The SUCCESS an odd name for a vessel that was one day destined to become a penal ship. A 135 foot vessel built in 1840 in Burma. The Success carried trade from Southeast Asia to England. Later she carried settlers to new horizons, Australia, She had sailed originally as a cargo/passenger ship for a little more than a decade when 1852, the Success found herself on the shores of Hobson’s bay crewless. The crew abandoned her as news of Gold had struck their hearts.

 

The vessels lay idle and crewless in Hobson’s bay until the Victorian government  decided upon  purchasing the abandoned vessels and put them to good use as floating prison Hulks. The overcrowding at the Old Melbourne Gaol, Collingwood and Pentridge stockade gave the Government a quick fix solution to the overcrowding issue.

 

The newly acquired  vessels were fitted out with cells and sleeping quarters. The Hulks were soon filled to capacity with all class of criminals including  that of Bushranger Harry Power. However the Hulks were soon deemed inhumane  and ordered to be broken up. The Success escaped this fate  and was purchased by a group of entrepreneurs  and was turned into a floating Museum.  The Success toured the world as far as Europe and Australia for over 50 years .The Success finally met her doom as vandals set fire to her as she lay moored in Port Clinton in1946.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Google earth image of the Success wreck site

 

Apart from the horrors as a penal ship, the Success made head lines for other reasons other than the harsh and cruel treatment of its prisoners. The assault of  inspector General John Price in March 1857, disgruntled prisoners gathered around to listen to Price as he had paid them a long awaited visit, however he was  brutally attacked and fell unconscious. The men responsible for the attack were quickly rounded up and soon faced trial for his murder. Price passed away from his injuries the following day. The men responsible for the murder were found guilty and faced the gallows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The attack on Price. Note the artist impression of the Hulk top right hand corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Punishment

 

Various forms of punishment were inflicted on those who dared to the break rules anything from the use of ring-bolts. The warders would lay a prisoner down and fasten him on the broad of his back with four ring-bolts one for each leg and one for each arm. Another form of punishment, especially on the Success and Sacramento was the shower bath. A room 6 foot  by 4 inches high and just large enough for a man to stand in. An unlimited supply of water could be released on him, and the records claim the sudden shock of treatment cured a man of lockjaw.

 

The treatment  was tough and so too were the convicts. Nevertheless, the brutality and squalor of the treatment meted out must inevitably shock the observer looking back through history.

 

Occasionally the hulks sprang a leak, or shipped water, and then conditions aboard became the last word in unpleasantness. Little attempt was made, particularly in the early days, to improve the prisoners mind or relieve the terrible monotony of solitary confinement, other than by visits from ministers of religion from which few reforms were ever claimed.

 

Communication between prisoners on the hulks and civilians was rigidly prohibited, but the authorities found this impossible to police effectively with the men working ashore. The “point” was clear at night, and on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, and relatives and friends were able to leave messages under stones and in others places for prisoners to pick up by the day.

 

Above sourced from private memoirs  A.C.COOK.

 

 

What a wonderful insight into the life on board the hulks and some of the punishments used. This is a part of daily life Ned and Harry Power without doubt would have witnessed. How about the sneaky operations of the visitors leaving messages for their loved ones. Makes me wonder if Ned received visitors by members of his family whilst serving  his remaining time on the battery or on board the Sacramento.

 

 

HMS Success was built in Moulmein, Burma, in 1840. By 1849 she was working in the Australian emigrant trade, where she was abandoned at the time of the Victorian gold rush. She was for a period a receiving prison ship in Hobson’s Bay, Victoria, and almost ended her days scuttled in Port Jackson in 1885, but was later raised, rerigged and exhibited -- fraudulently -- as a convict transport claimed to be 100 years old when in fact she was only 50. In this capacity Success visited Australian, British and US ports, her owners capitalising on public interest in the convict era and her authentic, East Indiaman style of construction. The durable Burmese teak hull survived into this century until vandals set her alight on the Fourth of July 1946 at Port Clinton, Ohio. The photographer, Lee Brandon, recently donated the print to the Museum.

 

 

Tools of torture on display on board the Success. Legs irons and a sweet box, rumour has it once a prisoner entered  he never came out alive. Cruel and unjust form of punishment.  

Pictures from kellyhaunts  private collection