3. Great Expectations: (pg. 14)

3. Great Expectations: (pg. 14): “ ‘Lord, bless the boy!’ exclaimed Mrs. Joe, as if she didn’t’ quite mean that, but rather the contrary. ‘From the Hulks.’”:
When the United States of America declared its independence from England, England lost their ability to send convicts to the United States to serve their sentences. They were also left with warships that were no longer necessary. In a creative response to having more ships than needed and more criminals than they could house, England recycled ships into prisons. They started using old naval vessels to house London's convicts. The idea was that convicts were less likely to escape if they had to swim their way to shore and to utilize space that was available to avoid overcrowding their jail systems even more. Dickens references Hulks and shows Pip’s curiosity, and his sister’s reaction shows some of her impatience with him.

“Great Expectations.” Discovering Dickens, A Community Reading Project. 2002. Stanford University.
http://dickens.stanford.edu/dickens/archive/great/great_issue1gloss.html

“Prison Hulks on the Thames River.” Portcities London. National Maritime Museum/ Royal Observatory Greenwich. http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.56/chapterId/414/Prison-hulks-on-the-River-Thames.html.