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CHAPTER V.

 

Prisoners in the Maison Despeaux, or Garden Prison. Application to Admiral Linois. Spy-glasses and swords taken. Some papers restored. Opinions upon the detention of the Cumberland. Letter of captain Baudin. An English squadron arrives off Mauritius: its consequences. Arrival of a French officer with despatches, and observations thereon. Passages in the Moniteur, with remarks. Mr. Aken liberated. Arrival of cartels from India. Application made by the marquis Wellesley. Different treatment of English and French prisoners. Prizes brought to Mauritius in sixteen months. Departure of all prisoners of war. Permission to quit the Garden Prison. Astronomical observations.

 

1804.
April.We lost no time in exploring our new place of confinement, and in making acquaintance with our fellow prisoners. These were major Shippard and Mr. W.H. Robertson, who had come from India during the peace on account of their health, and been detained; the captains Mathews, Dansey, and Loane, and Mr. MᶜCrae of the Indian army, taken in the Admiral Aplin; and Messrs. Dale and Seymour of H.M. frigate La Dédaigneuse, who having been sent with a prize to Bombay had fallen in with the corvette Le Bélier, and been brought to Mauritius. The officers of merchant ships, at first confined in the Garden Prison, had a few days before been sent out to Flacq; and the four remaining officers of the army taken in the Aplin, were allowed, at the intercession of captain Bergeret, to dwell with their wives at a plantation in the quarter of Pamplemousses, about six miles from the port.