THE PRISONERS' BANK.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 568, 7 September 1869, Page 4

THE PRISONERS' BANK.

On the south side of the river Mpdway, about a mile east of the new Chatham Dockyard Extension Works, lies a low tract of marshy lapd' intersected by creejes. The ground, here and there sparsely covered with rank grass, is, at high tide, almost covered by water ; at low water the creeks are mere muddy ditches^ and the whole place has the most i|eßpUite and uninviting appearance. With the exception of a solitary barge occasionally moored at high, water in one of the creeks therp is no sign of life, and to the passing stranger there' is no token that this spot is .th'tf resftngVplace. of hundreds who had pined in the prison ships moored, some sixfy years sin6ei in the river flowing by. From ihg fjjjct'pf tlip French prisoners, captured during thfi oid war with France, being interred in the place, it has obtained the name of the Prisoners' Bank. To the casual observer there is nothing here to indicate the presence of the dead, but upon a close inspection it will be seen that in some of the creeks the action of the tides has gradually carried away portions of the banks and laid bare the ends of coffins, leaving them protruding from the vertical surface, the water having actually scooped out the interiors and washed away the contents. It happened that during the process of excavation for the I ' extension of the dockyard at Chatham, numerous remains of the dead were discovered, and the authorities resolved to enclose apiece of ground on St. Mary's Island and raise a memorial, to compensate in some degree for the neglect with which the remains of our unfortunate prisoners had hitherto been treated. Attention was then directed to the condition of the Prisoners' Bank, and it was decided to dig up the coffins and transfer them to the ground on St. Mary's Island, which is, in future, to be kept in decent condition. Men are now engaged on this task, and about one thousand coffinri have already beeii dug up. A very old — probably the oldest inhabitant of this neighborhood told me that in one part of the Prisoners' Bank about a thousand bodies were interred, and, pointing to a spot a short distance in the rear, "about seven hundred more there," adding, "and I helped to put some of them in." The coffins were mere shells of — in some instances less than— half-inch boards, and the task -was found too great to excavate them in their entirety from the clayey soil. The lids were so slightly fastened that they were easily lifted by inserting the edge of the spade, or a pointed piece of iron, and in most cases the coffins were full of dark-colored water emitting a most sickening effluvia. So bad was this that the men were unable to work without first casting in some disinfecting fluid and letting it remain for a short time. They then removed the bones by scooping them out with a spade, putting them indiscriminately into boxes, which were then conveyed to a barge, for removal to the ground on St. Mary's Island selected for the general interment. In many places the coffins were buried in tiers, the top one being barely two feet from the surface of the ground. After the bones were removed, the shells were taken up bit by bit, and it was observed that there was but little difference in their BliO , imclaacl,-t*'Kom, tliiKvugH +.hft partial absence of water, the whole skeleton was visible, the head in some instances was found placed by the side of the body, the contractor for the job having apparentlymade but a trifling allowance in the coffins for the difference in size of individuals — to simplify work he had evidently adopted a mean standard. In the process of disinterment not a trace of clothing, not even a button, wa3 discovered ; neither was their, in any instance, a mark upon the coffins. The bodies had been thrust into the sheik with merely— as my informant told me— sawdust filled in, and then were let into the clayey bank, which was probably the nearest available point to the prison ships. On some of the skulls traces of cuts were observed, and on others. . marks which might have been caused by bullets, while a few were sawn off at the top ; but these last might have resulted from a post moiiem examination. The fact of so many being buried in such a place, and in such a manner, is an evidence of the rigours of imprisonment during the war which we waged with our neighbors at the beginning of this century, and it might be worth ascertaining whether there, is any spot in France where the remains of our own countrymen lie under like circumstances. It will be satisfactory to our neighbors to learn that some respect — however tardy— has been at last paid to' the remains of their countrymen.