In my new Regency Historical, A Courtesan’s Advice, the hero searches for his missing brother, rumored to be held on a prison hulk. A prison hulk was a former vessel modified for convicts. The hulk is afloat but incapable of going to sea, whereas a convict ship is afloat and seaworthy and used to transport convicted felons from their place of conviction to their place of banishment. Overcrowding civilian jails on land, along with an influx of enemy detainees from several wars, and the Bloody Code, which listed over 200 crimes punishable by death, along with the halt of transportation of felons to the colonies, had the government addressing the problem with prison hulks. During this time of high poverty, work and food were scarce, causing crime to soar. Theft was the most common crime, which was punishable by death.
Once a criminal was sentenced for transportation, they were usually sent to the local goal, then to a convict goal or one of the prison hulks, before finally being transported. Hulks were old navy ships that were anchored along the banks of the River Thames in the district of Woolwich in London and at the Plymouth and Portsmouth ports. In 1776, the ships were authorized on a temporary measure for a two-year term due to prison population growth, but they continued to house prisoners for 82 years. Parliament regularly renewed the 1776 Act and even extended its scope. The contract to oversee prisoners on the ships was given to a transportation contractor, Duncan Campbell. Campbell’s first ship was called the Justitia, and soon 50 more ships were put into service until 1850. In the later years, some prisoners carried out their entire sentences on a hulk instead of being transported. Between 1793-1815, about 200,000 prisoners of war were held on hulks.
Conditions onboard these ships were atrocious and rampant for disease, including typhus and tuberculosis. Inmates were chained in irons and slept on hammocks. They were awakened at 5 am and forced to do hard labor under the public’s watchful eye until 5:30 pm for seven days a week.
The typical day of a hulk convict: Convicts would awaken, roll and store their hammocks, wash in a water trough, and dress in uniforms that distinguished them from the ordinary dockworkers. The morning consisted of 12 ounces of bread and one pint of cocoa, but eating was a silent activity. Old and infirmed convicts stayed behind to cook, clean, and repair worn shoes and clothes, while those able were rowed out to work in the dockyards. The work consisted of unloading ballasts and timber from ships, moving cables, and dredging canals to improve navigation of the Thames. The convicts were required to wear a heavy chain on one or both ankles, and if they misbehaved, the weight of the leg irons would be increased. At lunch, the convicts returned to the hulks to eat, and an hour later, they were ferried back to the dockyards. Unlike the land prisoners, hulk prisoners were able to converse with free laborers. Efforts were made to curb conversation and interaction, but communication was necessary for the work to be carried out effectively. Working convicts did suffer injury and even death due to falling timber and stone, so death wasn’t uncommon, but the officials often covered it up. After work, convicts were rowed back to the hulks where they could wash before supper. Dinner usually consisted of 6 ounces of meat, one pound of potatoes, and 9 ounces of bread. But due to mismanagement, convicts regularly complained of bad provisions. After dinner came the evening prayers and schoolwork. Lamps were extinguished, and hatches locked at 9 pm.
The convicts provided a cheap and efficient workforce and increased the productivity of dockyards. The prison hulks were far worse than the terrible land prisons, and overcrowding became a problem. The death rate was high, and in the early years, one in four inmates died on the hulks, but it dropped to one in ten at the turn of the 19th century. The psychological conditions were deplorable, with many preferring to be hanged than go aboard. Many lobbied, and eventually, Millbank Prison was built in 1816, next to the Thames River in London.
Due to politicians and commentators’ growing concerns that hardened criminals would influence and corrupt young first-time offenders’ morals, the boys were moved from the men in 1824. The hulk Bellerophon, moored at Sheerness, was the first to be set aside to hold up to 350 boys, children as young as eight were on the prison hulks. Women were not kept on the prison hulks, with a few exceptions. There were 167 women detained on the prison hulks Narcissus and Heroine, but due to disease, many were pardoned and released by 1824. The Dunkirk was the only other hulk to carry women.
Converting a navy ship into a prison ship included removing the rigging, masts, rudders, and various sailing features. The interior was reconfigured to include various jail cells. In the early years, the ships were not divided into cells. Prisoners could freely roam the deck to participate in conversation, sexual relations, and the buying and selling of illicit goods like alcohol and tobacco. Attempting an escape from the hulks was difficult, but there were local groups willing to take risks for coin. The Seasalter Company traded in smuggling French prisoners abroad using the “The Hoy Endeavor “Inn at Whitstable. It was established as a base for planning and coordinating escapes when William Baldock purchased it. Families of prisoners would pay a high fee to this well-organized group to aid in their loved one’s escape.
Due to poverty, destitute men facing the workhouse may have chosen the life of a convict, where you are supplied with three meals a day, given schooling to learn to read and write, master a trade, and when released, they were given some money. Nevertheless, government officials tried to make life on the ships as punitive as possible. Most British ships were decommissioned in the 19th century and officially disbanded in 1857.
In my book, I’m focusing on the prison ship Ganymede. HMS Ganymede was a former French 450-ton frigate captured by a British frigate on February 6, 1809, carrying 600 barrels of flour. The French ship was renamed the Ganymede and served with the royal navy before being decommissioned. She was converted into a hulk in 1819 and moored at Chatham in Kent, England. She was broken up in 1838.
A special thank you to: http://vcp.e2bn.org/justice/page11382-sentencing-to-departure-prison-hulks-convict-gaols.html, https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/19th-century-prison-ships/, https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/carchipelago/2017/10/10/a-day-in-the-life-convicts-on-board-prison-hulks/, https://seasaltercross.com/2015/03/18/life-inside-the-prison-hulks-staying-alive-2/
