![FLOATING HELL](https://cdn.magzter.com/1422873872/1662026201/articles/zhyLu50pH1663055389689/FLOATING-HELL.jpg)
Early one misty morning in 1855, Henry Mayhew and John Binny stepped aboard a dilapidated ship moored on the Thames. Its large wooden hull was studded with barred portholes; instead of flags, a rudimentary washing line hung between the ship’s masts. The overall impression was one of oppression and decay.
The Defence struck a curious contrast to the gleaming steamboats and sailboats streaming past: for one thing, rather than carrying passengers, it housed convicts. Formerly a naval man-of-war, it was now a prison ship, also known as a hulk.
Mayhew and Binny, both journalists and social reformers, had previously toured the prisons of London. They had inspected the solitary cells at Millbank, the exercise yards in Pentonville, and the female workrooms in Brixton. But the hulk system was unlike any other prison they had encountered.
The walls of this one were wooden, barely held together by rot. Led by a warder, the journalists descended into the belly of the ship. Here, each deck was divided by two rows of strong iron railings flanking a central passageway. Behind were open cells festooned with dingy hammocks, providing space for 240 men to sleep on each deck. As Mayhew and Binny looked on, a morning bell sounded and sleeping prisoners sprang into action, stowing hammocks, washing in buckets and scrubbing tables ready for breakfast.
If the scene inspired both wonder and despair in these men, their reactions were nothing new. For decades, prison reformers had protested at the use of hulks. And the Defence was not fit to be a prison, being nothing more than “a rotten leaky tub”.
Easing overcrowding
This story is from the October 2022 edition of BBC History UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 2022 edition of BBC History UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
!["It had been a tiny triumph, but it had been a British triumph"](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/8opIdMhdd1717680864049/IT-HAD-BEEN-A-TINY-TRIUMPH-BUT-IT-HAD-BEEN-A-BRITISH-TRIUMPH.jpg)
"It had been a tiny triumph, but it had been a British triumph"
MAX HASTINGS talks to Rob Attar about a daring airborne raid that provided a much-needed boost to Britain's morale in the darkest days of the Second World War
![Dancing with the Devil](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/z3tczrcbD1717680698593/DANCING-WITH-THE-DEVIL.jpg)
Dancing with the Devil
ROGER MOORHOUSE is impressed by a book that traces the fortunes of the diplomats charged with managing the west's wartime alliance with Josef Stalin
![Victorian cucumber ice cream](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/XihiPLmM11717680253090/VICTORIAN-CUCUMBER-ICE-CREAM.jpg)
Victorian cucumber ice cream
ELEANOR BARNETT samples the delights of an unusual and refreshing version of one of the world's favourite summer treats
![Anne Boleyn, ‘princess' of France](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/FN-z5WT8v1717680017211/ANNE-BOLEYN-PRINCESS-OF-FRANCE.jpg)
Anne Boleyn, ‘princess' of France
JOANNE PAUL is impressed by an account of how the Tudor queen's continental connections shaped her meteoric rise and dramatic fall
![FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT...Roman Britain](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/2Rmu-B6bk1717679721651/FIVE-THINGS-YOU-PROBABLY-DIDNT-KNOW-ABOUTROMAN-BRITAIN.jpg)
FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT...Roman Britain
Rob Collins, who is teaching our new HistoryExtra Academy course, shares five surprising facts about life in Britain during the Roman occupation
![War and pieces](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/j0-whLbkb1717679070748/WAR-AND-PIECES.jpg)
War and pieces
Far from idle pursuits, games have transformed the way societies have made sense of life and death, order and conflict for centuries. Kelly Clancy picks five examples that reveal how playtime has often been a serious business
![Gulbadan Begum The Mughal Jane Austen](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/PF1DtMyfw1717678792372/GULBADAN-BEGUM-THE-MUGHAL-JANE-AUSTEN.jpg)
Gulbadan Begum The Mughal Jane Austen
Gulbadan Begum was meant to live a quiet life in the confines of a Mughal harem. Instead she made her mark on history twice: first, embarking on a pioneering pilgrimage to Islam’s holy cities; second, writing a remarkable history of her dynasty. RUBY LAL tells her story
![Succession 1603](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/_ZQ6raIkd1717678256662/SUCCESSION-1603.jpg)
Succession 1603
The passing of the English crown from Elizabeth I to James VI & I was welcomed by a nation hungry for change. But, writes Susan Doran, it wasn't long before tensions began to rise between the incoming king and his new subjects
![Horror in France](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/sK1_OhLUO1717677733111/HORROR-IN-FRANCE.jpg)
Horror in France
On the morning of 10 June 1944, the residents of Oradour-sur-Glane were going about their lives as normally as was possible in occupied France: cooking, washing, shopping, playing. Little did they know that they were about to become the victims of one of the most infamous massacres of the Second World War.
!["IT'S TIME TO WRITE WOMEN BACK INTO THESE WORLD-CHANGING ANCIENT EVENTS"](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8837/1724277/6FQpECvQ51717677224816/ITS-TIME-TO-WRITE-WOMEN-BACK-INTO-THESE-WORLDCHANGING-ANCIENT-EVENTS.jpg)
"IT'S TIME TO WRITE WOMEN BACK INTO THESE WORLD-CHANGING ANCIENT EVENTS"
Daisy Dunn tells the story of the Greco-Persian Wars through the deeds of the extraordinary female figures who shaped them