morning, noon
They were tied up by the thumbs so that their toes just touched the deck , and they were compelled to sustain the weight of the body either on their thumbs or their toes for hours at a time . They were ` bucked , ' ` gagged , ' and ` paddled , ' and ` cold-showered , ' and treated to other brutalities which have been known in the English army and navy for a long time . In spite of their liability to punishment , many of them paid little attention to the rules , and some were continually yelling in the most horrible manner , and day and night the sound of their voices was heard . `` Over the hatchway was a wheel by which the food of the convicts was lowered into the hold at morning , noon , and night ; at other times it was used for raising in an iron cage , from the lower decks , convicts who were allowed exercise , but the weight of whose irons prevented their ascending by the companionways . Many of them wore ` punishment balls ' attached to their irons . The punishment balls and chain together weighed about eighty pounds , and frequently bowed the prisoner double . `` The heaviest leg irons weighed thirty-five pounds , and some of them forty pounds .