Thomas Dring Archives - Journal of the American Revolution

Tag: Thomas Dring

Posted on March 11, 2019March 11, 2019

Walking Skeletons: Starvation on Board the Jersey Prison Ship

Eighteen-year-old Andrew Sherburne’s younger brother, Samuel, guided Sherburne into a room away from the rest of the family to help wash and dress him. As he helped his older brother peel off his ragged, lice-infested clothing, Samuel glimpsed Sherburne’s emaciated body. Shocked, the younger boy fell back. “He having taken off my clothes and seen […]

by Katie Turner Getty

Posted on January 10, 2019January 9, 2019

Death Had Almost Lost Its Sting: Disease on the Prison Ship Jersey

“There, rebels, there is a cage for you.”[1] Forced to row under guard of British marines, a boatload of captured American sailors approached the forbidding black hulk of the old British warship, HMS Jersey. Nicknamed “The Hell Afloat,”[2] the Jersey and other decommissioned British warships were moored in Wallabout Bay, just off Brooklyn, New York, where […]

by Katie Turner Getty