ore. Very few of these ever
succeeded in reaching the land, as they were either carried to the
bottom by the weight of the irons, or were captured by the guard boats
that constantly surrounded the hulks. Most of the convicts were
confined in separate cells, and the 'history' of each convict was posted
on the door of his cell.

"Nearly the whole interior of the ship was thus divided into cells, and
when candles and lanterns were removed the places were in pitchy
darkness. I went on board the _Success_ one day, while she was on
exhibition here, long after she had given up her old occupation, and as
a matter of curiosity, I had myself shut up in one of the cells and the
light removed. I told them to leave me in for ten minutes only, not
longer.

"It was on the lower deck, where not a ray of light could come in, and
the place where they locked me in was one of the 'black holes' in which
prisoners were confined from one to twenty-eight days on bread and
water.

"As soon as they had locked me in and went away, I regretted that I had
made the suggestion. You have heard of its being so dark that you could
feel the darkness; well, that was the case down there. I felt the
darkness pressing upon me, and the air was very thick and heavy. I felt
an overwhelming desire to light a match, and discovered that I had no
matches in my pocket.

"One, two, three, and four minutes passed away, and I had had all I
wanted. I kicked and hammered at the thick door, and when it was opened
and I went out of the hold and up on deck, I was nearly blinded. How in
the world a man could stay in one of those places for a single day, let
alone twenty-eight days, without losing his reason is more than I can
understand."

Harry asked if all the prisoners were kept in solitary cells on board of
these hulks.

"Most, but not all, of them were confined in this way. There is a space
at the stern, and another in the center of the ship, heavily barred with
iron, where those who were considered utterly irreclaimable were huddled
together. It would almost seem as though the authorities deliberately
put them there in order that they should kill each other, as fights
among them were very frequent and not a few were murdered by their
companions. They did not work, they were simply in prison, that was all.

"The punishments that the convicts received were various. They had the
dark cells and bread and water of which I have told you, and then they
had floggings