In this part of the ship each mess was on terms of more or less
intimacy with those whose little sleeping enclosures were immediately
adjacent to their own, and the members of each mess frequently
interchanged good offices with those in their vicinity, and borrowed
or lent such little articles as they possessed, like the good
housewives of a sociable neighborhood. I never knew any contention in
this apartment, during the whole period of my confinement. Each
individual in the Gun-room therefore was willing to assist his
comrades, as far as he had the power to do so. When the proposed plan
for escape was laid before us, although it met the disapprobation of
by far the greater number, still we were all perfectly ready to assist
those who thought it practicable. We, however, described to them the
difficulties and dangers which must unavoidably attend their
undertaking; the prospect of detection while making the aperture in
the immediate vicinity of such a multitude of idle men, crowded
together, a large proportion of whom were always kept awake by their
restlessness and sufferings during the night; the little probability
that they would be able to travel, undiscovered, on Long Island, even
should they succeed in reaching the shore in safety; and above all,
the almost absolute impossibility of obtaining food for their
subsistence, as an application for that to our keepers would certainly
lead to detection.
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