The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn

Moored off the coast of Brooklyn, the derelict HMS Jersey was a living hell for thousands of Americans either captured by the British or accused of disloyalty. Crammed below deck without light or fresh air, the disease-ridden prisoners were scarcely given food and water. More Americans died in its ghastly hold than on all the war's battlefields.Throughout the colonies, the mere mention of the ship sparked a fear and loathing of British troops that, paradoxically, helped rally public support for the war. Utilizing hundreds of accounts culled from old newspapers, diaries, and military reports, award-winning historian Robert Watson follows the lives and ordeals of the few survivors to tell the astonishing story of the cursed ship that played a crucial part in the war against Britain.