List of British prison hulks
Introduction ''Success'' at Hobart, Tasmania, Australia'''Prison hulks''' were decommissioned ships that authorities used as floating prisons in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were extensively used in England. The notorious hulks played a crucial role in detaining criminals. The term "prison hulk" is not synonymous with the related term convict ship. A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea, whereas convict ships are seaworthy vessels that transport convicted felons from their place of conviction to their place of banishment.
Initial authorization and later expansion of use Parliament initially intended to use the hulks as a temporary measure and so the first authorization, in 1776, for their use was only for two years. Although some Members of Parliament deplored the hulks the 1776 Act lasted for 80 years. Parliament regularly renewed the Act and even extended its scope "for the more severe and effectual punishment of atrocious and daring offenders". The American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars resulted in the availability of superannuated vessels suitable for conversion to prison hulks. Ships-of-the-line were particularly suitable because of their size; in active service they had accommodation for hundreds of crewmen.Hulks ceased to be used in Great Britain on the final expiry of the Act in 1857.
Conversion of decommissioned ships Converting the ships to prison hulks involved removal of the rigging, masts, rudders, and various other features required for sailing. Some hulks retained some of these features, but all were rendered inoperable or unseaworthy in some way. The internal structure was also reconfigured with various features, including cells, in order to accommodate convicted criminals or occasionally prisoners of war.The hulks, which retained only their ability to float, were typically located in harbours. This made them convenient temporary holding quarters for convicts awaiting transportation to Australia and other penal colonies within the British Empire. In 1798 the hulks held more than 1,400 out of about 1,900 people waiting for transportation to Australia. Most British prison hulks were decommissioned in the 19th century, although suspected and convicted criminals are still confined aboard ships on occasion for various reasons.The forbidding form of the beached convict hulk  at Deptford. Launched as a 10-gun sloop at Rotherhithe in 1789, the ship served as a convict hulk from 1818 until scrapped in February 1834. ''The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken'', J. M. W. Turner, 1838, National Gallery, London''Convicts breaking up the prison hulk York (1807)'', from the ''Illustrated London News'', c. 1848, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Name Years in service Location Comments  1804–1816 ''Antigua'' was the former French privateer ''Egyptienne'', which ''Hippomenes'' captured in 1804.1824–1845 Bermuda ''Antelope'' was a 50-gun Fourth-rate launched in 1802.She was used as a troopship from 1818, was placed on harbour service from 1824 and was broken up in 1845.1919–1925 Belfast Lough Northern Ireland ''Argenta'' was a U.S. cargo ship purchased as a hulk to intern Irish Republicans as part of Britain's 1922 Special Powers Act internment strategy following the events of Bloody Sunday (1920). HMS ''Argenta'' was scrapped in 1925.1815–1824 Sheerness ''Bellerophon'' was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1786.Having taken part in the Battle of Trafalgar, she became a prison hulk in 1815, was renamed ''Captivity'' in October 1824 and was sold out of service in January 1836.1814–1816 ''Belliqueux'' was a 64-gun Third-rate launched in 1780 at Blackwall. She was used as a prison hulk from 1814 and broken up in 1816.1841–1856 Portsmouth ''Briton'' was built in 1812, Chatham. 1810–1834 Chatham ''Canada'' was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1765.She became a prison hulk in 1810 and was broken up in 1834.HMS ''Captivity'' 1796–1816 Gosport and Devonport The first ''Captivity'' was a former 64-gun Third-rate launched in 1772 as HMS ''Monmouth''. She became a prison hulk and was renamed ''Captivity'' in 1796.She was broken up in 1816.HMS ''Captivity'' 1824–1836 Gosport and Devonport The second ''Captivity'' was a former 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1786 as HMS ''Bellerophon''. She became a prison hulk in 1815 and was renamed HMS ''Captivity'' in 1824.She was sold in 1836. ''Censor'' 1776–? Woolwich ''Censor'' was a former French Navy frigate of 731-tons. With ''Justitia I'' and ''Justitia II'', she was one of the first prison hulks, and supplied by ship owner and merchant Duncan Campbell. 