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Image Not Available for Prison ship in Portsmouth Harbour, convicts going on board
Prison ship in Portsmouth Harbour, convicts going on board
Image Not Available for Prison ship in Portsmouth Harbour, convicts going on board

Prison ship in Portsmouth Harbour, convicts going on board

Artist (1811 - 1880)
Date1828
Object number00005539
NameEtching
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 245 x 312 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionEtching titled 'Prison - ship, in Portsmouth Harbour. Convicts going on board' depicting the prison hulk the former HMS YORK. 'Drawn & etched by Edd. Wm. Cooke 1828' appears bottom right of sight. From Edward William Cooke's 'Sixty Five Plates of Shipping and Craft', published London, 1829. HistoryIn 1819, YORD entered Portsmouth harbour, where she was stripped of her masts and guns, and converted into a prison hulk in London and Gosport (Portsmouth) between 1820 and 1852. 175 feet in length, YORK could accommodate about 500 prisoners including those passing through after being sentenced to transportation to New South Wales. After many years at this harbour service, YORK was broken up in March 1854. SignificanceHMS YORK, a retired ship of the line of the British Royal Navy which served in the Napoleonic Wars, was stripped of her guns and converted to a floating prison to accommodate the overflow of onshore facilities. Along with others of the type, they were a highly visible 'floating receptacle of human misery'.