British prison Hulks (Prison ships) were well known by 1776 and last actively used in 1857 when a larger land based prison program were in construction. These decommissioned Navy ships that were used for prison holding may or may not have been intended for transportation to other prisons. If the prisoners were lucky enough, a ship would wreck, better than be left out to sea. The USA's Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument built in 1906 is a war memorial at Fort Greene Park, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It commemorates more than 11,500 American prisoners of War who died in captivity aboard sixteen British prison Hulk ships during the American Revolutionary War of the 1700s.
Both American Prisoners and those bound for New South Wales Australia (Irish, Welsh, and Scottish prison transfers from Britian) sometimes made it to prison-work facilities as prison-slave labor or were left inside the ships for years, even left to rot and die within cells. In 1842 the prison population "living" in British Hulks had peaked to over 3000 people with the ships Justia, Leviathon, Stirling, Castle, Warrior, and York, all had populations of over 500 people living or rotting on board.
Related articles: