The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn
Page 31
Gooch, William, 13
Grant, “Dame,” 144–146
Graves, Samuel, 31, 43–44
graveyard, at Wallabout Bay, 80
Graydon, Alexander, 32
Great Expectations (Dickens), 6
Greene, Nathanael, 23, 55, 190, 223n
Greyhound (privateer ship), 69
guards aboard the Jersey, 117–119
Independence Day massacre and, 152–155
loyalists as, 145
prisoner escapes and, 159, 160–161
habeas corpus, 133
Hale, Nathan, 38–39
Hamilton, Alexander, 220
Hancock, John, 21
Hannah (merchant ship), 55
Hawkins, Christopher, 88
on boarding the Jersey, 96
on diseases afflicting prisoners, 120–121
early life, 48–49
escape from the Jersey, 163–168, 181
on few survivors of the Jersey, 183
on food aboard the Jersey, 106, 107
impressment into Royal Navy, 95–96
life after war, 229
on memory of the Jersey, 225
on overcrowded conditions on the Jersey, 123
prison ship memoir, 7–8, 229
as privateer crew member, 49–51, 96
taken as prisoner, 51, 95, 96
Heath, William, 124, 211
Hessian mercenaries, 20, 20n
Battle of Brooklyn and, 23–25
as Jersey guards, 117, 118
as prisoners, 141
treatment of American prisoners, 32
History Channel, 217
A History of American Privateers (Maclay), 46n
Hitchcock, Thomas, 160
HMS Admiral Duff, 62–63
HMS Amphion, 72
HMS Argo, 42
HMS Asia, 95
HMS Belisarius, 52–53, 98, 208
HMS Bristol, 81
HMS Chatham, 76, 81
HMS Clyde, 81
HMS Discovery, 75
HMS Fairy, 70
HMS Falconer, 125
HMS Falmouth, 81, 160, 185, 216n
HMS Frederick, 81, 125, 126
HMS Gaspee, 131
HMS Glasgow, 76, 81
HMS Good Hope, 81, 94, 97, 125, 158–159
HMS Grosvenor, 76
HMS Holderness, 66
HMS Hunter, 81, 122, 125, 201, 207, 214, 216n
HMS Jersey (hospital ship), 17, 28, 82
HMS Jersey (prison ship), 8–9
boarding of prisoners, 90–95
burial detail, 112–115
care of sick, 121–123
crew of, 116–117
death toll, 211–217
decaying in waters off Brooklyn, 208–209
diseases aboard, 98–100, 101, 120–123, 170–171
escapes/escape attempts, 156–162, 163–178, 181
fate of prisoner commissaries after the war, 226–229
fights among prisoners, 123
food preparation aboard, 107–109
food rations for prisoners, 86, 103–108, 154
guards, 117–119
historical accounts of, 190–191
hopelessness among prisoners aboard, 127–129
lack of hygiene for prisoners, 119–120
memoirs of prisoners, 7–8, 229–234
memorials and tombs, 4n, 5, 219–225
nickname for (‘Hell Afloat”), 9
nighttime conditions for prisoners, 85–86
notorious reputation of, 72
officers as prisoners, 86, 87, 88–89, 94
overcrowding aboard, 123, 124
physical condition of, 83–85, 93
prisoner bylaws aboard, 88–89, 147
prisoner death rate/death toll, 123–124, 144, 149, 211–217
prisoner decks, 86–87
prisoner exchanges, 197–205
prisoner work aboard, 110–112
privateer prisoners aboard, 47, 77, 88, 135, 143
rallying patriots to cause and, 183–191
release of prisoners from, 207–208
remains discovered years after war, 218–219, 223–224
resistance among prisoners, 151–155
survivors accounts, 183–186
as symbol of British oppression, 9
threat of imprisonment aboard, 9
visits from “Dame Grant,” 144–146
War of Jenkins’ War and, 15–16
water for prisoners, 107, 108, 109–110
See also Andros, Thomas; Dring, Thomas; Fox, Ebenezer; Hawkins, Christopher; Sherburne, Andrew
HMS Jersey (warship), 82
armaments and classification of, 16–17
HMS John, 81, 83, 216n
