Published in 1911 the book American Prisoners of the Revolution by Danske Dandridge has insight into the challenges faced by American prisoners aboard the Old Jersey Prison Ship. We have indexed the 6,200 plus names in the book in the dataset below.
“Introduction: It is with no desire to excite animosity against a people whose blood is in our veins that we publish this volume of facts about some of the Americans, seamen and soldiers, who were so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of the enemy during the period of the Revolution. We have concealed nothing of the truth, but we have set nothing down in malice, or with undue recrimination.
It is for the sake of the martyrs of the prisons themselves that this work has been executed. It is because we, as a people, ought to know what was endured; what wretchedness, what relentless torture, even unto death, was nobly borne by the men who perished by thousands in British prisons and prison ships of the Revolution; it is because we are in danger of forgetting the sacrifice they made of their fresh young lives in the service of their country ; because the story has never been adequately told, that we, however unfit we may feel ourselves for the task, have made an effort to give the people of America some account of the manner in which these young heroes, the flower of the land, in the prime of their vigorous manhood, met their terrible fate.” [Source: Introduction page 1]
Of all the ships that were ever launched the “Old Jersey” is the most notorious. Never before or since in the dark annals of human sufferings, has so small a space enclosed such a heavyweight of misery. No other prison has destroyed so many human beings in so short a space of time. And yet the Jersey was once as staunch and beautiful a vessel as ever formed a part of the Royal Navy of one of the proudest nations of the world. How little did her builders imagine that she would go down to history accompanied by the execrations of all who are acquainted with her terrible record! [Source: Chapter XXIV]
How to search: Enter a Surname, or partial Surname in the box below and press enter. If any matches are found a list will be presented. Simply click on the name to bring up the page in the old digital book which is hosted by Archive.org.
Alternatively, if you would like to browse the book on Archive.org follow this link to the cover page or this link to the appendix.