Britain’s forgotten prison island: remembering the thousands of convicts who died working in Bermuda’s dockyards

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Britain’s forgotten prison island: remembering the thousands of convicts who died working in Bermuda’s dockyards

An 1862 photo of a prison hulk docked in Ireland Island, Bermuda. Royal NavyWe think of Bermuda as a tiny paradise in the North Atlantic. But long before cruise ships moored up, prison ships carried hundreds of convicts to the island, first docking in 1824 and remaining there for decades. Islands have long been places to deport, exile and banish criminals. Think of Alcatraz, the infamous penitentiary in San Francisco, or Robben Island in South …