The deponent further saith,
that the bilge water was very injurious in the hold, was muddy and
dirty, and never was changed or sweetened during the whole time he was
there, nor, as he was informed and believes to be true, for many years
before; for fear, as it was reported, the provisions might be injured
thereby; that the sick in the hospital part of the said ship Jersey,
had no sheets of Russia, or any other linen, nor beds nor bedding
furnished them; and those who had no beds of their own, of whom there
were great numbers, were not even allowed a hammock, but were obliged
to lie on the planks; that he was on board the said prison ship when
Captain Robert Harris and others, with David Sproat, the commissary of
prisoners, came on board her, and that none of them went or attempted
to go below decks, in said ship, to see the situation of the
prisoners, nor did they ask a single question respecting the matter,
to this deponent's knowledge or belief; for that he was present the
whole time they were on board, and further the deponent saith not.
"John Cochran"
"Theodore McKean C. J.
It seems singular that Sproat should have resorted to such a
contemptible trick, which deceived few if any persons, for the
reputation of the Jersey was too notorious for such a refutation to
carry weight on either side.
In the meantime the mortality on board continued, and, by a moderate
computation, two-thirds of her wretched occupants died and were buried
on the shore, their places being taken by fresh victims, from the many
privateers that were captured by the British almost daily.
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