HMS Judith, 76
HMS Kitty, 80
HMS Levity, 192–193
HMS Lord Rochford, 42, 76
HMS Maidstone, 95–96
HMS May-Day, 64
HMS Mentor, 42, 76
HMS Pacific, 42, 76
HMS Perseverance, 81
HMS Prince of Wales, 81, 216n
HMS Princess Caroline, 15
HMS Providence, 81
HMS Roebuck, 64, 65, 76
HMS Scheldt, 81
HMS Scorpion, 81, 125, 160, 207, 213, 214, 216n
HMS Sphinx, 51, 95
HMS Strombolo, 81, 125, 155, 207, 214, 216n
HMS Weymouth, 125, 127
HMS Whitby, 77–80, 189
HMS Woodlands, 81
Hopkins, Francis, 35
hospital ships, 17, 28, 81, 82, 121, 125–127
Howe, Richard “Black Dick,” 20, 22, 27, 141–142
Howe, William
American prisoners and, 29
battle for New York and, 20, 22–26, 54, 75
cartels and, 193
Hale and, 38
hulking ships to be used as prisons, 75–76
Jefferson and, 139–140
military occupation of New York City and, 27–28
prisoner exchanges and, 140, 141–142
provision shortages and, 134
transfer of prisoners to vessels, 42
treatment of American prisoners and, 34–35, 184
Washington’s complaints about treatment of prisoners and, 40, 41, 132, 136–138, 139
Hulk Bill (1776), 75
impressment, by Royal Navy, 42, 95, 139, 148–151, 195, 219n, 230
Independence Day massacre, 151–155
inoculation, smallpox, 15, 97–98, 99, 122–123
Intolerable Acts (1774), 186
La Isabella (patrol boat), 12
Jackson, John, 218–219, 220
Jay, John, 206
Jefferson, Thomas, 139–140, 213
Jenkins, Robert, 12–13, 12n
“John Bull,” 50n
Johnson, Jeremiah, 109
Jones, John Paul, 91, 186
Jones, Thomas, 35
Jumonville Affair, 21n
Kelley, John, 57–58
Kingfisher (warship), 44
King’s College (New York City), 30
Knox, Henry, 19, 210
Laird, David, 116, 226
Laurens, Henry, 206, 214
Laurens, John, 139
Lee, Charles, 21, 133n, 134
Lemisch, Jesse, 215–216
Lenox, Robert, 228n
de Lezo, Blas, 13–14
Lincoln, Abraham, 2–3
Lindsay, Samuel, 32
Little, James, 80
Livingston’s Sugar House (New York City), 30
Loring, Elizabeth “Betsey,” 35, 35n
Loring, Joshua, 91, 92
life after war, 226
prisoner exchanges and, 140, 142, 196
reimbursement request, 229
treatment of American prisoners and, 34–35, 40, 104
use of ships as prisons and, 42, 78
Lossing, Benson, 217
Loudon, Samuel, 212
Lowenthal, Larry, 214
Loy
alists
in British army, 183, 183n
distribution of in colonies, 183
escaped prisoners and, 166–167
intelligence provided by, 26
as Jersey guards, 118–119, 145
in New York City, 27
number of, 181–182
reporting on escapees, 159
Tories, 159n
Maclay, Edgar Stanton, 46n
Magaw, Robert, 26
Manchester, Joseph, 58
Manhattan
battle for, 25–26
fire in, 27–28
See also New York City
Martyr Monument Association, 222
Mason, Aaron, 48
McKean, Thomas, 181, 182
McKim, Mead and White, 224
memoirs, of time aboard the HMS Jersey, 7–8, 229–234
memorials, to Jersey prisoners, 4n, 5, 219–225
men-of-war ships, 45
mess, 86, 104
registering as, 98, 99
Milton, John, 102n
Mitchell, James, 100
Mitchell, Samuel L., 219
Moncrief, James, 193
Morris, Robert, 91, 139, 228
Mount Vernon, 15
mutiny aboard prison ships, 158–159
Needham (ship), 36
New Bridewell Jail (New York City), 30
New Jail (“the Provost,” New York City), 30
Boudinot’s tour of, 40–41
warden of, 35–39 (see also Cunningham, William)
New Jersey Gazette (newspaper), 161
newspapers
accounts of conditions aboard prison ships, 9, 79–80, 124–125, 183–186
accounts of prisoner escapes, 161–162
accounts of prisoner exchanges, 192–194
