A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulks served different purposes:
- An accommodation hulk is a hulk used as housing, generally when there is a lack of quarters available ashore (barracks).
- A receiving ship is a ship used in harbour to house newly recruited sailors before they are assigned to a ship's crew
- A prison hulk was a hulk used as a floating prison
- Hulks used for storage (depot ship)
- Hulks used as hospital ships
(source Wikipedia)
In the history of Hong Kong, many hulks have been stationed in Victoria Harbour, the best known being HMS Tamar. David posted already in 2010 a list of hulks used in Hong Kong in the 19th and early-20th centuries. This post tries to give information and, if available, photos of these ships in Hong Kong. Some ships have pages of their own, attached are links to these. The list gives the name of the ship, its class, the years of service in Hong Kong and finally their use. Additionally, this compilation deals only with larger hulks first stationed in the 19th century. Most hulks from the second half of the 19th century were (small) gunboats which are difficult to find on photos.
| HMS Minden | ex 74 | 1842-1861 | seamen's hospital |
- 74-gun Ganges-class third-rate ship of the line
- launched on 19 June 1810 from Bombay
- arrived in Hong Kong late 1842 as hospital ship, later store and military stationary ship, sold August 1861
| HMS Alligator | ex 28 | 1848-1865 | seamen's hospital |
- 28-gun Atholl-class sixth rate
- launched at Cochin, British India on 29 March 1821
- 1848 service in Hong Kong as Seamen’s hospital, sold in October 1865
[small ship, difficult to find on photos from this time]
| HMS Hercules | ex 74 | 1853-1865 | army depot |
- 74-gun third-rate ship of the line
- launched on 5 September 1815 at Chatham
- 1853 arrived in Hong Kong, served as depot and receiving ship, sold in August 1865 to be broken
| HMS Melville | ex 74 | 1857-1873 | hospital ship |
- 74-gun third rate ship of the line
- launched on 17 February 1817 at Bombay Dockyard.
- 1857 converted to a hospital ship, sold 1873
| HMS Princess Charlotte | ex 110 | 1858-1875 | barracks |
- 104 Gun 1st Rate Ship of the line.
- Launched 14th September 1825 in Portsmouth
- Arrived Hong Kong 6th January 1858, Sold 1875,
- replaced by HMS Victor Emmanuel
| HMS Meanee | ex 80 | 1869-1906 | army hospital |
(sometimes also spelled Meeanee)
- two-deck 80-gun second rate ship of the line
- launched on 11 November 1842 at Bombay Dockyard
- 1869 hospital ship in Hong Kong, sold and broke up in 1906
| HMS Victor Emmanuel | battleship | 1874-1897 | base ship |
- 91-gun second-rate ship of the line
- 1855: Launched as Repulse at Pembroke Dockyard, then later in the year renamed to Victor Emmanuel after he visited the ship.
- 1874: Arrived in Hong Kong on 11th December to replace Princess Charlotte as the receiving ship.
- 1897-09-30: Paid off and replaced by HMS Tamar.
| HMS Flamer | gunboat | 1868-1874 | hospital ship |
- wooden gunboat 232 tons
- Launched 10 April 1856
- 1867 converted to a hospital, wrecked in the 1874 typhoon
| HMS Tamar | troopship | 1897-1941 | base ship |
- troop ship
- built by the Samuda Brothers at Cubitt Town, London, launched in 1865
- 1897 converted to a hulk,
- 1897-10-01 in service until 11 December 1941, when she was scuttled just before the Japanese captured Hong Kong
Addendum: hulk not related to the Royal Navy
| Small Pox Hulk "Hygeia" | hospital ship | 1891-1909 | hospital ship |
- 1891 built as hospital ship by HK and Whampoa Dock Company
- served as small pox hospital ship
- damaged in the 1906 typhoon, refloated, finally sold in 1909. (Source)
Good work
Good work and well done to have this page made up and available.
Timeline for hulks on service in Hong Kong
Hulk service timeline in Hong Kong:
Sale of the MEANEE 1906
End of service and sale dates confirmed.
Chinese painting c.1865 of…
Chinese painting c.1865 of four hulks.
Hulks in the 1860s and early 1870s
The reason for looking at the details of the hulks are two photos where several ships can be seen. These are:
In both photos, three larger hulks can be seen, on the lower one an additional but smaller hulk. Fortunately, the photos show different sides of the ships, the upper one shows the starboard side, the lower one the port side.
Most hulks stationed in Hong Kong are easy to distinguish. However, there were four ships where this task is more complicated because they belong to the same or similar classes. The ships were:
We exclude Minden and Hercules here because there are too few photos available; and those we have do not have a sufficient resolution.
In the following table, names, classes and their time in Hong Kong are compiled, as well as the total number of guns the ships carried.
For the identification (we usually see either starboard or port side of a ship), the number of guns on one side (i.e. either starboard or port side) of the gun deck is important. [The gun deck is the lowest one above the water line.] Each gun had its own port, so each side would have 14 (Meanee 15) ports. However, extra ports did exist for other purposes. Therefore, the total number of ports on the gun deck (either starboard or port side) is also given.
For a better visualization, a construction drawing and a photo, all with the numbering of the ports, are shown below.
Coming back to the two photos above, one ship can be easily identified. It is the largest and it is HMS Princess Charlotte. The smallest one is likely HMS Flamer.
The two remaining ships look pretty much the same, but there is an important difference: the ship in the middle still has (three) masts. Unfortunately, counting ports does not work because of low resolution. There is another photo of the hulk with masts:
16 ports can be counted easily, the 17th is a bit difficult to see.
Fortunately, I found a better photo on the internet. The photo is hosted in an Estonian (!) museum and is dated to 1872.
I think the left hulk is HMS Meanee because it has more gun ports than the one on the right.
There are more clues that the hulk with masts is HMS Meanee. The China Mail 1868-08-26 reports: “HMS Adventure left Singapore on the 12th to go to Batavia and Java Head; at the latter place she is to take the Meanee in tow and get her through the straits, and is then to accompany her up to Hong Kong, towing her when necessary”. Both ships arrived on the 20 October 1868.
My interpretation of this text is that Meanee was able to sail on her own, and for that masts are necessary. On the other hand, the ship was fitted with screw propulsion in 1857, therefore she could also go without masts.
One more hint that the hulk without masts is HMS Melville is a drawing dated 26 October 1856. It shows the ship in a dock, likely for turning into a hulk. In this drawing, the masts have been removed.
Finally, I'm quite sure that the hulk with masts is HMS Meanee, the one without HMS Melville. This is likely, but not 100% sure.