Floating Prisons: Irish Convict Hulks and Voyages to NSW - Anne McMahon скачать в хорошем качестве

Floating Prisons: Irish Convict Hulks and Voyages to NSW - Anne McMahon

During the years 1823 to 1837 men in Ireland who had been sentenced to transportation were held in two prison hulks: the Surprize and the Essex. 12,000 prisoners from the two hulks were transported to Sydney. They came on 61 convict voyages of hired merchant ships controlled by naval surgeons. Floating Prisons portrays life on these hulks. Punishment was harsh. Diet was at starvation level. Clothing was flimsy. Faction fights erupted at night so that guards dared not enter the prisons below decks. The prisoners set alight to both hulks. Australians who have Irish prisoner ancestors tend to know the ships on which they came to the Colony but may not be familiar with the hulks or the Irish penal system of the disturbed 1820s. Anne McMahon is already admired for her last book bringing new light to convict transportation to Van Diemen’s Land. She is a graduate of the University of Tasmania and the ANU. Her thirty year academic career was at the University of Canberra.