"
CHAPTER XXXVII
DAME GRANT AND HER BOAT
"One indulgence was allowed us by our keepers, if indulgence it can be
called. They had given permission for a boat to come alongside the
ship, with a supply of a few necessary articles, to be sold to such of
the prisoners as possessed the means of paying for them. This trade
was carried on by a very corpulent old woman, known among us by the
name of Dame Grant. Her visits, which were made every other day, were
of much benefit to us, and, I presume, a source of profit to
herself. She brought us soft bread and fruit, with various other
articles, such as tea, sugar, etc., all of which she previously put up
into small paper parcels, from one ounce to a pound in weight, with
the price affixed to each, from which she would never deviate. The
bulk of the old lady completely filled the stern sheets of the boat,
where she sat, with her box of goods before her, from which she
supplied us very expeditiously. Her boat was rowed by two boys, who
delivered to us the articles we had purchased, the price of which we
were required first to put into their hands.
"When our guard was not composed of Refugees, we were usually
permitted to descend to the foot of the Accommodation-ladder, in order
to select from the boat such articles as we wished. While standing
there it was distressing to see the faces of hundreds of half-famished
wretches, looking over the side of the ship into the boat, without the
means of purchasing the most trifling article before their sight, not
even so much as a morsel of wholesome bread.
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