1787–1797 Woolwich ''Ceres'' was a 32-gun Fifth-rate launched in 1781 and broken up in 1830.1793–1805 Plymouth ''Chatham'' was a 50-gun Fourth-rate launched in 1758.She was used for harbour service from 1793 and was a powder hulk from 1805.She was renamed ''Tilbury'' in 1810 and was broken up in 1814.HMS ''Coromandel'' 1827–1853 Bermuda ''Coromandel'' was a 20-gun storeship, formerly an East Indiaman that the Admiralty purchased in 1804, commissioned as a 56-gun Fourth-rate, and named HMS ''Malabar''. She was refitted as a storeship in 1805 and renamed ''Coromandel'' in 1815.She became a prison hulk in 1827 and was broken up in 1853.1798–18021806–15 Portsmouth ''Crown'' was a 64-gun third rate ship launched in 1782.She was converted to serve as a prison ship in 1798, used as a powder hulk from 1802 until 1806, and then restored to a prison ship until being put in ordinary in 1815.She was broken up in 1816.HMS ''Cumberland'' 1830–1833 Chatham ''Cumberland'' was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1807, Northfleet. She was converted to a prison hulk in 1830 and was renamed ''Fortitude'' in 1833.She was put on the sale list in 1870 and was subsequently sold. HMS ''Dasher'' 1832–1838 Woolwich ''Dasher'' was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1797.She became a prison hulk in 1832 and was broken up in 1838.HMS ''Defence'' 1850–1857 Woolwich and Portsmouth ''Defence'' was a 74-gun Third-rate ship of the line, built in 1815 and accidentally burnt in 1857.Wreck broken up in 1857.1813–1817 ''Defiance'' was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1783 Rotherhithe. She was used as a prison hulk from 1813 and was broken up in 1817.1818–1834 Woolwich and Deptford ''Discovery'' was a 10-gun sloop launched and purchased in 1789.She was commanded by Captain George Vancouver on his voyage of exploration from 1791 to 1795.She was converted to a bomb vessel in 1799, a prison hulk in 1818 and was broken up in 1834 at Deptford. HMS ''Dolphin'' 1824–1830 Chatham ''Dolphin'' was originally launched as an East Indiaman named ''Admiral Rainier'', which the Navy bought and renamed HMS ''Hindostan''. The Admiralty purchased her in 1804 for service as a 50-gun Fourth-rate. She was converted into a 20-gun storeship in 1811.She was renamed again in 1819 as ''Dolphin'', and once more in 1831 as ''Justitia'', when she became a prison hulk. She was finally sold in 1855.HMS ''Dromedary'' 1825–1864 Woolwich and Bermuda ''Dromedary'' was an East Indiaman that the Navy purchased in 1805.First named ''Howe'' and then renamed ''Dromedary'' in 1808.She was converted to a convict ship in 1819, became a prison hulk at Bermuda in 1825, and was broken up there in August 1864.1782–1792 Plymouth ''Dunkirk'' was a Fourth-rate, built in 1754 at Woolwich. Converted to guardship in 1782, at Plymouth. Sold in 1792.1814–1835 ''Edgar'' was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1779.She was converted to a prison hulk in 1813, renamed ''Retribution'' in 1814, and broken up 1835.HMS ''Essex'' 1824–1834 Cork HMS ''Essex'' was originally the USS ''Essex'' of the United States Navy, a sailing frigate that participated in the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War, and in the War of 1812.The British captured her in 1814 and she then served as '''HMS ''Essex''''' until she was sold at public auction in 1837.1825–1847 Chatham and Gibraltar Having taken part in the Battle of Trafalgar and briefly served as Admiral Collingwoods flagship, ''Euryalus'' was decommissioned in 1825 and converted into a prison hulk for boys at Chatham. In 1847 she was moved to Gibraltar, and was sold for breaking up in 1860.HMS ''Fortitude'' (Formerly HMS ''Cumberland'') 1833–1844 Chatham HMS ''Cumberland'' was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1807.She was converted to a prison hulk in 1830 and was renamed ''Fortitude'' in 1833.She was put on the sale list in 1870 and was subsequently sold. (1780) 1795–1820 Chatham ''Fortitude'' was a 74-gun Third-rate ship of the line launched in 1780.She served as a prison hulk from 1795 and was broken up in 1820.1819–1838 Chatham and Woolwich ''Ganymede'' was the French frigate ''Hébé'' captured in 1809.She was converted to a prison hulk in 1819 and broken up in 1838.1807–1814 Gillingham Equally ''Gelijkeidt'', ''Gelykheidt'', or ''Gelikheid''. On 8 May 1800 a court martial was held at Sheerness, on board HMS ''Savage'' on Lieutenant Wheatly and his Clerk, of the ''Gelykheid'' prison ship, at Gillingham, for drunkenness and neglect of duty, ungentlemanlike conduct, embezzlement of stores, tyranny, and oppression, but the charges being malicious and ill founded, they were acquitted. In 1803 was stationed in the Humber as Guardship and in 1807 she was fitted