tion of the prisoners, never suffered them to be at large
on deck, and but few at a time were permitted there. This consequently
gave birth to many diseases. It was said, that on board the _Neptune_
several had died in irons; and what added to the horror of such a
circumstance was, that their deaths were concealed, for the purpose of
sharing their allowance of provisions, until chance, and the
offensiveness of a corpse, directed the surgeon, or some one who had
authority in the ship, to the spot where it lay.

A contract had been entered into by government with Messrs. Calvert,
Camden, and King, merchants of London, for the transporting of one
thousand convicts, and government engaged to pay L17 7s 6d per head for
every convict they embarked. This sum being as well for their provisions
as for their transportation, no interest for their preservation was
created in the owners, and the dead were more profitable (if profit alone
was consulted by them, and the credit of their house was not at stake)
than the living.

The following accounts of the numbers who died on board each ship were
given in by the masters:

Men Women Children
On board the _Lady Juliana_ 0 5 2
On board the _Surprise_ 42 0 0
On board the _Scarborough_ 68 0 0
On board the _Neptune_ 151 11 2
-----------------
Total 261 16 4
-----------------

All possible expedition was used to get the sick on shore; for even while
they remained on board many died. The bodies were taken over to the north
shore, and there interred.

Parties were immediately sent into the woods to collect the acid berry of
the country, which for its extreme acetosity was deemed by the surgeons a
most powerful antiscorbutic. Among other regulations, orders were given
for baking a certain quantity of flour into pound loaves, to be
distributed daily among the sick, as it was not in their power to prepare
it themselves. Wine and other necessaries being given judiciously among
those whose situations required such comforts, many of the wretches had
recourse to stratagem to obtain more than their share by presenting
themselves, under different names and appearances, to those who had the
delivery of them, or by exciting the compassion of those who could order
them.

Blankets were immediately sent to the hospital in s