The scheme was very simple, though I do not think it was at all difficult
of execution. The black-hole cells were beneath the prison, and we broke
through the floor, into one of them, from our bay. A large mess-chest
concealed the process, in the day-time. We worked in gangs of six, digging
and passing up the dirt into the night-tubs. These tubs we were
permitted to empty, every morning, in a tide's way, and thus we got rid of
the dirt. At the end of two months we had dug a passage, wide enough for
two abreast, some twenty or thirty yards, and were nearly ready to come up
to the surface. We now began to recruit, swearing in each man. On the
whole, we had got about four hundred names, when the project was defeated,
by that great enemy which destroys so many similar schemes, treachery. We
were betrayed, as was supposed by one of our own number.
Had we got out, the plan was to seize the heights of the island, and get
possession of the guns. This effected, it would have been easy to subdue
the guard. We then would have pushed for Citadel Hill, which commanded
Halifax. Had we succeeded there, we should have given John Bull a great
deal of trouble, though no one could say what would have been the result.
Hundreds would probably have got off, in different craft, even had the
great plan failed. We were not permitted to try the experiment, however,
for one day we were all turned out, and a party of English officers, army
and navy, entered the barracks, removed the mess-chest, and surveyed our
mine at their leisure.
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