John Sell Cotman

Three sketches of Hulks at Chatham on the Medway: 1 (top) HMS Euryalus, a prison ship for boys
c. 1828

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This sheet contains three sketches. At the top is a two-deck man of war hulk seen from the stern port quarter inscribed 'Euralus. Convict for Boys'. In the centre is a three-deck hulk seen from the stern. At the bottom is a barque seen from the starboard beam with two hulks beyond. Inscribed 'Barque from coast of Africa with Timber'.

The frigate HMS Euryalus - named after one of Jason's Argonauts - was launched in 1803 and in 1805 served at the battle of Trafalgar, becoming Admiral Collingwood's flagship after the death of Nelson. She was fitted out as a boy's prison ship in 1825 and received her first inmates that year moored at Chatham. She generally had about 250 juveniles on board, some as young as ten, all awaiting transportation to New South Wales when they reached fifteen. A detailed account of life on board is available at:

http://www.swingriotsriotersblacksheepsearch.com/index.php?p=1_21_Children-of-the-Hulks.

The careful style of this sketch suggests that it must date to the first of Cotman's two sailing tours to the Thames and Medway in 1828 and 1831. He was accompanied on both trips by his son Miles Edmund, and by also by his younger son, John Joseph, certainly on the latter tour. A similar view of the Euryalus formed the basis of a hulk in the background of a finished watercolour by Miles Edmund Cotman sold at Sotheby's 12 April 1995, lot 108.

Another sketch at Leeds LEEAG.1949.0009.0264 records a wherry, but also carries the inscription 'Eurolas (Convict Ship for Boys)'. That must relate to a formerly contiguous sketch, subsequently mounted separately but which is currently unidentified.

Presumably the other hulks on this page are also at Chatham. Others were HMS Canada, a 74-gun Third-Rate launched in 1765. She became a prison hulk in 1810 and was broken up in 1834. HMS Cumberland was a 74-gun Third-rate launched in 1807, converted to a prison hulk in 1830 and renamed Fortitude in 1833. HMS Dolphin was originally launched as an East Indiaman named Admiral Rainier, which the Navy bought and renamed HMS Hindostan. The Admiralty purchased her in 1804 for service as a 50-gun Fourth-rate. She was converted into a 20-gun storeship in 1811. She was renamed again in 1819 as Dolphin, and once more in 1831 as Justitia, when she became a prison hulk. She was finally sold in 1855. HMS Ganymede was the French frigate H�b� captured in 1809. She was converted to a prison hulk in 1819 and broken up in 1838. Cf. Wikipedia 'List of British Prison Hulks' at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_prison_hulks

It is not clear how Cotman knew that the barque in the lower sketch was unloading timber from Africa, but naval dockyards would have required a regular supply of such consignments. In 1829 it was suggested that the Chatham sawmill be dedicated exclusively to the processing of African timber. Cf.

http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=248.25;wap2.

This drawing is one of six mounted on one large sheet ('H') as acquired by Sydney Kitson in 1926. They all depict ships and boats, but appear to be a variety of marine and riverine subjects, from different periods and campaigns. Sometime between 1926 and 1937, Kitson mounted them all individually and gave them new numbers for the catalogue drawn up in the latter year. The drawings were dispersed in the 1937 numeration, thus obscuring the previous sheet relationship of the drawings.

David Hill, September 2017

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