As an island of watermen, many tales of sea lore circle around the Chincoteague Island’s past. One is of the old fisherman Elisha Bloxom. Story goes he was helping to retrieve a beached ship when the yawl capsized and hit him on the head, causing him to drown. He was buried in the seashore and apparently did not want to spend eternity in the place he died. Mysterious sounds near the shoreline and in the house nearby. An immigrant family (who supposedly knew nothing of the story of Elisha) moved from the property as soon as their lease was finished due to strange noises and happenings throughout the halls. 

There were about 16 of them with the Jersey being one of the most well known. According to author Robert P. Watson (his book is one of the only text on this brutal topic) there was an estimated 11,500 men who died aboard the Jersey in Wallabout Bay. The testimonies of the men aboard are nothing if not grotesque when referring to the food, lack of room to sit, let alone lay, for days on end, and the overflowing waste buckets. Not to mention the ever popular diseases and other old ship nuisances like lice. I think one of the worst parts of being a prisoner on these ghost ships was the claim that sometimes it took days for the guards to come and remove those who had died in the night. Meaning, their bodies just stayed right where they were.  

The historical impact of the ghost ships is interesting in the fact that they counter the ideal British commentary of a “gentleman’s war”.