The provision allowed the sick was a gill of wine,
and twelve ounces of bread per day. The wine was of an ordinary
quality, and the bread made of sour or musty flour, and sometimes
poorly baked. There was a small sheet iron stove between decks, but
the fuel was green, and not plenty, and there were some peevish and
surly fellows generally about it. I never got an opportunity to sit by
it, but I could generally get the favor of some one near it to lay a
slice of bread upon it, to warm or toast it a little, to put into my
wine and water. We sometimes failed in getting our wine for several
days together; we had the promise of its being made up to us, but this
promise was seldom performed. * * * Water was brought on board in
casks by the working party, and when it was very cold it would freeze
in the casks, and it would be difficult to get it out. * * * I was
frequently under the necessity of pleading hard to get my cup
filled. I could not eat my bread, but gave it to those who brought me
water. I have given three days allowance to have a tin cup of water
brought me. * * * A company of the good citizens of New York supplied
all the sick with a pint of good Bohea tea, well sweetened with
molasses a day; and this was constant. I believe this tea saved my
life, and the lives of hundreds of others. * * * The physicians used
to visit the sick once in several days: their stay was short, nor did
they administer much medicine.
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