The _Jersey_ was at first anchored near the city of New York. She leaked constantly, and her hold, where the prisoners were confined, was damp and rotten. They had no means for cleaning themselves or the hold. The careless were herded with those who would have been careful. The damnable conditions there bred the ship-fever and other diseases. Instead of disinfecting the hulk the authorities moved it over to Wallabout Bay, where the Brooklyn Navy Yard is now located. This was done to keep the contagion from spreading to the city. Then a regiment of renegade Americans was quartered in most comfortable fashion within sight of this prison ship, and the terrors of the ship were then deliberately increased. The food of the prisoners consisted of the bread and meat that had been ordered for the British forces, but was condemned as unfit for human beings. And the quantity was very scant at that. [Illustration: A Permit to Visit One of the Prison Ships. _From the original at the Lenox Library._] The sick were placed in bunks where the snow could sift down through hatchways and in through open seams on to the one blanket allowed for covering. To the ravages of disease were added the horrors of frozen limbs, and living men saw their own feet drop off because of this treatment. At night the prisoners were driven to their bunks with curses and the cry of “Down, rebels, down!” In the morning they were turned out with other imprecations and the words “Rebels, turn out your dead!” And there were dead a-plenty to turn out every day in the year. The British jailers would point to the well-kept renegades and offer to send any prisoner who would join them to enjoy the same comforts, but the love of home and of liberty was so strong in the hearts of these men that they chose death instead of such a release from prison--more than ten thousand Americans chose death by lingering torture on the British prison ships in New York rather than dishonor. David Sproats was the chief keeper of the prison ships. He boasted that he had killed more “rebels” than all the king’s armies had done. To aggravate his offences, he offered to exchange the sick and dying privateersmen in his charge for an equal number of British regulars who could pass inspection as fit for service, and because Washington refused to thus aid in recruiting the waning forces of the enemy the horrors of the prison ships were increased. And because of this refusal the English writers say to this day that if any American died on the prison ship it was his own fault, or the fault of the American authorities who refused to make an exchange! [Illustration: MAP OF THE WALE BOGT AND ITS VICINTY. AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR] [Illustration: A Relic of the Prison Ships: Entrance to the Vault of the _Martyrs_. _From an old wood-cut._]