Job Watkins, life aboard Prison hulk and transportation ship (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, August 30, 2013, 22:31 (4104 days ago) @ themudlark

According to Ancestry free search, Job was on trial in Gloucestershire on 6 Jan 1835, aged 30, and sentenced to transportation. Not being a subscriber I don't know his crime or exact sentence.
They also carry this record from the Prison Hulk Registers (the "hulks", worn-out old ships stripped of masts etc and permanently moored-up, were the forerunners of the modern prisons):

Name: Job Watkins
Age: 30
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1805
Date Received: 20 Jan 1835
Ship: Justitia
Place Moored: Woolwich
Date Convicted: 6 Jan 1835
Place Convicted: Gloucester

The "Justitia" is welldocumented on the net, but beware there were two such hulks, Job was on the second one, originally named Admiral Rainier:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_prison_hulks
Charles Dickens was known to visit the hulks, Justitia was serving in the age of "Great Expectations".
http://www.digitaldickens.com/content.php?id=179
Here is a detailed contemporary account of life aboard for the 400 odd inmates, very harsh indeed....
http://www.kenscott.com/prisons/prisonerexp.htm

Also see this photo of Woolwich hulks,
http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/greenwich/assets/galleries/woolwich/prison-hulks-1856

plus other accounts of life aboard Justitia
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an8891819
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1847/jan/28/treatment-of-convicts-in-the-hul...
http://www.plumstead-stories.com/story%20-%20Prison%20hulks%20at%20Woolwich.htm
All very grim reading...particularly for such terrible crimes as stealing to eat.

"Before going onboard [the Justitia c1840] the prisoner's were stripped to the skin and scrubbed with a hard scrubbing brush, something like a stiff birch broom, and plenty of soft soap, while the hair was clipped from their heads as close as scissors could go. This scrubbing was endured until they looked like boiled lobsters, and the blood was drawn in many places. They were then supplied with new prisoner's suits, one side yellow and the other side black or blue. After donning these clothes they were marched off to the blacksmith, who rivetted on the ankle chains, which were made of iron and weighed 12 pounds. In this rig they were transferred to the Hulk, where they received their number, for no names were used."
http://www.immigrationplace.com.au/www/248/1040427/displayarticle/1011104.html?pub=1&am...

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So, probably nothing new to you here Alan, I was looking to try and find his likely birthdate, altho sadly I still cannot find him within this site's PRs or elsewhere, yet.

Searching tin ternet for "Job Watkins transported" gives several sites giving more detail

"Job Watkins,
Crime: -
Convicted at: Gloucester Quarter Session
Sentence term: Life
Ship: Marquis of Huntly
Departure date: 23rd March, 1835
Arrival date: 23rd November, 1835
Place of arrival: New South Wales
Passenger manifest: Travelled with 319 other convicts "

http://www.convictrecords.com.au/convicts/watkins/job/38277
http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/marquis-of-huntly/1835

More details of the ship, built Aberdeen 1804, may be found here
http://www.aberdeenships.com/single.asp?index=140073