It required but little fire to boil our food
in these kettles, for their bottoms were made concave, and the fire
was applied directly in the centre, and let the remaining brands be
ever so small they were all carefully quenched; and having been
conveyed below were kept for use on a future occasion.
"Much contention often arose through our endeavors to obtain places
around the brick-work, but these disputes were always promptly decided
by the Cook, from whose mandate there was no appeal. No sooner had one
prisoner completed the cooking for his mess, than another supplicant
stood ready to take his place; and they thus continued to throng the
galley, during the whole time that the fire was allowed to remain
under the Great Copper, unless it happened to be the pleasure of the
Cook to drive them away. *[...] Each man in the mess procured and
saved as much water as possible during the previous day; as no person
was ever allowed to take more than a pint at a time from the
scuttle-cask in which it was kept. Every individual was therefor
obliged each day to save a little for the common use of the mess on
the next morning. By this arrangement the mess to which I belonged had
always a small quantity of fresh water in store, which we carefully
kept, with a few other necessaries, in a chest which we used in
common.
"During the whole period of my confinement I never partook of any food
which had been prepared in the Great Copper.
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