Prison Ships

18Th-Century Origins

During the 18th century, England operated two penal systems under the civil authority. Since the time of King Henry II, counties (shires in England) had operated primitive lockups and gaols (pronounced “jails”) under the administration of local Justices of the Peace; gaols were operated by gaolers who made their living by charging for food and lodging. During the latter part of the 18th century, the central government introduced legislation that authorized the temporary holding of convicts in decommissioned warships (or “hulks”) and the building of two penitentiaries.

There were few penal sanctions authorized by England's criminal code during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Punishments of the day included fines, military service, floggings, penal servitude (imprisonment at hard labor), transportation, and death. While military service was a popular sentence during both the Seven Years War (1756–1763) and the Napoleonic Wars, offenders convicted of non-capital crimes generally received the sentence of transportation. Capital offenders could also often have their death sentence commuted to transportation. Transportation was a form of banishment whereby convicts were transported to one of England's overseas colonies, where they were required to remain for a specified number of years (usually 7 years for non-capital crimes and 14 years for commuted capital crimes).

As the number of convicts awaiting transportation increased so, too, did the strain on the prison system. The rising numbers, both among those sentenced to a period of incarceration and those awaiting transportation, demanded that new means of housing be found. The use of prison hulks was seen as a temporary solution to the problem. Although hulks had early been employed by the Royal Navy to hold French prisoners of war during the Seven Years War, the application of them to deal with civilian prisoners was unique for the time.

The first civilian prison hulks were moored at Portsmouth Harbor and on the Thames River at Woolwich Warren. Large wards were constructed by partitioning the open gundecks, and smaller cells were made from the junior officers' cabins or constructed anew on the topside deck. Dismantling of the masts and rigging permitted an additional area to be built above the main deck of the ship. Covered by a large wooden roof that ran the length of the ship, the hulk may have given the casual observer an impression of a floating barracks, whereas a closer inspection would reveal a structure that was more akin to a floating dungeon. Indeed, like the prisons on land, little fresh air and sunlight entered the hulks, food was scarce and of poor quality, disease was rampant, and inmates were lorded over by brutal guards who had learned their trade in the notorious Newgate Prison.

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