The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1902-11-29
IA FOIL FOR CRACKSMEN FAMOUS PRISON SHIP
Facts About the Jersey Found
at New York Navy Yard.
AFLoAT1Na HORROR OF TIE PAST

Patriots Imprisoned on the british
Vessel Left Records Of Tortures
They Had 60 Endure-she Has Long
Been vAinIy Sought For-Timbers
In Good Condition.
1t has been left for the spile driving
laborers at the New York navy yard to
discover the hull of the old British
prison ship Jersey, of Revolutionary in.
fanny, for which learned government
authorities and private associations
have searched In vain for half centu-
ry, says the New York Herald.
Below sixteen to twenty feet of filed
In soil the old hull i'm which at one time
fifteen hundred American patriots suf-
fered tortures, has been located in the
building site of the new 10000 ton bat
tleship Connecticut.
Solid still are the more massive oak
and teak tmbers OF the old prison
craft, but 1t is not likely that this re-
markable relic of the fight for Ameri-
can independence can be saved 1t il
so firmly imbcdded I'm the earth and
covers so comparatively large an area
that its removal would greatly hamper
the work on the Connecticut. Besides.
II Is believed that part of the hull has
been smashed 10y the splle driving en-
gines and that because of the progress
made In the foundations for the Con
necticut it would be hardly possible to
get the skeleton OF the Jersey out Of
the earth IN anything like an intact
condition
Civil Engineer Bellinger. who has
charge of the foundation work for the
Connecticut, said the other night that
for some time the spile drivers had ex-
perienced considerable difficulty in
driving the huge spiles in different
parts of the building site, but. while II
was known that the obstacle consisted
of timbers nobody then realized that
these belonged to the hull of the old
prison ship Jersey. Indeed, the FIRST in
dication Mr. Bellingcr had that con
siderable timber existed deep I'm the
soil near TO the water front was when
he attempted TO lay new water mains.
As all Of the eXcavated part of the yard
was made ground" there was not
much surprise at the discovery Of the
| timbers But when the spilc driving
engines began strip Of the building
site about 800 feet in length was found
to be almost solid timber.
Meantime n very old resident Of
Brooklyn had visited the yard, and
when he saw the laborers working on
the site OF the Connecticut he said that
he remembered seeing sixty years ago
the old hull OF the prison ship Jersey
| lying right where the men were work
ing. At that time, hc said, the tide
flowed over that part Of the yard and
| the ship lay half submerged Her
masts were still In place, but she was
] utterly unseaworthy and had been
! abandoned, and when the work OF ill.
| ing In with made ground the part of
the yard where she lay had been com
pletcd the old alp had sunk lower into
the swamp aud quicksand and had
been covered from sight
The aged man pointed out the exact
place where he bad last seen the ler.
sey, aud careful investigation re-.
Gently completed boy the workmen re-.
vealed that the two hundred and htty
odd feet OF timber In the earth at
which the splle driving engines were
pounding was In reality ships hun.
This hull have no doubt" said
Mr. Bellinger. lis that of the old prls.
on ship Jersey. for which patriotic so.
cicties have searched so long | bc.
lieye, TOO, that there Ii more than one
historic hull embedded near by In the
earth. The hull, which believe Is
that Of the historic Jersey, Is about
the size of the naval tug Nina-that Is.
about $50 feet I'm length"
During the Revolutionary war the
Jersey lay OF the Wallabout basin aud
was used as a prison by the British
for American prisoners. The tOrturcs
these unfortunates suffered were bar
barOus In the extreme. The diary LEFT
by one OF the prisoners states that the
congestion In the ship was abominable
and the food rancid and dccayed. So
full, Il II recorded, were the bread ra.
tions with maggots that the prisoners
used TO butt the bread against the
ships sides 20 dlslOdge the yermu
The only means OF release from this
floating horror was for a prisoner 10
be exchanged or To enlist In the British
army or die. Hundreds OF patriots
died like rats In holes. I'm 1870 the
bones OF 800 OF them were found mold
ering in the yard near where now
stands the comma ndaut's office