The Working-party then took the
sick and disabled who remained below, and placed them in the bunks
prepared for them upon the centre-deck; they then, if any of the
prisoners had died during the night, carried up the dead bodies, and
laid them upon the booms; after which it was their duty to wash down
the main decks below; during which operation the prisoners remained on
the upper deck, except such as chose to go below and volunteer their
services in the performance of this duty.
"Around the railing of the hatchway leading from the centre to the
lower decks, were placed a number of large tubs for the occasional use
of the prisoners during the night, and as general receptacles of
filth. Although these were indispensably necessary to us, yet they
were highly offensive. It was a part of the duty of the Working-party
to carry these on deck, at the time when the prisoners ascended in the
morning, and to return them between decks in the afternoon.
"Our beds and clothing were kept on deck until nearly the hour when we
were to be ordered below for the night. During this interval * * * the
decks washed and cleared of all incumbrance, except the poor wretches
who lay in the bunks, it was quite refreshing after the suffocating
heat and foul vapors of the night to walk between decks. There was
then some circulation of air through the ship, and, for a few hours,
our existence was, in some degree, tolerable.
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