No Property, No Possessions

What is left behind when a life ends with no property, no possessions and almost no paper trail? In this episode, I follow the story of John Henry Robinson, a ship captain whose life stretched across oceans, records and family history before ending at Sailors’ Snug Harbor. It’s a story about endurance, instability and the strange ache of trying to piece together a person from the fragments they left behind.Special thanks to Taliesin Gamache at the Stephen B. Luce Library Archives at SUNY Maritime College for helping me better understand John Henry Robinson’s time at Sailors’ Snug Harbor.