LATE A SURGEON ON BOARD AN AMERICAN PRIVATEER, WHO WAS CAPTURED AT SEA BY THE BRITISH, IN MAY, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN, AND WAS CONFINED FIRST, AT MELVILLE ISLAND, HALIFAX, THEN AT CHATHAM, IN ENGLAND ... AND LAST, AT DARTMOOR PRISON. INTERSPERSED WITH OBSERVATIONS, ANECDOTES AND REMARKS, TENDING TO ILLUSTRATE THE MORAL AND POLITICAL CHARACTERS OF THREE NATIONS. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A CORRECT ENGRAVING OF DARTMOOR PRISON, REPRESENTING THE MASSACRE OF AMERICAN PRISONERS, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. "

District Clerk's Office. (L. S.) Be it remembered, that on the sixth day of March, A. D. 1816, and in the fortieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Rowe & Hooper , of the said District have deposited in this Office, the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit: "A Journal of a Young Man of Massachusetts, late a Surgeon on board an American privateer, who was captured at sea by the British, in May, eighteen hundr

Had the agent informed us of the orders of his government, and made us acquainted with our destination, we should have braced our minds up to the occasion, and submitted to our hard fate like men. We should have said to each other in the language of Shakespeare—" if these things be necessities, let's meet them like necessities ;" but to be deceived and duped, and cajoled into a state of great joy and exultation, and then, in an instant, precipitated into the dark and cold regions of despair, was

Our prison ship contained a pretty well organized community. We were allowed to establish among ourselves an internal police for our own comfort and self government.—And here we adhered to the forms of our own adored constitution; for in place of making a King, Princes, Dukes, Earls, and Lords, we elected a President , and twelve Counsellors; who, having executive as well as legislative powers, we called Committee men . But instead of four years, they were to hold their offices but four weeks; a

I come now to a delicate subject; and shall speak accordingly, with due caution; I mean the character and conduct of Mr. Beasly , the American Agent for prisoners. He resides in the city of London, thirty-two miles from this place. There have been loud and constant complaints made of his conduct towards his countrymen, suffering confinement at three thousand miles distance from all they hold most dear and valuable; and he but half a day's journey from us. Mr. Beasly knew that there were some tho

It is now the last day of the year 1813; and we live pretty comfortably. Prisoners of war, confined in an old man-of-war hulk, must not expect to sleep on beds of down; or to fare sumptuously every day, as if we were at home with our indulgent mothers and sisters. All things taken into consideration, I believe we are nearly as well treated here, in the river Medway, as the British prisoners are in Salem or Boston; not quite so well fed with fresh meat, and a variety of vegetables, because this c

It is now the last day of February, 1814. The severity of an English winter, which is generally milder than the winters of New-England, is past; and we are as comfortable as can be expected on board a prison ship; we have a few cents a day to buy coffee, sugar or tobacco; add to these, we have the luxury of newspapers, which is a high gratification to the well known curiosity of a genuine Yankee , by which cant term we always mean a New-England man. We have been laughed at, by the British travel

April 30th, 1814. —The good effects of the abolition of all the apparatus of gambling were more and more apparent. Those who were heretofore employed merely in rattling of the dice and shuffling of cards, were now occupied in matters more becoming a rational and accountable being. They are now busily employed in reading, writing, drawing, and in studying arithmetic and navigation. Our ship begins to wear the appearance of a seminary of learning; for we have established numerous schools in variou

The month of April, which is just past, is like our April in New England, raw, cold, or as the English call it, sour .—But their month of May, which is now arrived, is pleasanter by far, than ours. By all that I can observe, I conclude that the vernal season of this part of the Island of Britain, is full fifteen days, if not twenty, earlier than that of Boston. I conjecture that this spot corresponds with Philadelphia. The Medway, though a small river in the eyes of an inhabitant of the new worl

In consequence of various attempts to escape prison, and of the late daring enterprise at noon-day, the officers of this ignoble fleet of prison ships grew very uneasy.—They, doubtless, felt that there was neither honor nor pleasure, but much danger, in this sort of service. It was often said among them, that they felt perfectly safe when they had several thousand French prisoners under their charge. These lively people passed their time in little ingenious manufactures, and in gaming; and seeme

August 30th. —Drafts continue to be made from this ship to be sent off to Dartmoor Prison. There are but few of us remaining, and we are every day in expectation of removal. All go off with evident reluctance, from an apprehension that the change will be for the worse. It is the "untried scene," that fills us with anxiety. We are more disposed to bear our present ills, "than fly to others which we know not of." Oh, how we envy the meanest looking wretch we see, crawling on the shore, gathering s

October 2d, 1814. —We were now ordered to pick up our duds and get all ready to embark in certain gun-brigs that had anchored along side of us; and an hundred of us were soon put on board, and the tide favouring, we gently drifted down the river Medway. It rained, and not being permitted to go below, and being thinly clad, we were wet to the skin. When the rain ceased, our commander went below, and returned, in a short time, gaily equipped in his full uni form, cockade and dirk. He mounted the p

The establishment of prison-ships at Chatham is broken up, and the last of the prisoners were marched from Plymouth to this place, the 30th of November. They were marched from that place to this, in one day, half leg deep in mud. Some lost their shoes; others, to preserve them, took them off, and carried them in their hands. When they arrived here, they were indeed objects of pity; nevertheless they were immediately shut up in a cold, damp prison, without any bedding, or any of the ordinary conv

Some, to whom I had shown my Journal in manuscript, have thought that I had, now and then, expressed my feelings too unguardedly against some of the subjects of Great Britain, and some of my own countrymen. In consequence of this friendly remark, I have struck out a few passages, but have not been able to comply with all the wishes of my connexions. But, after all, had a political cant phrase or two been omitted, some good people would have been gratified, and the publication not the worse for i