out as sheer hulk at Falmouth. She was disposed of in 1814.1809–1814 ''Glory'' was a 90-gun Second-rate launched in 1788.She was converted to a prison hulk in 1809, a powder hulk in 1814, was and broken up in 1825.HMS ''Goree'' 1814–1817 Bermuda ''Goree'' was the 16-gun sloop of war HMS ''Favourite'' launched in 1794.The French captured her in 1806 and renamed her ''Favorite''; the British recaptured her in 1807 and renamed her HMS ''Goree''. She became a prison hulk in Bermuda in 1814 and was broken up in 1817.1824–1833 ''Hardy'' was a 14-gun gun-brig launched in 1804.She was used as a storeship from 1818 and a hospital ship from 1821, before being sold in 1835.1839–1852 Woolwich ''Hebe'' was a 46-gun Fifth-rate launched in 1826, made a receiving ship in 1840, hulked in 1861, and broken up in 1873.1808–1816 ''Hector'' was a 74-gun Third-rate launched at Deptford in 1774 and converted to a prison hulk in 1808, and broken up in 1816.HMS ''Justitia'' 1812–1830 Sheerness Vice Ad. Richard Onslow seized the ''Zeeland'' from the Dutch at Plymouth on 4 March 1796.She was renamed ''Justitia'' in 1812 and broken up in 1830, when her name was transferred to ''Dolphin''. HMS ''Justitia'' 1830–1855 Woolwich ''Justitia'' was originally launched as an East Indiaman named ''Admiral Rainier''. The Admiralty purchased her in 1804 to use as a 50-gun Fourth-rate, and named her HMS ''Hindostan''. She was converted into a 20-gun storeship in 1811.She was renamed again in 1819 as ''Dolphin'', and once more in 1830 as ''Justitia'', when she became a prison hulk. She was finally sold in 1855.1776–1783 New York ''Jersey'' was a 60-gun Fourth-rate, built in 1736 as Plymouth. She was used as a prison hulk in New York during the American Revolutionary War, and subsequently burned by the British before they abandoned New York in 1783.HMS ''Laurel'' 1798–1821 Portsmouth ''Laurel'' was the Dutch sloop ''Sireene'' captured at the capitulation of Saldanha Bay in 1796.She was initially named HMS ''Daphne'', but in 1798 was converted to a convict ship under the name of HMS ''Laurel''. She was sold in 1821.1827–1848 Woolwich and Deptford ''Leven'' was launched in 1813 at Ipswich. She became a hospital ship in 1827 and then a prison hulk at Chatham. She became a receiving ship at Limehouse in 1842 and was broken up in 1848.1816–1848 Portsmouth ''Leviathan'' was a 74-gun Third-rate ship of the line launched in 1790 at Chatham. She fought at the Battle of Trafalgar, was used as a prison hulk from 1816.In October 1846 she was used as a naval target, and was sold out of service in 1848.1816–1837 Gosport ''Lion'' was a 64-gun Third-rate launched in 1777.She was used as a sheer hulk from 1816 and was sold for breaking up in 1837. ''Lord Stanley'' 1777 Halifax, Nova Scotia ''Lord Stanley'' was a mercantile snow of 150 tons (bm) that a Massachusetts privateer captured and the Royal Navy recaptured. She transported prisoners from the American colonies to Halifax and then remained there as a prison ship. 1850–1862 Bermuda ''Medway'' was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1812.She was used as a prison hulk after 1847 and was sold in 1865.1832–1897 ''Menelaus'' was a Royal Navy 38-gun Fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1810 at Plymouth. In 1820 she moved to Chatham and in 1832 became a quarantine hulk. On 19 December 1848 she accepted sick from the convict ship ''Hasemey'', which called in at Portsmouth en route from the River Thames to New South Wales with a number of cases of cholera and diarrhoea. She remained with the Quarantine Service until 1890 and was sold in 1897.1823–1837 ''Narcissus'' was a 32-gun Fifth-rate launched in 1801 at Deptford. She became a prison hulk after 1823, and was sold in 1837.1810–1816 ''Oiseau'' was a 36-gun Fifth-rate, originally a French ship called ''Cleopatre'' but captured in 1793.She was converted to a prison hulk in 1810, later lent to the Transport Board and sold in 1816.1842–1862 Gibraltar ''Owen Glendower'' was launched in 1808 at Humber. She became a prison hulk in Gibraltar 1842, a receiving ship in 1876, and was sold in 1884.1794–1810 Portsmouth ''Pégase'' was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, captured in 1782.She served as a prison ship from 1794, a prison hospital ship from 1801, returned to being a prison ship in 1803 and was lent to the Transport Board in 1810.In 1811, she was still a Prison Hospital Ship (death on board of POW Pascal FURIC, a French sailor, "phthisis pulmonalis", on 6 May 1811) ref. : TNA ADM 103/357. ''Phoenix'' 1824–1837 Sydney ''Phoenix'' was a merchant sailing vessel damaged upon the Sow and Pigs Reef within Sydney Harbour and converted to a prison hulk. 1802–1817 Langstone Harbour ''Portland'' was a 50-gun