The Bellerophon & Euryalus Hulks

In 1823 all the adult prisoners on the Bellerophon were transferred to other hulks, and the ship, which lay in the harbour at Sheerness, was in future to be used exclusively for boy convicts. Until that time boys had been housed along with the adult prisoners on board the hulks. The Bellerophon was the 74-gun man-of war in which Napoleon had been brought to England after his defeat at Waterloo. She had been remodelled by the Navy for use as a prison hulk and was equipped with forty separate housing bays in her underdecks, each suitable for eight or ten prisoners. There were secure central corridors for patrol by the one guard assigned below decks during the night. It would appear that there was no attempt made to classify the boys, the smaller, weaker boys living alongside the stronger, more aggressive ones. All the boys were assigned to work on board. John Steadman was assigned as overseer of the hulk and the Reverend Edward Edwards was the Chaplain.

On the 19 February 1823 16 boys were received on board the Bellerophon from the Justitia hulk. The youngest was ten year old William Murphy who had been found guilty of Felony at Salford on the 22 October 1821, and sentenced to seven years transportation. He was one of the boys who were transferred to the Euryalus and he received a Free pardon on 6 September 1826. [1]

Twelve year old William Donald was tried at Middlesex on the 11 April 1821, also for Felony, and sentenced to transportation for life. A note next to his name says that he was discharged on 2 March 1823 per Countess Harcourt to New South Wales. [2]

On the 14 April 1823 fifty six boys from the Retribution hulk were received on board the Bellerophon, they included fifteen year old James Brown who had been found guilty of ‘Mobbing & Rioting’ at Glasgow on 25 April 1822 and sentenced to 14 years transportation. He did not stay long on the Bellerophon as in the ‘How & When Disposed of’ column it says he was discharged 23 July 1823 per the Sir Godfrey Webster, NSW. [3]

Over the following months boys continued to be transferred to the Bellerophon prisons such as Newgate, and Horsemonger Lane and from other hulks. On the 9 November three boys arrived from Ilchester Gaol in Somerset. They were James Carter, age 12, Charles Haines age 16 and 15 year old Charles Old. All three had been tried for ‘Grand Larceny’ at Taunton on the 13 October 1823, and sentenced to 7 years transportation. A little less than two years later Charles Haines was on board the Medway on his way to Van Diemen’s Land.

In his report, dated 24 July 1823, John Capper stated, ‘In obedience to your command and in reference to my former Report upon the subject of Juvenile Offenders, I have now to observe, that the whole of the Boys have been brought from the several Depots to the Bellerophon, where they are fully occupied in carrying on various branches of trades; and I have the satisfaction to report, that the arrangements which I had the honour to submit to you for their future government and employment, have been effectively carried into execution.’ [4]

In the Report, dated 22 January 1824 he adds, ‘Since my former Report upon the measures which I have taken in obedience to your orders for appropriating the Bellerophon Hulk into a Prison Ship, exclusively for the Boys under sentence of Transportation, they were collected together from the other Depots, and have for the last eight months been employed in making clothing, and various other articles for the Convict Establishment.

The number of Boys at present confined in that ship, amounts to 320, the greater part of whom are under fourteen years of age; they naturally require strict attention; but by keeping them fully occupied little opportunity has offered for them to depart from regulations laid down for their government; and considering them as Boys left in early infancy to pursue the most vicious courses I may safely state that their behavior has been much better than I had anticipated.’ [5]

On the 1 July 1824, the hulk Chaplain, the Reverend Edward Edwards, reported to Mr Capper that, ‘The boys on board this Ship have, generally, made a considerable progress in their several Trades; their propensity to lying is, however, I am sorry to say, such, that scarce any confidence can be placed in anything they say.

     From the first day of the passing of the year to the present, seven hundred and eighty-five chapters of Holy Writ, averaging about twenty-three verses, have been committed to memory.

     Out of the three hundred and fifty (the number now on board), a hundred and forty-four repeat the Church Catechism from time to time; thirty-one, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion; very many of the remainder are yet incapable of reading, not knowing the alphabet when they were brought here. Amongst these are many who are very dull, and others are reluctant.

     During Devine Service, owing to very strict vigilance kept up, they conduct themselves very well.

     Thanks are due and are hereby given to the Commanding Officer, and others acting under his express directions, for constant co-operation.’ [6]

By the end of 1825 the boys on the Bellerophon had been transferred to a new addition to the hulk fleet, the Euryalus, a smaller vessel that had been "specially fitted for them" and situated at Chatham, ten miles up the River Medway, and the Reverend Thomas Price was appointed Chaplain. 

The quarterly hulk register for the quarter covering the 1 October and 31 of December 1825 is signed by Samuel Owen.

