DAME GRANT AND HER BOAT
“One indulgence was allowed us by our keepers, if indulgence it can be
called. They had given permission for a boat to come alongside the ship,
with a supply of a few necessary articles, to be sold to such of the
prisoners as possessed the means of paying for them. This trade was
carried on by a very corpulent old woman, known among us by the name of
Dame Grant. Her visits, which were made every other day, were of much
benefit to us, and, I presume, a source of profit to herself. She
brought us soft bread and fruit, with various other articles, such as
tea, sugar, etc., all of which she previously put up into small paper
parcels, from one ounce to a pound in weight, with the price affixed
to each, from which she would never deviate. The bulk of the old lady
completely filled the stern sheets of the boat, where she sat, with her
box of goods before her, from which she supplied us very expeditiously.
Her boat was rowed by two boys, who delivered to us the articles we had
purchased, the price of which we were required first to put into their
hands.
“When our guard was not composed of Refugees, we were usually permitted
to descend to the foot of the Accommodation-ladder, in order to select
from the boat such articles as we wished. While standing there it was
distressing to see the faces of hundreds of half-famished wretches,
looking over the side of the ship into the boat, without the means of
purchasing the most trifling article before their sight, not even so
much as a morsel of wholesome bread. None of us possessed the means of
generosity, nor had any power to afford them relief. Whenever I bought
any articles from the boat I never enjoyed them; for it was impossible
to do so in the presence of so many needy wretches, eagerly gazing at my
purchase, and almost dying for want of it.
“We frequently furnished Dame Grant with a memorandum of such articles
as we wished her to procure for us, such as pipes, tobacco, needles,
thread, and combs. These she always faithfully procured and brought to
us, never omitting the assurance that she afforded them exactly at cost.
“Her arrival was always a subject of interest to us; but at length she
did not make her appearance for several days, and her appearance was
awaited in extreme anxiety. But, alas! we were no longer to enjoy this
little gratification. Her traffic was ended. She had taken the fever
from the hulk, and died * * * leaving a void which was never afterwards
filled up.”