I must say that I was always prepared, had I been caught, to have made the best of things, to have given the officers who came to take possession all that they had fairly gained by luck having declared on their side, and to have had a farewell glass of champagne with the new tenant at the late owner's expense.

The treatment received by persons captured engaged in running the blockade differed very materially.

If a _bona fide_ American man-of-war of the old school made the capture, they were always treated with kindness by their captors.

But there were among the officers of vessels picked up hurriedly and employed by the Government a very rough lot, who rejoiced in making their prisoners as uncomfortable as possible.

They seemed to have only one good quality, and this was that there were among them many good freemasons, and frequently a prisoner found the advantage of having been initiated into the brotherhood.
The 'D----n's' crew fell into very good hands, and till they arrived at New York were comfortable enough; but the short time they spent in prison there, while the vessel was undergoing the mockery of a trial in the Admiralty Court, was far from pleasant.