Floating Hell: The Prison Ships of the American Revolutionary War

The Morbid Museum

During the American Revolution, the British captured thousands of American Continentals, militia, spies and sympathizers, and crammed them into prison ships between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Squalid conditions and barbaric treatment were imposed upon thousands of inmates, crammed in hulks throughout the New York harbor. It's a largely forgotten story that is sobering to behold.

• "Brooklyn, New York Aug 27, 1776" | American Battlefield Trust
• Prison Ship Martyrs Monument History | NYC Gov Parks
• The Battle of Brooklyn | New-York Historical Society Exhibition: September 23, 2016 - January 8, 2017
• Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Mike Wallace and Edwin G. Burrows
• Loyalists in New York City During the Revolution | C-SPAN.org
• The New York Prison Ships in the American Revolution | Proceedings - March 1935 Vol. 61/3/385
• H.R.1501 - Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument Preservation Act 113th Congress (2013-2014)
• The HMS Jersey | BY: HISTORY.COM EDITORS UPDATED: AUGUST 21, 2018 | ORIGINAL: MARCH 19, 2010
• The Appalling Way the British Tried to Recruit Americans Away from Revolt | BY: GREG DAUGHERTY PUBLISHED: JANUARY 31, 2020 | HISTORY.COM

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Artwork: Brittany Schall

Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod