MY messmates chuckled at the scene; and it was subsequently explained to me that this trick of exchanging was a common trick amongst prisoners. I suffered much inconvenience in consequence for several days; and, for want of my pot to receive them, was deprived of my rations of cocoa, tea and soup.
At length I got another; for, happening to mention the trick which had been played me to one of the prisoners, a rough fellow with a most ferocious cast of countenance, he insisted upon my taking his, saying he would try to get the use of his messmates’, and reminding me that I had written a letter for him at Woolwich — a circumstance which it is not remarkable that I had forgotten, as I had written at least fifty, while in the river.* I had, indeed, frequent proofs that a kindness is sometimes long remembered, and often gratefully requited, by even the worst of criminals.
abridged
The convicts were loaded onto the ship at Woolwich on the river Thames, where they spent some days (in constant hope of a reprieve, and corresponding with their families) before their departure, the date of which was a closely-guarded secret. It was July 6th, 1844.