The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1902-11-05
FAMOUS PRISON SHIP.
re About the Jersey Found
- New York Navy Yard.
floating HORROR OF THE PAST

,o+s Imprisoned on the British
eel Left Records of Tortures
uod IN Endure-She Has Long
Been vainly Sought F0r-rimherH
:. Good Condition.
II has been left for the splle driving
- at the New York navy yard to
a aUo the hull of the old British
D'sor ship Jersey, of Revolutionary in
ls r for which learned government
n a ,+horities and private associations
w. ~. searched in vain for half tentu-
saws the New York Herald.
noIow sixteen to twenty feet of filled
Ill +be old hull, in which at one time
eoon hundred American patriots suf-
sod +ortures. has been located in the
Ssinc site of the new 10000 ton bat
|loship Connecticut.
n solid still are the more massive oak
a +oak timberS of the old prison
80 hnt if is not likely that this re-
or,ohIe relic of the fight for Ameri-
on independence can be saved. 1t is
8rmlv Embedded in the earth and
orors so comparatively large an area
Sot ifs removal would greatly hamper
he work on the Connecticut. Besides,
l. believed that part of the hull has
oon smashed by the Spite driving en-
Inos and that because of the progress
ado in the foundations for the Con.
oo+icrt if would be hardly possible to
~ +be skeleton of the Jersey out of
10 Garth in anything like an intact
condition.
civil Engineer Bellinger, who has
sbaroe of the foundation work for the
Connecticut. said the other night that
or some time the Spite drivers had ex-
sorionced considerable difficulty in
irving the huge spiles in different
karts of the building site, but, while it
has known that the obstacle consisted
II timbers, nobody then realized that
bpsp belonged to the hull of the old
rison shin Jersey. Indeed, the first in
Sication Mr. Bellinger had that con-
adorable timber existed deep in the
oil near to the water front was when
H. ATTEMPTED to lay new water mains.
IS all of the excavated part of the yard
las made ground there was not
Inch surprise at the discovery of the
kmbers. But when the Spite driving
ngines began a strip Of the building
lie about go feet in length was found
u be almost solid timber.
Meantime a very old resident of
Brooklyn had visited the yard, and
yhen he saw the laborers working on
be site of the Connecticut he said that
e remembered seeing sixty years ago
be old hull of the prison ship Jersey
hing right where the men were work
BIZ. At that time, he said, the tide
lowed over that part of the yard and
be ship lay half submerged. Her
haSts were still in place, but she was
Utterly unseaworthy and had been
bandOned, and when the work of fill
pg in with made ground the part of
be yard where she lay had been COM
eted the old ship had sunk lower into
q be swamp and quicksand and had
cen covered from sight.
The aged man pointed out the exact
lace where he had last seen the Jer-
ey, and a careful investigation re-
ently completed by the workmen re-
ealed that the two hundred and fifty
I'd feet Of timber in the earth at
|hich the Spite driving engines were
Cunding was in reality ships hull.
This hull l have no doubt" said
L. Bellinger, lis that of the old pris-
ship Jersey, for which patriotic So
etles have searched so long. 1 be-
geve, too, that there is more than one
Storlc hull embedded near by in the
Hftn The hull, which l believe is
lat of the historic Jersey, is about
e size of the naval tug Nina-that is,
sDout go feet in length"
During the Revolutionary war the
r" ~ I'll LLIC w dAAdUOuL Ocl0Ah anu
as used as a prison by the British
u American prisoners. The tortures
leSe unfortunates suffered were bar
arouS IN the extreme. The diary left
one of the prisoners states that the
question in the ship was abominable
~ The food rancid and decayed. So
il' 1t is recorded, were the bread ra-
Jus with maggots that the prisoners
eeu TO butt the bread against the
ups sides 10 dislodge the vermin.
ue only means of release from this
V''lhg horror was for a prisoner to
eAchanged or to enlist in the British
wy or die. Hundreds of patriots
gu like rats in holes. In 1879 the
"A OieS OF 300 of them were found mold
,us IN the yard near where now
gus The commandments Office.