Moored off the coast of Brooklyn, the derelict HMS Jersey was a living hell for thousands of Americans either captured by the British or accused of disloyalty. Crammed below deck without light or fresh air, the disease-ridden prisoners were scarcely given food and water. More Americans died in its ghastly hold than on all the war's battlefields. Throughout the colonies, the mere mention of the ship sparked a fear and loathing of British troops that, paradoxically, helped rally public support for the war.

Utilizing hundreds of accounts culled from old newspapers, diaries, and military reports, award-winning historian Robert Watson follows the lives and ordeals of the few survivors to tell the astonishing story of the cursed ship that played a crucial part in the war against Britain.