Through the agency of this old friend Hawkins
got on board a smuggler in the night and finally reached home in
safety.
Christopher Hawkins's account of the Old Jersey is not so reliable as
that of some others who were among her inmates. He was only on board
that vessel three days, but in that time he saw enough to decide him
to risk death in the attempt to escape rather than remain any longer
on board of her. He declares that: "The cruel and unjustifiable
treatment of the prisoners by the British soon produced the most
demoralizing effects upon them. Boxing was tolerated without
stint.... After I left the ship an American vessel came into the port
of New York as a cartel for the exchange of prisoners.... A ship's
mate was so fortunate as to be one of the exchanged. He had a large
chest on board, and, as privately as he could, he put the cabin boy
into the chest, locked him in, and carried him on board the cartel. A
prisoner named Spicer had seen the boy put into the chest, and after
he had been conveyed on board the cartel, Spicer communicated the
affair to the commanding officer on board the Jersey. The cartel was
immediately boarded, as she had not yet left the port, and the boy was
found and brought back. Spicer paid for his treachery with his
life. The prisoners knocked him down the hatchway, when they were
going down for the night; they then fell upon him, cut off his ears,
and mangled him in a shocking manner, so that he died in a day or
two.
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