‘I Samuel Owen, late Overseer of the Bellerophon Hulk at Sheerness, now of the Euryalus, Chatham, make Oath, that the above Return contains the name of every person now confined on board the said Hulk, Euryalus, the Offence of which he was guilty, the Court before which he was Convicted & the Sentence of such Court, together with his age & bodily state, his behaviour whilst in Custody, & of such Offenders as had died whilst in Custody, or have escaped, or have been lawfully discharged from the said Hulks, between the first of October & thirty first of December 1825, both inclusive.’ [7]

 At this time we learn that there were 11 adults on board, ranging in age from 49 year old William Wright, sentenced to seven years for Grand Larceny at Sandwich on 27 December 1821, and ‘lent to the Dolphin 3 Oct & discharged therefrom 26 November 1825 per Free Pardon’, and 17 year old George James, sentenced to transportation for life for Highway Robbery at Shrewsbury 20 March 1822, who was discharged 23 November 1825 per Woodman, NSW. The names of 410 boys are listed the youngest appears to be eight and the oldest seventeen. During this period a number of the older boys were removed to other hulks, some were sent to New South Wales on board the Woodman, at least two were discharged with a Free Pardon and a similar number had their sentence mitigated to a short term of imprisonment. Only one death is reported, that of 13 year old Thomas Beeching, sentenced to seven years for Felony at Maidstone on the 29 March 1825, and ‘Died 23 Dec 1825 at 4 a.m. on board the Canada Hospital Ship.’ We also learn that 9 year old John Scott is a ‘very good little Boy’, 14 year old Edward Partridge is ‘rather idle’ and ‘very little improved’, and 12 year old James Knox is ‘noisy & artful’.

On 26 July 1826, the Reverend Price submitted his first Report, after taking over as Chaplain on the Euryalus.

        ‘In consequence of my removal from the Retribution, Adult Convict Ship, at Sheerness, to the Euryalus of this place, my services are transferred to the exclusive charge of Juvenile Convicts.

Upon entering this new scene of labour, it was represented to me, that whatever might be effected with adult Prisoners, yet such was the depravity of the Boys, that every attempt to moralize them would only terminate in disappointment.

I found much reason for the remark. My confidence, however, was not to be overcome, and the last six months attention to them has fully convinced me, that by the removal of some impediments great good might here also be effected.

It must be borne in remembrance, that these poor children are taken out of our streets, not only deplorably ignorant of all religious knowledge, but with habits opposed to every moral and social restraint; and nothing can operate so sufficiently as an auxiliary to my instructions in correcting this evil, as a careful separation, and the adoption of an effective classification, which, I lament to state, cannot possibly be accomplished, on account of the inadequate size of the ship for so great a number of delinquents.

There can be no question but that this branch of the Convict Department is of paramount importance, as the hopes of the future generation depend upon the care and culture of the present.’ [8]

In the same Report John Henry Capper said, ‘The Boys confined in the Euryalus Hulk at Chatham have been employed on board in making clothing and other articles for the Service. Scurvy and Opthalmia prevailed among them for a short time. But both of those disorders have been subdued.’ [9]

The following January Capper reported that there has been some trouble from the boys of the Euryalus and put it down to the size of the ship. ‘The Boys confined in the Euryalus Hulk have, upon two or three occasions, been refractory, and committed outrages on the persons of some of the Officers. The Ship in which they are confined is found too small to effect a proper classification, - a measure which is absolutely required for keeping them in a proper state of discipline.’

In his reports the following year Chaplain Price continued to urge separation and classification if any sort of reform was to take place. ‘To effect something more than an external decency of behavior it is my most serious conviction that it is absolutely necessary not only that a plan of separation and classification should be adopted . . . but that these unfortunately neglected boys should be governed by persons competent to so highly important a charge; and in venturing to give this opinion I feel I am only discharging a duty I owe to the Government and the country. It is true that the exercise of power may restrain unruly dispositions, and the operation of sinister motives may produce a degree of obedience; but no permanent and radical reformation can ever be expected where the nature of mental and moral discipline is not understood, and as such, cannot possibly be adequately conducted.’

Six months later he reported, ‘I feel I am under the necessity of further pressing upon your notice the subject of my last report, in which I expressed it as my full conviction that no permanent reformation can be effected among the juvenile prisoners confined on board the Euryalus but by their being separated and classified . . . and besides, that a more efficient system than at present be adopted for the better ensuring the improvement of their morals and furthering the object the Government had in view in placing them here. The great importance of the subject will, I trust, be duly considered and meet the attention it deserves.’

Shortly after this the Reverend Price was transferred to the Retribution at Sheerness, and his place taken by the Reverend Henry John Dawes.

It was reported in 1828 that the behaviour of the boys had improved after a substantial number of the more ‘recalcitrant boys’ had been shipped out to Australia.

Mr Capper made the same observation again in his Report dated 10 July 1834. ‘Since the reduction of the number of the Convict Boys, by Transportation of the elder ones, considerable improvement has manifested itself in the behaviour of the younger ones.’ 

By the end of 1843 the Euryalus had been decommissioned and sent to the breakers yard. This did not mean an end to the transportation of young boys, but now many of them spent the first part of their sentence at Parkhurst Prison, before being sent to Van Diemen’s Land, Western Australia and Port Phillip, either as an apprentice, emigrant, or Exile. In 1842 123 boys from Parkhurst were sent to New Zealand, but as neither the New Zealand Government or the people were happy with this no more boys were sent there after 1842.