author
Barnabas Downs
1757–1817
A Revolutionary War survivor turned his own ordeal into a gripping first-person narrative. This rare memoir is best known for its account of the wreck of the privateer brig Arnold near Plymouth Harbour in December 1778 and the brutal struggle to stay alive.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, on October 2, 1757, Barnabas Downs wrote one known work: A Brief and Remarkable Narrative of the Life and Extreme Sufferings of Barnabas Downs, Jun. In it, he says that the Revolutionary War pulled him away from farming and into military service.
His book is remembered for its vivid eyewitness account of the wreck of the privateer brig Arnold, commanded by James Magee, during a terrible snowstorm near Plymouth Harbour on December 26, 1778. Downs was among the survivors, and his narrative combines personal memoir, shipwreck story, and a stark record of endurance.
Little else about his literary career is clearly documented in the sources I found, but that single narrative has endured because it offers a direct, human view of war, disaster, and survival in early America.