The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-11-09
AUSTRALIA CONVICT SHIP.
some Attractions to BE Found Even In
Such Floating He'll.

Such Floating He'll.
From the London Chronicle
All is grist that comes to the mill of the
| Snowman, and even a convict ship is serv-
| iceable if it can only be made attractive.
There has lately arrived in the East India
| dock, at Blackwell. the Australian con-
| Wet ship Success, which is to be put on
| exhibition forthwith. The vessel belongs
| to the old bad system of treating crimi-
nails with barbarous cruelty, bordering on
inhumanity. Built in 1870 in British In
dia, of solid teak, the Success was first
| an East India trader and then an emf
grant ship. 1t was in the year 1852 Just
at the time of the gold discoveries in
Australia, that she was turned into a
convict hulk and moored at Williams
town, Victoria. The new gold fields at
tracted many bad characters from all
parts even convicts breaking loose from
the penal establishments, and in order to
afford safe quarters for the worst of the
evil-doers five ships were turned into
hulks. The Success formed one of the
group and was known as the dark cell
drill" ship, being fitted up with solitary
cells that admit no light. One can we'll
understand the horrors of the rigorous
system of prison treatment practiced on
board these hulks by an inspection of this
ship.
Lying in the East India dock she is a
weather-beaten old wooden vessel, dlngy
anu lfNt lTOH any SuSplClOli Ol new paint.
The first wonder. indeed, is that she ever
accomplished the voyage from Australia
| to London, which took no less than five
months and a half, but her stout timbers
of teak of great thickness make her al
most impregnable as a fortress. The
quarters once occupied by the warders
are shown on the quarter deck, where are
exhibited various rusty muskets. pistols,
leg irons and manacles, as we'll as an
original copy of ticket of leave" sign
ed by the governor of the colony. The
tween deck is fitted with cells on each
side. every cell having been for the ac-
commodation of three men, and on the
lower deck. where no light and but little
air could penetrate, are the dark. solitary
cells, which must almost have been living
tombs to the occupants. At the end of
each cell is a space shut OF by iron rails
called the tigers den." which was used
for those regarded as irreclaimable. Here
the most outrageous offenders were herd
ed together in semi-dnrkness and often
murder was committed among themselves
as the result OF an old grudge or dispute.
The barbarity of the hulk system is
further illustrated by iron necklets, by
which unfortunate Indicators were fas-
tened by a line as II by halters. and in
some torture chambers prisoners were
so chained that they could neither lie. sit
or kneel. Hardened ruffians though the
convcts were, yet such treatment could
only have the most fiendish results and
the prisoners on the Success in 1857 found
an opportunity of revenging themselves
by assassinating the official head of the
convict establishment, Inspector General
Price The public sentiment revolted
agains the hulk system. which was SUI
perced>d in 1859. The old hulks were bro
ken up with the exception of the Success.
which after being maliciously scuttled i'm
Sydney harbor. was raised and exhibited
as a show vessel at various ports I'm Aus
tralia. This old hulk. reeking with the
memories of many cruelties committed i'm
the name of the law. Is not allowed 10 tell
her own tale. but somewhat questionably
IL is sought to heighten the effect by the
aid of wax figures in cells and tableaux
OF scenes with notorious bushrangers all
OF which appeal to morbid tastes.