352 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

We have already alluded to the poisonous and disgustingly impure nature of the water in which the prisoners' food was cooked. Equally deleterious in its effects was the water with which they were obliged to slake their constant and tormenting thirst. This was contained in a large water-butt, on the upper deck, and guarded by one of the marines, with a drawn cutlass. From the copper ladles, chained to the cask, the prisoners could drink as much as they pleased, but were not allowed to carry away more than a pint at a time. Dring estimates the daily consumption of water on board the Jersey at about seven hundred gallons, and a large gondola was constantly employed in conveying it from the Brooklyn shore.1 Brackish as it was, when brought on board, the haste and exertions of every one to procure a draught, gave rise to fearful scenes of confusion, which often called for the interposition of the guard.2 So much of the water as was not required for immediate use, was conveyed, through leathern hose, into butts, placed in the lower hold of the hulk; and to this the prisoners had recourse, when they could procure no other. These butts had never been cleaned since they were first placed there; and the foul sediment which they contained, being disturbed by every new supply which was poured in, rendered their

1 Dring (p. 91) presumes “that there water was brought from Brooklyn.” Captain Coffin (Hist. of Martyrs, p. 30) says it was brought from New York city, in a schooner called the Relief—(well-named; “for the execrable water and provisions she carried, relieved many of my brave but unfortunate countrymen, by death, from the misery and savage treatment they endured”)—water which, he affirms, was worse than he had ever seen on a three years’ voyage to the East Indies; “water, the scent of which would have discomposed the olfactory nerves of a Hottentot; while within a cable’s length of the ship, on Long Island, there was running before our eyes, as though intended to tantalize us, as fine, pure, and wholesome water as any man would wish to drink.” General Jeremiah Johnson, in his Rev. Recoll., states that the Jersey was supplied daily from his spring, referred to above by Coffin. And this was probably the case—the water being brought from Now York only when the Wallabout spring was temporarily exhausted, or when the boats were otherwise employed. Johnson says: “The water-boat of the Jersey watered from the spring daily, when it could be done. Four prisoners were usually brought on shore to fill the casks, attended by a guard. The prisoners were frequently permitted to come to the house to get milk and food, and often brought letters privately from the ship. By these the sufferings on board were revealed. Supplies of vegetables were frequently collected by Mr. Remsen (the benevolent proprietor of the mill) for the prisoners; and small sums of money were sent on board by the writer's father to his friends, by means of these watering parties.”

2 Dring (p. 92), and Roswell Palmer, in Dawson’s Dring (p. 179), and others.