The arrangements which have been mentioned, placed the officers and midshipmen in a state of comparative comfort; but it was otherwise with the crew. Upon the approach of winter, the seamen and marines being unprovided with clothes or bedding, and placed upon very slender diet, began to suffer severely. A little addition was made to their food by subscription amongst the officers, when they met as they did every week, at Captain Brenton’s lodgings, for divine service; and through the same fund a quantity of old tapestry, from some of the ruined houses in the neighbourhood, belonging to the ci-devant nobility, was purchased, as a covering for them at night. Again we have access to Captain Brenton’s journal. “In the middle of November the negociation for an exchange of prisoners having failed, we were ordered to march to Phalsburg, a small fortress in the Vosges mountains, which was considered a more secure place for confining the prisoners than the open town of Epinal. We had however scarcely established ourselves in lodging there, before we were again removed, and sent to Verdun, now established as a general depôt. As this place appeared to be nearer the line of our probable march to the coast for embarkation; we persuaded ourselves that this sudden removal certainly indicated an approaching exchange; and our spirits were buoyed up with the hopes, which cheered us under a very severe season. Upon our arrival, however, every prospect of release seemed to have vanished, and the dispositions that were made for the regulation of the prisoners, were evidently such as foreboded the establishment being a permanent one. We had however the comfort of a regular intercourse by letter with England; and those which I received at this time were full of affection, of piety, fortitude, and resignation. My captivity, your beloved mother viewed as the greatest blessing. She had been greatly alarmed at the state of my health, when I rejoined the Minerve the last time, and attributed my recovery to my having quitted active service, which no other event perhaps could have been the means of my doing. She also derived comfort from the idea that I was sheltered from the dangers of my profession, and from the hope of our being soon restored to each other.” In describing the state of his sailors on this march to Phalsburg, Captain Brenton says, “The weather was very severe, and numbers of the poor destitute prisoners must have perished, but for the assistance afforded to them by their officers, to which the captains of the merchant vessels very liberally contributed.