The seamen above alluded to, to whom the rations of the convict guard are proportioned, are those serving on board His Majesty’s ships and vessels of war. All that long list of extra comforts, before mentioned, to which convicts by their regulations are entitled, are in the case of the soldiers entirely withheld; for which reason, and indeed for a great many others, the situation of the prisoners is much more comfortable than that of their guard. Of this superiority in point of living, considering the casualties and uncertainty of supply many of them had formerly experienced, most of them express usually a strong regret at the termination of their voyage, persuaded that few situations on shore could equal the comfort they had enjoyed on board. When, after the boisterous stir of stormy passion has subsided, and that religious and moral instruction have stifled the last gasp of the insidious serpent which would whisper them back again to sin and wickedness, this expression of regret, as I have known it from the people on board the Neptune, is infinitely more strong, and the sense of separation from the favourite scene of their reformation more acute. Many circumstances connected with the present system of transportation appear, in my opinion, so much deserving of attention, that it may be allowed to introduce them here, in a cursory manner, leaving their elucidation to the progress of incident, during the voyage to which they belong. In the first instance I consider the situation of juvenile offenders, under the present regulations on board of male convict ships, as less fitly directed than their peculiar circumstances require. This is, that a portion of the prison be set apart for them, and confined so as to prevent any intercourse between them and the men. The reasons advanced in favour of this separation seemed to me at first view so plausible, that I unhesitatingly gave the measure my warm approbation. It has fallen to me, however, to witness its pernicious effects, and to know that nothing can be contrived to injure them more both in health and morals, than that very regulation; that, so far from being corrupted by an intercourse with the men, they are more likely to be checked and improved by their society. With this conviction on my mind, I would, in all deference to superior authority, presume to advise that on board a male convict ship there should be no separate prison for boys.