FRENCH CONVICT SHIPS.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 711, 9 August 1870, Page 2

FRENCH CONVICT SHIPS.

The following are a few of the arrangements on board French ships of war when employed in the conveyance of convicts. The frigate Sybille recently left' Toulon, and sailed for New Caledonia, with 180 convicts. Its decks presented a combination of the most severe means for the safe keeping of these unfortunate persons, with- the. most intelligent' carje for their bodily welfare. The deck, as in passenger ships, is covered with hen-coops, crates*, rafts, &c, and no cannon is to be seen/ with the exception of four aft, and ready to fire on the convicts if , in their walks on deck, they should venture to pass the mainmast. In the fore part of the ship are two gigantic distilling machines, capable of furnishing 2500 French pints daily, so that there is abundance of fresh water. Here the convicts are obliged to wash three times a week in great tubs 6P cold or tepid water, according to the, climate throngh which the 'ship is passing. Hero also are immense casks of a beverage acidulated with lemon juice... to quench thirst and ward off scurvy. Between decks >the usual rows of cannon are replaced by four large cagef,,. in which the convicts are confined.' They^ are strongly built of iron bars, which arfe crossed with wooden ones, so that they cannot be forced apart, and contain chaira, &c., and could hold about 200 people. In each of these cages hammocks ' are suspended every evening to the bars, one hammock to two prisoners, who sleep in it by turns. These four cages are separated from each other, and from the ship's sides, by a wide passage where warders pace about night and day, iirmed with revolvers and chassepoW On this deck also there are two cannon aft. The^ cage for women is furnished with thin/ iron shutters. In case of an epidemic a cage is always prepared, in which the? sick can be kept apart from their companions. There are on this deck 14 berths for such of the relations of corvicts as have obtained leave to accompany them to the colony. The air circulates freely between decks, as the port-holes are left open whenever the weather permits, but these - are strongly barred. This precaution is not so unnecessary as it seems. On ~ board the Alceste two convicts jumped into the sea six miles from land, not having accurately judged the distance by the eye. They were never heard of again. The discipline is very severe ou board the. transport-^- 120 soldiers and warders'' art? I employed to keep perfect order, and -the^ 170 men forming the crew would Help in case of need. They are armed with ; si*-Vy bfoxelled revolvera, and the convicts only come to the upper deck in relays of fifty. They may not go forward beyond a' certain point, and while they walk a guard armed with . chassepots observe ..■ their slightest movement. The simplest punish- % ment to inflict on a convict would be a deprivation #)f wine ; but from regard ; to health, a certain number of blows with a rope's end have been substituted for this. - '^ It is difficult on board to find anyone to carry out a sentence. If thete were a regular executioner he would be killed, if hot on the voyage, at least ou arriving at- .^ the colony. ' The head of the executioner *■.

is therefore placed in a bag, so that he may not be recognised.. He is always a convict, whose name is known only to the commandant and to the second in command. The punishment i 3 witnessed by ten convicts from each cage. The Sybille had on board move than 600 human beings, passengers, crew, soldiers, and convicts. Among these were some criminal celebrities—Consauve, the assassin of M. Samson, of Toulon ; and Parnolo, who killed an agent of police in that town ; the Corporal Thouvenin, who endeavored to explode the magazine of Pondichery ; an old priest ; and Janson of Nancy, a student in theology, aa assassin, and an incendiary.