Hulks+as+Temporary+Prisons

= Use of Old Ships as Temporary Prisons = = = "........Old, rotting ships were moored in the Thames River and in a few other places. These ships were known as hulks. The Government decided to use these hulks to solve the immediate problem of overcrowded prisons. Like the prisons on land, the hulks were dark, filthy, infested with rats, almost airless and stinking. During the day prisoners worked dredging the river or shifting sand and gravel. At night they were locked in the hulks. Between 1776 and 1788, 2000 (English) prisoners lived on hulks........"
 * Convicts were rowed in small boats between land and the hulks.
 * Hulks were also used at Melbourne as a penal colony in the 1800's

It was yet another day inside the hulk, it stinks and rats crawl around in my cell. I’m squashed with the other convicts in my cell. We work hard and some of us die. It is very hard to breathe in here, basically airless. The guys in my cell have different offences to the death sentences. I’ve been in here for only a week and I feel very sick as diseases in here spread. The only fresh air we get is when we are dredging the river, also get a quick clean up but a portion of us die. I have survived so far as the guard said we are being transported to a new place much better than before. I was miserable as it was horrible but surprised that I have not much days left until I get to paradise, as the guards described it to be. There were about 60,000 of us bunched in this small smelly ship. We all suffered the cruelty after being forced inside a cell with a bucket to dispose of our toiletry needs. We were all filthy and all very hungry for food.
 * LIFE AS A PRISONER ON A HULK **

I’ve been stuck for days on the hulk. It’s horrible, it’s dark and filthy, there are rats crawling around everywhere, it smells horrible, there is hardly any air and being stuck in the cell with many other convicts makes it even worse. Many also fear about the spreading of diseases. Prisoners are treated horribly so they might riot soon. During the day, the convicts and I either have to dredge the river or shift sand and gravel. Once night fell we were locked up in our cells. Being stuck in this wrecked ship was hell; I would have rather been sentenced to death.

Oh jolly, these ships are even more terrible than living on the streets with no more than one farthing! Another day has gone and I’m not sure how much more I can take, it’s just such a terrible environment. For starters, everyone else in the hulk is also a prisoner, it’s overcrowded, and most of the people don’t exactly know what manners are! They have no sense of decency or hygiene and just piss or poo anywhere they feel like it. If you think at this stage it couldn’t get any worse, the ship is basically rotten and is filled with dirt and rats! Oh I think I’d be better off hanging.

Day 13 of my imprisonment on these overcrowded wooden ships. You’d think from all the pounds the government would make they’d be able to afford to make prisons, not surprising that the selfish pigs probably see us as vermin that are to be thrown around. I’ve gotten used to the smell, that overwhelming stench of each of us packed together in these tight spaces. I’m starving… the food we get is hardly edible and the thought of even seeing the stuff we’re given makes me want to throw up in disgust, the guards would probably hurt me for that. They do it all the time, hitting us and calling us names, they must love their jobs. I hope we get moved off these stinking piles of wood soon, before we all die here.

=== **Stealing, murder the worst crimes that you can commit in years. I, myself committed the crime of stealing. One of the punishments for me was transportation to another country that I didn’t know about. It all started with an old wrecked ship which we called a hulk. It was rotten, smelled and packed with people and rats in an airless wrecked ship. If you turn sick and die, you can’t blame anyone else because the life on the ship was full with diseases and dead people. Children, women and men worked dredging the rivers or shifting during day. They still let us do this even though we didn't know how to swim. At night we got locked in hulks and slept. The day we came to Australia is the day most of us died. If you were lucky enough and rich you’d be alive and come back to England.** ===

God knows how long I’ve been here, all the days look the same here. Work all day, and spend the night in these hulks. These old rotting ships are horrible. You’d think with all the money they have they’d be able to make at least a decent looking prison. This isn’t punishment, this is murder. It’s dark and filthy. I can hardly breathe! There is little to no room in here! It smells like sweat, waste & vomit, most likely caused by the dreadful food we’ve been given for the last few months. Not even the few hundred rats around here would eat that crap! There’s nowhere to sleep here because it’s so crowded. All I want to do is lay down. I’m tired, I’ve spent the week dredging the rivers and shifting the sand and the gravel.

The life of a prisoner is horrible. You would have to experience and contribute to all kinds of terrible conditions. For example, right from the moment you wake up, you could smell unpleasant stenches in the air (we didn’t have any toilets or anywhere to do our business) and you could see and feel rats crawling across your feet. And I would sometimes trip over some of the other prisoners because of the darkness while going to work to dredge the river and shift the sand and gravel.

There were often riots and fights between us due to our stress and anxiety – I was lucky I wasn’t involved. We only ate once a day, if we’re lucky, we would eat as twice. They would feed us gruel and stale bread… Hey, it’s better than nothing. There were worries about the spread of diseases due to lack of vitamins and protein in the food and also due to the filthy and disgusting ship – which seems to be rotting and sinking every day. I consider myself lucky, as I was the one out of hundreds of prisoners who knew how to swim.

