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The Convict Hulk System - 1826. England

It may be known that the hulks are large vessels without masts, which
have been line-of -battle ships or frigates, fitted up for the
reception of male prisoners sentenced to be transported.
These floating prisons are securley moored near a Dock-yard or 
Arsenal so that the labour of the prisoners may be applied to the
public service. It will scarcely be credited, that there are about
three thousand men in England so employed, which the following
statement, supposed to be correct as to the average numbers, will
exemplify.

At Sheerness		Retribution	600 men
			Bellerophon	300
At Chatham		Dolphin		400
At Woolwhich		Justitia	250
At Deptford		Ganymede	120
At Portsmouth		York		600
			Leviathan	500
			A small ship	120
					____
					2,890

At every station, there is a ship which is used as an hospital for
the sick; each hulk is under the superintendence of a Captain and
a certain number of inferiour officers, also a chaplain and a 
surgeon.
Source - CT Sept 1 1826


NB.This article is designed to assist in giving a general overview
of the convict system.
All original official  records should be accessed to confirm any
accounts of the convict system.
Jenny Fawcett