THE MEMORIAL TO GENERAL WASHINGTON
“The body maddened by the spirit’s pain;
The wild, wild working of the breast and brain;
The haggard eye, that, horror widened, sees
Death take the start of hunger and disease.
Here, such were seen and heard;--so close at hand,
A cable’s length had reached them from the land;
Yet farther off than ocean ever bore;--
Eternity between them and the shore!”
--W. Read.
“Notwithstanding the destroying pestilence which was now raging to
a degree hitherto unknown on board, new companies of victims were
continually arriving; so that, although the mortality was very great,
our numbers were increasing daily. Thus situated, and seeing no prospect
of our liberty by exchange, we began to despair, and to believe that our
certain fate was rapidly approaching.
“One expedient was at length proposed among us and adopted. We
petitioned General Clinton, who was then in command of the British
forces at New York, for leave to transmit a Memorial to General
Washington, describing our deplorable situation, and requesting his
interference in our behalf. We further desired that our Memorial might
be examined by the British General, and, if approved by him, that it
might be carried by one of our own number to General Washington. Our
petition was laid before the British commander and was granted by the
Commissary of Prisoners. We received permission to choose three from
our number, to whom was promised a pass-port, with leave to proceed
immediately on their embassy.
“Our choice was accordingly made, and I had the satisfaction to find
that two of those elected were from among the former officers of the
Chance, Captain Aborn and our Surgeon, Mr. Joseph Bowen.
“The Memorial was soon completed and signed in the name of all the
prisoners, by a Committee appointed for that purpose. It contained an
account of the extreme wretchedness of our condition, and stated that
although we were sensible that the subject was one over which General
Washington had no direct control, as it was not usual for soldiers to
be exchanged for seamen, and his authority not extending to the Marine
Department of the American service; yet still, although it might not be
in his power to effect an exchange, we hoped he would be able to devise
some means to lighten or relieve our sufferings.
“Our messengers were further charged with a verbal commission to General
Washington, which, for obvious reasons, was not included in the written
Memorial. They were directed to state, in a manner more circumstantial
than we had dared to write, the peculiar horrors of our situation; to
discover the miserable food and putrid water on which we were doomed to
subsist; and finally to assure the General that in case he could effect
our release, we would agree to enter the American service as soldiers,
and remain during the war. Thus instructed our messengers departed.
“We waited in alternate hope and fear, the event of their mission. Most
of our number, who were natives of the Eastern States, were strongly
impressed with the idea that some means would be devised for our relief,
after such a representation of our condition should be made. This class
of the prisoners, indeed, felt most interested in the success of the
application; for many of the sufferers appeared to give themselves but
little trouble respecting it, and some among the foreigners did not
commonly know that such an appeal had been made, or that it had even
been in contemplation. The long endurance of their privations had
rendered them almost indifferent to their fate, and they appeared
to look forward to death as the only probable termination of their
captivity.
“In a few days our messengers returned to New York, with a letter from
General Washington, addressed to the Committee of Prisoners who had
signed the Memorial. The prisoners were all summoned to the Spar-deck
where this letter was read. Its purport was as follows:--That he had
perused our communication, and had received, with due consideration,
the account which our messengers had laid before him; that he viewed
our situation with a high degree of interest, and that although our
application, as we had stated, was made in relation to a subject over
which he had no direct control, yet that it was his intention to lay
our Memorial before Congress; and that, in the mean time, we might be
assured that no exertions on his part should be spared which could tend
to a mitigation of our sufferings.
“He observed to our messengers, during their interview, that our long
detention in confinement was owing to a combination of circumstances,
against which it was very difficult, if not impossible, to provide.
That, in the first place, but little exertion was made on the part of
our countrymen to secure and detain their British prisoners for the sake
of exchange, many of the British seamen being captured by privateers, on
board which, he understood, it was a common practice for them to enter
as seamen; and that when this was not the case, they were usually set
at liberty as soon as the privateers arrived in port; as neither the
owners, nor the town or State where they were landed, would be at the
expense of their confinement and maintenance; and that the officers
of the General Government only took charge of those seamen who were
captured by the vessels in public service. All which circumstances
combined to render the number of prisoners, at all times, by far too
small for a regular and equal exchange.
“General Washington also transmitted to our Committee copies of letters
which he had sent to General Clinton and to the Commissary of Prisoners,
which were also read to us. He therein expressed an ardent desire that
a general exchange of prisoners might be effected; and if this could not
be accomplished, he wished that something might be done to lessen the
weight of our sufferings, that, if it was absolutely necessary that we
should be confined on the water, he desired that we might at least be
removed to clean ships. He added if the Americans should be driven to
the necessity of placing the British prisoners in situations similar
to our own, similar effects must be the inevitable results; and that he
therefore hoped they would afford us better treatment from motives
of humanity. He concluded by saying, that as a correspondence on
the subject had thus begun between them, he ardently wished it might
eventually result in the liberation of the unfortunate men whose
situation had called for its commencement.
“Our three messengers did not return on board as prisoners, but were all
to remain on parole at Flatbush, on Long Island.
“We soon found an improvement in our fare. The bread which we received
was of a better quality, and we were furnished with butter, instead of
rancid oil. An awning was provided, and a wind-sail furnished to conduct
fresh air between the decks during the day. But of this we were always
deprived at night, when we most needed it, as the gratings must always
be fastened over the hatchway and I presume that our keepers were
fearful if it was allowed to run, we might use it as a means of escape.
“We were, however, obliged to submit to all our privations, consoling
ourselves only with the faint hope that the favorable change in our
situation, which we had observed for the last few days, might lead to
something still more beneficial, although we saw little prospect
of escape from the raging pestilence, except through the immediate
interposition of divine Providence, or by a removal from the scene of
contagion.”
_Note_. From the _New Jersey Gazette_, July 24th, 1782. “New London.
July 21st. We are informed that Sir Guy Carleton has visited all the
prison ships at New York, minutely examined into the situation of the
prisoners, and expressed his intention of having them better provided
for. That they were to be landed on Blackwell’s Island, in New York
harbour, in the daytime, during the hot season.”