//Life as a prisoner in a hulk is horrible. Hulks are these old rotting ships, so just from the name you can tell that this was going to be very disgusting. Hulks are dark, infested with rats, filthy, airless and have the worse stenches. While living in a hulk, our experience isn’t so pleasant. During the day, we would be cleaning out the rivers with a bucket and our hands, which isn’t delightful and isn’t at all safe, or shifting sand and gravel. After having a terrible day at work, we are locked away in this horrible, infested, non-air, stinky, filthy hulks all night. Our meals aren’t so great either. Living off gruel and stale bread isn’t the best thing for us. We are forced to work all day, lacking protein. Also to make things better, there are riots between us prisoners, due to our stress and anxiety. Being locked away with all these people is horrible, and the only thing we can do is fight them. We don’t really complain about our diets, because it’s better than nothing. Sometimes I think to myself that I’m one of the lucky ones, as I was one of the fewer prisoners who could actually swim. The years 1776, this is one of the first years of these hulks being used. I can tell you that there is around 2000 prisoners living in this hulk, as well as me.//

I’m not sure how long I can continue to live on the horrible excuse of a prison. I was thrown into gaol for being poor, it’s possibly the stupidest law that the government has come up with so far. During the day I’m outside and working as hard as possible, carrying trees down steep mountains or I’m hurt by the guards. When night falls, everyone is locked up back into the stinking, filthy and infested hulks, the lack of air and the fact that we’re all packed together is enough to make any person claustrophobic. We hardly get a luxury dinner, only one meal of gruel a day and if we’re lucky, two meals of gruel and the occasional stale bread. At night, instead of sleeping peacefully, we’re all squashed together on the ground and rodents nip at our bare feet as we staring up into the darkness of the hulk. Every day, more and more ‘petty criminals’ were crowded onto the hulk, every day, I struggle to stay awake and survive, every day, I count down the days till I can get back out into the real world. - Crystal

Life as a British prisoner on a Hulk was like nothing anybody has experienced before. It was horrible to be living in an old, rotting ship. To wake up in a dark room, with filth everywhere, filled with infestations of rats, barely any air to breathe and the stinky smell. The prisoners worked dredging the river and shifting and gravel. At night these prisoners would be locked inside the hulks. The only food they were given was gruel and stale bread. Only one meal a day. If they worked hard, at least harder than others, they would probably be lucky enough to have two meals a day. Soon enough these filthy ships would get overcrowded and a new place had to be found for these prisoners to work and live. I was one of them. I had to wake up every day to a dark room with rats running across the floors. Can you imagine what it was like to be me? It was brutal. It wasn’t enjoyable at all.

It’s been 3 days now, since I’ve gotten into prison since I’ve stolen a loaf of bread off a street bakery. I’m not exactly sure how much longer I have to stay in here but I’m pretty sure I won’t survive until the day I’m going to be released. You see, from the morning until night falls everyone has to shift sand and gravel then we don’t even get much to eat. Each day we either eat stale or rocky corn, which wouldn’t make us full at all. During the nights were locked in ships that are awfully crowded and stuffed also some nights I can’t breathe at all with some man lying on top of me.

Another day has come, in this depressing place. Convicts like me bunched together, reminiscing on their lives and suffering from sickness. The rotting smell, the disgusting feel of the wood and the miserable mourning of 2000 men and boys is what we’re dealing with. The horn went, this means that we will have to suffer more, not only do we have to live in these harsh conditions just for minor crimes we also have to work, the horns means it’s time to dredge but also a chance to get fresh air. We dredge the sand and gravel and had to work in the day and at night we have to come back to the hulk and try to sleep. Most nights past really slow with the mourning still going, some people get used to it and sleep; I personally just think what is going to happen in the future. The ships are getting old; I won’t be surprised if they sink because it’s all mossy and infested with rats. The food we eat is bad, but it’s a need anyway. The worst by far is seeing the people around you randomly die, this happens often, they either die in their sleep or they commit suicide by starving to death, it is a horrible sight. The days on here feel like forever, I will die here.

It’s been two weeks since I’ve entered the hulk, life on a hulk is basically hell on earth. I hate working, we don’t get paid and we work all day just to get locked up at night, it’s dangerous and we could lose our lives completing it. there are countless diseases being spread by both the people and rats and the cells where we stayed are filled with filth. When you wake up and there would be rats running on you, you sit down and you wouldn’t be able to breathe properly, the hulks were overcrowded. Others and I can hardly breathe, the air is foul and smelly. The wood is rotting and sea water starts to flood the deck floors. To tell the truth, I’d rather be dead. Lately I’ve heard that other criminals are being sent out to other countries, I’d rather go out and start my life again then stay here, any day.

I’ve been in these ships for a week already, its seems almost like a month, time goes on so slowly, every day we have to go shifting around sand and gravel, my hands has already got blisters, and there is no treatments, these cells in the ship are dark, airless and smelly, there were many rats and people already have diseases from this place, sleeping in this ship was enough torture, and they still force us to work and lock us up in cages when we get back into the ship. I don’t understand why they have to do this. I get this just for being poor???