用的）缆索，锚链( hawser的名词复数 ) | |
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108
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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109
scathing
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| adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词) | |
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110
accentuates
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| v.重读( accentuate的第三人称单数 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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111
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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112
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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113
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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114
pariahs
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| n.被社会遗弃者( pariah的名词复数 )；贱民 | |
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115
rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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116
wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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117
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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118
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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119
notably
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| adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地 | |
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120
punctiliously
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121
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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122
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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123
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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124
disarming
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| adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒 | |
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125
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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126
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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127
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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128
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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129
tattooer
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| 文身师，黥墨师 | |
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130
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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131
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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132
ruffles
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| 褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 ) | |
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133
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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134
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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135
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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136
begot
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去式 )；产生，引起 | |
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137
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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138
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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139
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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140
smuggler
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| n.走私者 | |
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141
undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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142
deranged
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| adj.疯狂的 | |
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143
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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144
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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145
mortar
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| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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146
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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147
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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148
pelican
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| n.鹈鹕，伽蓝鸟 | |
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149
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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150
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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151
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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152
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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153
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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154
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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