Prison Hulks such as "Retribution" (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, August 26, 2012, 14:39 (4467 days ago) @ Burgum FHS

The convict hulk "Retribution", was moored at Woolwich in the River Thames in 1812. This floating prison was launched in 1799 as the 74-gun Third-rate HMS Edgar. Edgar was converted into a prison hulk in 1813, renamed Retribution in 1814 and broken up in 1835. The memoirs of James Hardy Vaux(1829) recall the most tortuous conditions on board Retribution for those awaiting transportation:

"There were confined in this floating dungeon nearly 600 men, most of them double-ironed in a continual rattling of chains, the filth and vermin naturally produced by such a crowd of miserable inhabitants, the oaths and execrations constantly heard amongst them…."

"Prisoners, working in ironed-gangs, laboured in cleaning up the River Thames and building docks and wharves. In the "1811 Report of the Select Committee on Penitentiary Houses", which enquired into conditions and management of the prison hulks, it was shown that prison system had continued to be corrupt, with many officers taking personal advantage of the sources of labour under their command.
The daily ration for those on board the Woolwich hulks in 1812 was 'beer and other extras to the total of from 2d. to 4½ d.' depending upon the convict's rating in the workforce. Those with particular skills, such as shoemakers and tailors were set'ship's duty', keeping the shoes and clothes of others in repair."
(Johnson 1957:39).

From this most interesting site which details the history of the Hulks; my wife's ancestors are from Woolwich, East London, although thankfully only in more recent times .... http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.56/chapterId/429/Prison-hu...

Anyone who's visited HMS Victory, Nelson's First-rate flagship at this time, will know how apparently small & cramped it appears; yet in it's day Victory was considered truly massive, and so considerably larger than the older Retribution !.
Retribution's major dimensions were
Length: 168ft / 51 m (not including bowsprit)
Beam: 46ft9in / 14.25 m

This site carries some Hulk ship photographs tho' not including Retribution. However the Defence started life as a very similar ship to Retribution, a 74gun two-decker.
http://www.theintolerablehulks.com/defense.html

Here is the same photo of Defence at Woolwich, but larger with better clarity.
http://www.digitaldickens.com/content.php?id=179

This site reminds me of my first becoming aware of the prison hulks, from Dickens' "Great Expectations" and the hugely atmospheric B&W film starring Sir John Mills. Charles Dickens' writing about such things, after his childhood experiences as the son of a Navy clerk in Chatham Dockyard who eventually found himself in a London Debtor's Prison, led him to become an important champion of reforms for the poor and prison inmates. For anyone interested in early British Navy history, Chatham Dockyard on the Medway hence Thames Estuary in North Kent, is an excellent visit. It was the first of the Royal Dockyards, predating Plymouth Devonport & Portsmouth, and built over 500 Navy ships in it's 400 year history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Dockyard