page_title: Prison ship
hierarchical_section_title: Prison ship
caption_attribution_description: Prison Hulk "SUCCESS", at Hobart. Ship Type: Full rigged ship 1840 Built in Natmoo, Tenasserim, Burma 621 tons Length: 117 feet 3 inches Beam: 26 feet 8 inches Depth of hold: 22 feet 5 inches History 1840 Named: Success Flag: India Trading around the Indian subcontinent Sold to London owners Flag: United Kingdom 1840's Made three voyages with emigrants to Australia. 31 May 1852 Arrived at Melbourne with emigrants, and the crew deserted to the gold-fields Sold to Government of Victoria to be employed as prison hulk Flag: Australia 1857 Prisoners from the Success murdered the Superintendent of Prisons John Price, the inspiration for the character Maurice Frere in Marcus Clarke's novel For the Term of His Natural Life. When no longer needed as a prison ship as such, the Success was used as a detention vessel for runaway seamen and later as an explosives hulk. Sold to a group of entrepreneurs to be refitted as a museum ship to travel the world advertising the perceived horrors of the convict era. Although never a convict ship, the Success was billed as one, her earlier history being amalgamated with those other ships of the same name including HMS Success that had been used in the original European settlement of Western Australia. This may have led to the claim that she was launched in 1790. In any event, she was promoted as the oldest ship afloat ahead of the 1797 USS Constitution 1892 Laid up and sank at her moorings Sold and after a thorough refit toured the Australian ports and then headed for England 12 September 1895 arriving at Dungeness and was exhibited in many ports over several years 1912 Crossed the Atlantic and spent more than two decades doing the same thing around the eastern seaboard of the United States of America and later in ports on the Great Lakes. 1918 Returned to commercial service with an auxiliary engine being fitted, but sank after being holed by ice. Refloated and returned to use as a travelling museum ship. Late 1930s fell into disrepair 4 July 1946 Destroyed by fire at Lake Erie Cove, Cleveland, Ohio, while being dismantled for her teak
context_page_description: A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nations have deployed prison ships over time, the practice was most widespread in seventeenth and eighteenth century Britain, as the government sought to address the issues of overcrowded civilian jails on land and an influx of enemy detainees from the War of Jenkins' Ear, the Seven Years' War and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
context_section_description: A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nations have deployed prison ships over time, the practice was most widespread in seventeenth and eighteenth century Britain, as the government sought to address the issues of overcrowded civilian jails on land and an influx of enemy detainees from the War of Jenkins' Ear, the Seven Years' War and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
caption: Prison hulk HMS Success[2] at Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
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