ioo ST. HELENA 



of great thickness, and was used as an East Indiaman, 

 and then as an emigrant ship, but in 1852, when the gold- 

 fields were being opened up in Australia, she was converted 

 into a convict ship,and anchored off Williamstown, Victoria. 

 There were five of these convict ships moored together, in 

 order to safely keep the worst of the bad characters from 

 all quarters, and the convicts who were escaping from the 

 penal settlements to get to the gold fields. The Success 

 was called the Dark Cell Drill ship, and was fitted with 

 solitary cells admitting no light. It is wonderful that she 

 safely reached home : she took five months and a half to 

 complete the voyage. 



The quarters occupied formerly by the warders were on 

 the quarter-deck, where were to be seen rusty muskets, 

 pistols, leg-irons and manacles, and an original copy of a 

 ticket of leave signed by the Governor of the Colony. Be- 

 tween decks there were cells on each side, each cell made for 

 three prisoners ; and on the lower deck, where no light and 

 very little air could penetrate, were the solitary cells, 

 which must have been living tombs. A small space at 

 the end of each cell was railed off, and called the tiger's 

 cage; this was used for dangerous occupants. Often 

 murder was committed in the gloom of these awful tombs, 

 as the result of quarrels, or of an old grievance. There also 

 were iron necklets by which the malefactors were fastened 

 in a line. In the torture cells the chains prevented the poor 

 wretches from either sitting, kneeling, or lying down. The 

 convicts were of the worst type ; still, such barbarity 

 could only have hardened them, and in 1857 they found 

 an opportunity of revenging themselves by assassinating 

 the official head inspector, General Price. Public feeling 

 then revolted against the system on these convict ships, 

 and they were, in 1859, broken up, with the exception of 

 the Success. She was scuttled in Sydney harbour, then 

 was raised and exhibited at various ports in Australia 

 after which she was taken to England. 



On Sunday, October 13, 1895, three artillerymen (a 

 bombardier and two gunners), two of whom were on the 

 main guard, boarded the Luna, a water-tank, and took her 

 out to sea. Before leaving guard, they locked the remain- 

 ing man on guard in the cells, and filled in the guard 