propaganda in loyalist, 187–188
New York City
American defense of, 20–26
as base of British operations during Revolutionary War, 20, 26–27, 182–183
British evacuation of, 209–210
British military occupation of, 27–28
prisons in, 29–31, 41–42
See also Manhattan
New York Journal (newspaper), 9, 184
New York Packet (newspaper), 212
Nichols, Stephen, 127
Nightingale (co-owner of Chance), 233
North, Frederick (Lord), 18–19
North Act (1777), 133
officers as prisoners aboard the Jersey, 86, 87, 88–89, 94
Old Mill Prison (Plymouth, England), 70–71
Old Sugar House (New York City), 6
Olmsted, Frederick Law, 222
Olney, Obadiah, 96
Onderdonk, Henry, 212
orlop, 120n
Paine, Thomas, 186
Palmer, Eliakim, 160
Palmer, Roswell, 209
Palmer (young sailor), 52, 53, 94, 98, 99–100, 232
Paradise Lost (Milton), 102n
pardons, 130–131
Parker, Timothy, 78
Parliament, on prisoners of war, 197
Parsons, Samuel Holden, 22, 194–195
patriot cause, publicity about conditions on prison ships and, 80, 162, 179–183
Patterson, James, 140
Peckham, Howard, 214, 216
Peloponnesian War, Pericles’s funeral oration and, 1–2, 3
Pennsylvania Journal (newspaper), 9
Pennsylvania Packet (newspaper), 133, 185–186, 212
Pericles’s funeral oration, 1–2, 3
Perry, Ichabod, 79
Philbrook, Thomas, 118
Pintard, Lewis, 39
Pitt, William, 189
Porto Bello, British sack of, 13
Potter, Moury, 49–51
Prescott, Richard, 132–133n, 140
press gangs, 149–150
prison commissaries
making money off prisoners, 35, 36–37
treatment of American prisoners and, 34–39
See also Cunningham, William; Loring, Joshua; Sproat, David
prisoner exchanges, 131–135, 192–193
after the war, 229
Andros and, 171
British interest in, 140–143
British policy on, 195–197
cartels and, 193–194, 197
Dring and, 199–205
European exchanges, 134–135
Sherburne and, 197–199
Washington and, 140, 141–143, 187–188, 189, 194–195, 196, 199, 201–202, 203, 204
prisons, in New York City, 29–31, 41–42
Prison Ship Martyrs’ Monument, 5
prison ships
British, 6–7
Carleton and, 207
conditions aboard, 78–80
conversion of British warships to, 17
death rates aboard, 87
history of, 73–75
HMS Whitby, 77–80, 189
introduction of in America, 75–77
memoirs of experiences on, 7–8, 229–234
reports on conditions of, 187–189
set afire, 80–81, 158–159
in Wallabout Bay, 6, 8, 42, 76–77
See also HMS Jersey (prison ship)
privateers, 45–47
as main population on prison ships, 47, 77, 88, 135, 143
preying on fellow Americans, 177
Spanish, 14
Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition (1775), 19
propaganda, British, 187–188
Protector (American warship), 62–65, 149
“the Provost” (prison), 30
Boudinot’s tour of, 40–41
warden of, 35–39 (see also Cunningham, William)
public support for Revolutionary War, 80, 162, 179–183
Putnam, Israel, 21, 23, 193
Ranger (American warship), 60, 65–68
Ranlet, Philip, 227–228
Rapelje, Joris, Jansen, 76
rations
food, 86, 103–108, 154
water, 33, 98, 108, 109–110
Rebecca (merchant craft), 12
religion aboard the Jersey, proxy preacher and, 147–148
religious faith, Andros and, 128, 146–147, 178, 230–231
Remembrancer (periodical), 46
Remsen, Henry, Jr., 213
Remsen’s Mill (Brooklyn), 218
resistance among prisoners aboard the Jersey, 151–155
Revere, Paul, 186
Revolutionary War
American citizen army and, 19–20
American privateers and, 45–47
