THE MONUMENT

There is an old memorial In a park named after Gernal Putnam, this memorial which dates back from 1908 is in the sacred memory of well over 10,000 men/women and of course children who died in awful conditions on them as a result of the revolutionary war. Life if one could call it living was absolute hell in fact on the old Jersey ship the poor prisoners actually called it HELL. A website with lots of info can be found here another site can be found here with many links showing  many details of the horror these poor folk had to endure. These ships took a grim toll on the incarcerated and claimed MORE lives than most of the battles fought in their war against the Brits to gain independence who used many ways of utilising old hulks as prisons. Transportation was a favoured method it seemed they cared nothing for people in those days at all, in fact petty criminals who merely stole a loaf of bread were held in Newgate gaol or on rotting ship hulks on the river Thames prior to sailing these unfortunate folk thousands of miles away from their homeland. Conditions were appalling hygiene in those days was practically nonexistent diseases spread like bushfires as a result. Typhus and Dysentery were the main ones sadly. Death rates of around 30-40% was the norm and worse for all destined to Australia, transportees to America and the British West Indies were a little better off but not much. Pictured below are two hulks on the Thames.   Due to overcrowding at Newgate Gaol these poor souls could linger for months before sailing.