Fourth-rate launched in 1770 at Sheerness. She was converted to a 10-gun storeship in 1800 and a prison hulk in 1802.She was sold in 1817.1795–1815 Portsmouth ''Protée'' was a 64-gun ship of the French Navy, captured in 1780.She served as a prison ship from 1795 until being broken up in 1815.1779–1814 Woolwich ''Prudent'' was launched in 1768 at Woolwich Dockyard. She was on put on harbour service in 1779 and sold in 1814.1819–1838 Portsmouth ''Racoon'' was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1808 at Yarmouth. She was used as a hospital ship for convicts from 1819 and was sold in 1838.1844–1852 ''Resolute'' was a 12-gun gun-brig launched in 1805 in Dover. She was used as a tender from 1814, a diving bell vessel from 1816 and a prison hulk from 1844.She was broken up in 1852.HMS ''Retribution'' 1814–1835 Woolwich and Sheerness ''Retribution'' was a prison hulk launched in 1779 as the 74-gun Third-rate . ''Edgar'' was converted into a prison hulk in 1813, renamed ''Retribution'' in 1814 and broken up in 1835.HMS ''Royalist'' 1856 ''Royalist'' was originally HMS ''Mary Gordon'' of six guns, purchased in China in 1841.Became a hulk in 1856.1804–1815 Woolwich ''Savage'' was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1778.She became a hulk in 1804 and was sold in 1815.1839–1855 Portsmouth ''Stirling Castle'' was a 74-gun Third-rate ship of the line launched in 1811 at Rochester. She became a hulk in 1839.1814–1820 Hobart ''Success'' was a 32-gun Fifth-rate launched in 1781 at Liverpool. She became a prison hulk in 1814 and was broken up in 1820.1843–1857 Woolwich ''Sulphur'' was a 10-gun bomb vessel launched in 1826.She was used as a survey ship from 1835, and for harbor service from 1843.She was broken up in 1857.HMS ''Surprise'' 1822–1837 Cork ''Surprise'' was a 38-gun frigate, previously named HMS ''Jacobs'' and launched in 1812.She became a prison hulk in 1822 and was sold in 1837.1812–1815 River Tamar ''Temeraire'' was a 98-gun Second-rate launched in 1798 at Chatham. She served as a prison hulk between 1812 and 1815, then as a receiving ship until 1836, and was broken up in 1838.1843–1875 Bermuda ''Tenedos'' was a 38-gun Fifth-rate launched in 1812.She was used as a prison hulk from 1843 and was broken up in 1875.1841–1863 Bermuda and Deptford ''Thames'' was a 46 gun Fifth-rate launched in 1823.She was converted to a prison hulk in 1841, and sank at her moorings in 1863.HMS ''Unite'' 1832–1858 Woolwich ''Unite'' was a 40-gun Fifth-rate captured from the French in 1793.She was taken into service as HMS ''Imperieuse'' and was renamed ''Unite'' in 1803.She was on harbour service from 1832 and was broken up in 1858.1808–1816 Portsmouth ''Vengeance'' was a 74-gun third rate launched in 1774.She became a prison ship in 1808 and was broken up in 1816.1840–1857 Woolwich ''Warrior'' was a 74-gun Third-rate ship of the line launched in 1781.She became a receiving ship after 1818, a prison hulk after 1840, and was broken up in 1857.1828–1865 Bermuda ''Weymouth'' was a 36-gun Fifth-rate, previously the East Indiaman ''Wellesley''. She was purchased in 1804, and by 1811 had been converted into a 16-gun storeship. She was used as a prison hulk from 1828 and was sold in 1865.1820–1852 Gosport ''York'' was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1807 at Rotherhithe. She was converted to a prison hulk in 1819 and served as a prison hulk at Gosport and London from 1820 until 1848 when a serious rebellion broke out. Typically she confined about 500 convicts. She was taken out of service and broken up in 1854.Hulks were re-banned in England.
See also * List of ships of the line of the Royal Navy* Convict ship* Prison ship* Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument* Transport Board
Citations
References * * "The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850", by Brian Lavery (Conway Maritime Press, 2003). . * "The Floating Prison: The Remarkable Account of Nine Years' Captivity on the British Prison Hulks During the Napoleonic Wars", by Louis Garneray & Richard Rose (Conway Maritime Press, 2003). . * "The Intolerable Hulks: British Shipboard Confinement (1776–1857)", by Charles F. Campbell (Fenestar Books, Tucson, AZ, 2001). * "The Convicts of the Eleanor", by David Kent and Norma Townsend (Merlin Press, London, 2002). * "A Commonwealth of Thieves", by Thomas Keneally (Random House, Milson Point NSW, Australia, 2005). *
External links *  Martyrdom of thirteen thousand American Patriots aboard the monstrous Jersey and other British prison ships in New York Harbor*  Britain's Prison Ships, 1776–1783*  Ships of the Old Navy: A history of the sailing ships of the Royal Navy by Michael Phillips*  List of Training ships: Reformatories and Industrial Schools.