Lieutenant Eliakim Palmer was again taken prisoner later in the war
and again escaped. This time he was on board the Jersey. He cut away
three iron bars let into an aperture on the side of the ship on the
orlop deck, formerly a part of her hold. He swam ashore with his shirt
and trousers tied to his head. Having lost his trousers he was
obliged to make his way down Long Island for nearly its whole length,
in his shirt only. He hid in ditches during the day, subsisting on
berries, and the bounty of cows, milked directly into his mouth. He
crawled by the sentries stationed at different parts of the island,
and at length, after many days, reached Oyster Pond Point, whence he
was smuggled by friends to his home in Stonington, Conn.
CHAPTER XXXII
THE NARRATIVE OF CAPTAIN ALEXANDER COFFIN
In 1807 Dr. Mitchell, of New York published a small volume entitled:
"The Destructive Operation of Foul Air, Tainted Provisions, Bad Water,
and Personal Filthiness, Upon Human Constitutions, Exemplified in the
Unparallelled Cruelty of the British to the American Captives at New
York During the Revolutionary War, on Board their Prison and Hospital
ships. By Captain Alexander Coffin, Junior, One of the Surviving
Sufferers. In a Communication to Dr. Mitchell, dated September 4th,
1807."
Truly our ancestors were long-winded! A part of this narrative is as
follows: "I shall furnish you with an account of the treatment that I,
with other of my fellow citizens, received on board the Jersey and
John prison ships, those monuments of British barbarity and infamy.
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