412 
A VOYAGE TO 
[At Mauritius. 
1805 . 
May. 
June. 
Mr. Campbell, commander of the American ship James, bound 
to New York, liberally gave Mr. Aken and some other prisoners a 
passage free of expense;* and the paroles they were required to sign 
laying no other injunction than that of not serving until legally ex- 
changed, the books, &c. above mentioned, with many letters both 
public and private, were safely embarked ; and on the 20th in the 
evening, the ship got under sail, to my great satisfaction. Of the 
ten officers and men who had come with me to Mauritius, only lour 
now remained ; one was in the hospital with a broken leg, another 
with me in the Garden Prison, and two were shut up at the Grande 
Riviere. A seaman had been allowed to go with Mr. Aken in the 
James, and all our endeavours were used to obtain permission for 
the two in prison to embark also, but without effect ; about a month 
afterwards, however, they Were suffered to enter on board an Ame- 
rican ship, at the request of the commander. 
On June 4, a fortnight' after Mr. Aken had sailed, captain 
Osborn again came off the island, with His Majesty’s ships Tre- 
mendous, Grampus, Pitt, and Terpsichore; and an embargo on all 
foreign vessels was, as usual the immediate consequence. On the 
eqrd, the ship Thetis arrived from Bengal under cartel colours, 
having on board captain Bergeret, with such of his officers and people 
as had not been killed in the action he had sustained against our 
frigate the St. Fiorenzo. This arrival animated the spirits of all the 
prisoners in the island ; and the return of my friend Bergeret even 
* It gives me pleasure to say, that almost the whole of the American commanders 
were ready to accommodate the English prisoners who, from time to time, obtained 
leave to depart, and the greater number without any other expense than that of laying in 
provisions for themselves ; some were received on board as officers for wages, and 
others had a table found for them without any specified duty being required. In most 
cas s these were beneficent actions, for, as will readily be imagined, the greater part of 
the prisoners had no means of obtaining money in Mauritius ; the military officers, how- 
ever, and those who had money at their disposal, were required to pay for their passages, 
and in some cases, dear enough. 
