The exigencies of the war, and the circumstances under which many of the men arrived at the prison, were not conducive to peace and order, and the posts of agent of the Depot and of transport officer carried great responsibility. This we can realise from an occurrence, a vivid example of the horrors of war, concerning which Captain Woodriff had to hold an inquiry as one of his first duties in connection with the Depot. Among the thousand prisoners who, when the prison was opened, were already on their way to Norman Cross from Portsmouth, Falmouth, Kinsale, and Chatham, were men who had been conveyed on board the _Marquis of Carmarthen_ transport, on which ship there had been a mutiny of the prisoners. In the fray seven men were killed and thirty-seven dangerously wounded, but the mutiny was quelled and all the prisoners accounted for, except one, who was the murderer of one of the crew. Next day he was discovered and placed in irons, with a sentry over him. He asked to be shot, and in the absence of the captain of the vessel, who protested against his wish being acceded to, the officer commanding the troops, one Lieutenant Peter Ennis of the Caithness Militia, shot the unfortunate man, and had the body thrown overboard. This happened three days after the mutiny. The matter was investigated and reported upon by Captain Woodriff at Norman Cross. The prisoners gave evidence that they had mutinied on account of the badness of the water and provisions, and complained that Inglis, or Ennis, was brutal to them. {49} The same causes were assigned for another mutiny on the _British Queen_ transport, which had to be reported upon by the agent at Norman Cross. To quell this outbreak, the mutineers were fired on by the captain’s orders, twelve being wounded, but none killed. The earliest arrivals on the 7th April 1797 were the sailors from the frigate _Réunion_ and 172 from the _Révolutionnaire_ man-of-war, which had been brought in by _The Saucy Arethusa_. These were brought by water to Yaxley. The next batch arrived on the 10th, and were landed from the barges at Peterborough, proceeding to Norman Cross guarded by troopers. The latter detachment was landed, according to Mr. Lamb’s diary, at Mr. Squire’s close on the south bank of the river at Peterborough. This Mr. Squire was later appointed the agent to look after the prisoners on parole in Peterborough and its neighbourhood.