Format: Ten process lithograph postcards, nine in sepia and one in colour, captioned in image, 8.7 x 14cm.
Text continues “Oldest ship afloat, launched at Moulmein, Burmah, 1790.”
Captions read:
“The iron maiden and its victims; Cells on lower deck. Arctic in winter, torrid in summer; Branding prisoners with red hot irons; Prisoner receiving 100 lashes with ‘cat o’nine tails’; Stern view showing antique carvings; Original instruments of torture; Dry dock view; An unfortunate in the embrace of the iron maiden; The compulsory bath. Victims scrubbed with salt water.”
So-called “prison” ship Success was built in 1840 (despite claims of 1790) to carry migrants (not convicts) to Australia from 1847. In 1852 she was deserted by the crew for the goldfields. Abandoned, “she was sold to the [Australian] government for use as a prison hulk and was employed as a hulk in various capacities.” Sold out of government service in 1890, Success was “purchased by a group of entrepreneurs to be refitted as a museum ship.” Fitted out by showmen and exhibited as convict transport, she travelled the world as a museum of horrors, until she burnt down in 1946 near Cleveland, Ohio, US. Ref: SLSA; Mariner’s Museum.
Some scuffs and minor creases, one image with paper loss.
