Extract of a Letter from a Master of a Ship, dated Bayonne, (a City of Gascony in France)
Nov. 30, to his Friend in London.
Am still close confined in this Prison, as are all our Masters and Men without Distinction: Our Usage differs nothing from that of the worst Criminals in England, Irons only excepted. No one is permitted to speak to us without the Commandant’s Leave: Our Letters are all opened and read before they are deliver’d to us; and we are not allowed to purchase any Provisions or Necessaries from the Town’s People, but must take every Thing from the Commandant’s Mistress, who charges us at the Rate of 2s. for what she buys in the Town for 6d. The French Commanders, who are prisoners in England, write to their Friends in France, that they are close confined there, which is the Reason of our Confinement here; but you informed me in your last, that they were all at Liberty at Petersfield, and other Places, upon their Parole of Honour, and that two of them with a Surgeon had been advertised in the Papers for running away. It is evident that they have no Honour at all, or they would not have deserted, nor have propagated such a palpable Falsehood, which injures us extremely; for we humbly conceive we are entitled by the Law of Nations to the same good Usage here, as the French partake of in England, and as this is a National Concern, it ought to be truly represented. There have been built and fitted out in this Port, within these three Months, no less than ten Privateers, carrying from 16 to 24 Guns upon one Deck; and if there is not a Cartel of Exchange settled soon, I am afraid that many of our common Sailors, who are now above 200 Prisoners in this Castle, will be induced by Threats or Promises to take on in the Enemy’s Service, where they are offer’d great Encouragement.’