British propaganda, 187–188
British surrender and peace negotiations, 206
British use of prison ships during, 6–7, 75–77
early battles, 19
historical remembrance of, 6
newspaper accounts of prison ship conditions and support for, 80, 162, 179–183
peace treaty and British withdrawal from New York City, 209–210
pensions for veterans of, 7
public support for, 179–183
Royal Navy’s role in, 43–45
See also under Battle of
Rhinelander Sugar House (New York City), 30
Riddy, Richard, 213
Rivington’s Gazette (newspaper), 158, 207
Roberts, Charles, 65
Robinson, Jack, 198
Rodney, George, 195, 228
Romaine, Benjamin, 220, 221
Roosevelt Island, 203n
Royal Navy
American privateers and, 46–47
capture of American ships, 41
classification of warships, 16
impressment and, 42, 95, 139, 148–151, 195, 219n, 230
role in Revolutionary War, 43–45
siege of Cartagena and, 13–14
Samson (ship), 53
Saratoga, British surrender at, 141
schooners, privateers and, 46
Scorpion (privateer ship), 71–72
scurvy, 105, 120
Searle, Ambrose, 27
Searles, John, 160
Seven Years’ War, 73n
See also French and Indian War
Sheffield, Robert, 78–79, 185
Sherburne, Andrew, 88, 146
on boarding the Jersey, 94–95
on bread given prisoners, 106
on care of sick aboard the Jersey, 121, 122
as Continental Navy sailor, 60
early life, 59
on hospital ships, 126–127
imprisoned in Charleston, 68
imprisonment in England, 70–71
imprisonment on the Jersey, 72
memoir and life after war, 7, 229–230
prisoner exchange and, 197–199
release from imprisonment in Charleston, 68–69
release from imprisonment in England, 71
as sailor on warship Ranger, 65–68
as sailor with privateers, 69–72
on temporary transfers off the Jersey, 111–112
visit to site of incarceration, 209
on water rations, 110
Sherburne, Samuel, 198–199
Shy, John, 190
sick, care of aboard the Jersey, 121–123
Skinner, Abraham, 39, 200, 229
slavery, in New York City, 30
smallpox
inoculation against, 15, 97–98, 99, 122–123
prisoners aboard the Jersey and, 97, 120, 143
Washington and, 15
Smith, Paul H., 181–182
smoking, among American prisoners, 89
Society of Old Brooklynites, 216, 223, 224
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument (New York City), 5
Spain
aid to Americans, 87n
rivalry with Britain, 11–12
war with Britain (War of Jenkins’ Ear), 12–15
Spanish privateer attacks on British ships, 14
Sproat, David, 91–92
clergy visits and, 146
Cooper’s criticism of, 148
“Dame Grant” and, 144
death toll on the Jersey and, 213
life after war, 227–229
prisoner exchanges and, 142, 195, 196, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204
recordkeeping on prisoners, 211, 213
release of prisoners from the Jersey and, 207, 208
treatment of prisoners, 42, 92, 103, 104, 118, 188
Stamp Act (1765), 18, 59, 186
“The Star-Spangled Banner” (anthem), 4
Staten Island, British on, 22
Sterrett, William, 79
Stirling, Lord, 23
The Struggle for American Independence (Fisher), 181n
Sturmey, Thomas, 100
sugar houses, use as prisons, 30
Sullivan, John, 23, 55, 132
sutlers, 146
tafferel, 111n, 120n
taffrail, 120n
Tammany Society of New York, 219–220
Taylor, George, 211
Thorp, David, 79
Thucydides, 2
Tillinghast, John, 202, 204–205
Tomb of the Patriots, 221
Tories, 159n
torture, of American prisoners, 37, 39
Treaty of Seville (1729), 12
Trenton