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between the dirt and their persons; others had to take the floor as they found it, and the vacant spaces were so limited that many were not even allowed a choice of places. As for the prisoners of war, the privates, they seem to have slept, if they slept at all, wherever they could manage to stretch themselves. We were not suffered to go among them, but I could see from the door of the dining saloon, the morning after we started, that they were lying about between decks, on piles of coal, coils of rope, or the bare floor.
We reached Fort Warren about dusk on the evening of the 31st, and Colonel Justin Dimick, who commanded the Post, came on board. He said that he had only expected one hundred and ten prisoners, that not the slightest notice of the coming of the prisoners of war, had been given, and that he was wholly unprepared to receive us. He, however, ordered some three hundred of the North Carolina soldiers ashore, and said the rest of us must remain that night on board. Thus we had another cheerless and wretched night to look forward to. It passed like the previous one, and we were only too glad when day dawned, well knowing that whatever might happen, our situation could not be made worse.
That morning before we left the boat, I vainly endeavored to procure a glass of drinkable water. There was none to be had on board. The only supply of water left, was stale and foul and was used for washing, though not fit for that purpose. I was too thirsty to be particular, and having disguised the color and flavor of a glassful by pouring into it a teaspoonful of essence of ginger, I made shift to swallow it. I then breakfasted on the scraps which remained in our basket, and prepared to go ashore.
This account of the privations to which we were subjected on that occasion, I have neither over-stated nor over-colored. On a convict ship our position could have been no worse, and even on such a vessel, more regard would be manifested for the safety of the prisoners than was shown for ours. And all this was endured by numbers of gentlemen who would be disparaged by being compared, in point of charac-
