Their
clothes were mere rags, secured to their bodies in every way that
ingenuity could devise.
"Many of these men had been in this lamentable condition for two
years, part of the time on board other prison ships; and having given
up all hope of ever being exchanged, had become resigned to their
situation. These men were foreigners whose whole lives had been one
continual scene of toil, hardship, and suffering. Their feelings were
blunted; their dispositions soured; they had no sympathies for the
world; no home to mourn for; no friends to lament for their fate. But
far different was the condition of the most numerous class of
prisoners, composed mostly of young men from New England, fresh from
home.
"They had reason to deplore the sudden change in their condition. * *
* The thoughts of home, of parents, brothers, sisters, and friends,
would crowd upon their minds, and brooding on what they had been, and
what they were, their desire for home became a madness. The dismal and
disgusting scene around; the wretched objects continually in sight;
and 'hope deferred which maketh the heart sick', produced a state of
melancholy that often ended in death,--the death of a broken heart."
Fox describes the food and drink, the prison regulations, deaths, and
burials, just as they were described by Captain Dring, who wrote the
fullest account of the Jersey, and from whose memoirs we shall quote
further on.
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