The Convict Hulk "Success" and Her Kelly
Gang Connections
Written by Sharon Hollingsworth
North American Correspondent
Glenrowan1880.com
Early post card of the ship.
If anyone ever thought that the history of the
Kelly Gang was fraught with conflicting facts and reports, perhaps they should
take a look at the history of the convict hulk "Success." The
"Success" not only shares the Kelly Gang's predilection for
controversy, but has several reputed ties to the gang, too. The
"Success," which later became a floating "convict ship"
museum, was built in 1840 in Burma. It had been widely, yet erroneously,
reported by her promoters that she had been built in 1790 and that she had
actually been used to transport convicts. While she had been a stationary
convict hulk, she never was a "convict ship." A difference there! It
seems these claims were made to perhaps fuel the imaginations and loosen the
purse-strings of a public who were not far removed from, yet intrigued with the
convict era.* But more on that aspect of the ship's history in a bit.
The Success Catalogue for when the vessel was in Melbourne.
(A very rare pamphlet, White collection)
The "Success" was built for trade in the
Orient and was later used as an emigrant ship between the UK and Australia. In
1843 she made a voyage to the Swan River Colony (what is now Perth) with
emigrant families. As an interesting side note, Glenrowan1880's West Australian
correspondent Dave Brown relates that some of his wife's ancestors arrived on
the "Success" on that 1843 voyage, and that one of them, Thomas
Reynolds, was born on board three days out from shore!
Photo of print of the HMS Success taken at the Fremantle Maritime Museum. (D.White)
Speaking of the Swan River Colony, another famous
ship named "HMS Success" is associated
with the area. As a matter of fact, there were several ships with the name
"Success" that were
contemporaries of and antecedents to the "Success" of which we are
concerned, thus making for some confusion!** The "Success" also made
voyages to Australia in the late 1840s and early 1850s.
After the "Success's" crew deserted her for the goldfields of Victoria
in 1852, the ship was obtained by the Victorian Government for use as a prison
hulk. She was one of five such hulks and Ned Kelly himself served a term upon
the hulk "Sacramento." The hulk "Success" had many notable
criminals of the day on board at one time or another, including Daniel ('Mad
Dan') Morgan, Frank McCallum (better known as Captain Melville), Owen Suffolk
(the Prison-Poet of Australia) and Henry Johnstone (better known as Harry
Power), who was a young Ned Kelly's bushranging tutor. More on Power to
come.
From 1860 to around 1868, the "Success"
was used as a women's prison and in 1869 as
sleeping quarters for a boys' reformatory. Later it was used to store powder and
ammunition. After a series of events the "Success" was sold to a
UK concern. While other prison hulks were sold around the same time with the
condition they be broken up, the "Success" was not dismantled, owing
to an error in paperwork. There is some dispute whether or not the old ship had
been scuttled and laid submerged for five years (and later raised) in the
interval years before becoming a museum. In any event, by 1891 the
"Success" was refitted and filled with exhibits such as implements of
torture and wax figures and turned into a floating "convict ship"
museum. Paying customers around the ports of Australia, were treated to lectures
on board by former inmate-turned-tour-guide, Harry Power. Unfortunately, Power
was drowned the same year, but not as has been falsely reported as being from a
fall from her decks. He was on a fishing trip at the Murray River when he had
his mishap.
The "Success" sank at her moorings in
1892. She was refloated in 1893 and under new owners (her ownership changed
hands many times before he fateful end decades later) toured around Australia
for a time. From 1895 to around 1911 the "Success" toured ports around
Great Britain and was a rousing success! Again the ship was sold, this time to
an American concern and she left Liverpool headed to the United States on April
10, 1912, the same day that another ship left Southampton headed the same way.
Only one of the two arrived at their destination, the other ship was named the
"Titanic." The "Success" was shown around US ports from 1912
up until around the early 1940s. It was 1946 when she was ultimately run aground
and was then allegedly burnt by vandals. Tens of millions of visitors (one 1924
exhibition catalogue says over 20 million!) had thronged to see her in her
heyday and purchased many of the exhibition catalogues and souvenir books about
the history of the ship which were printed on board. (One of her later owners
was a Mr. Jontzen who owned a publishing firm.) Countless postcards were also
sold. Many of them turn up on ebay and in auction houses throughout the world
today.
The above image is from a post card of the ship.
(White Collection)
Some depict "staged" torture scenes and
others have the ship afloat and in dry dock and there were others that
were pretty astonishing. In reference to those astonishing cards and as concerns
a Kelly Gang connection, we will go to the passenger list for the
"Success's" 1849 arrival in Australia. It was in that year that
Patrick Byrne, aged 18, and his three brothers arrived as free emigrants aboard
her. In a few short years Patrick would marry and the union would produce a son,
a son he named after his own father, Joseph.*** Joe Byrne, as we all
know would grow to young adulthood and become Ned Kelly's righthand man in the
Kelly Gang. It is very ironic, that when the ship was made into a floating
museum that in one of the cells there would be wax dummies, touted as having
been "described by the world's experts as the most perfect ever made,"
and Joe Byrne's would be one of them!**** (Though one old lag/wag visited the
museum in his declining years and upon seeing a wax figure of himself declared
that he had been much better looking back then than he was depicted!) The
"Success" had a featured exhibit called "The Notorious Kelly
Gang" and had wax dummies of the four gang members along with Kate Kelly(!)
all behind bars. The exhibition catalogue has the gang listed and gives a brief,
albeit error filled synopsis of their career, and says "...The Kellys were
never aboard. They are shown here as examples of modern Australian
outlaws..." There is a postcard of the scene of the Kellys in the cell and
I only wish I had a copy to show here. I have seen it before and it was an odd
site to behold indeed!
The copy of Ned's armour on board the Success.
There are postcards (see pic above) of Ned's armour
which was reported as being on board, too. Oddly, the Ogden Cigarette Company
which put out trade cards in the early 20th Century, used the image of the
armour from the "Success" on one of them!
Ned's replica armour (courtesy Brian McDonald)
Clearly it was a replica suit but was never
mentioned as being such in all the literature. In the book "The History of
the Convict Ship 'Success' and Dramatic Story of Some of the 'Success'
Prisoners" it says the following about the armour: "...Among the
numerous relics of lawless life in Australia now shown on board the
"Success," none is more interesting than the ingenious suit of
shot-resisting steel which formed the impenetrable armour of Ned Kelly, the
leader of this notorious "Kelly Gang." This rusty relic of the hunted
outlaw swings to and fro on the deck, suspended by a rope, a position which is
strongly suggestive of the after-fate of the original wearer. The suit consists
of breastplate, shoulder-guards, back-plate and vizour, complete. Indentions
made by well-aimed bullets may be seen in clusters, showing that the bushranger
was at one time subjected to a hot fire, and that if not for this protection he
must have met with instant death..."
This same book is one that Brian McDonald had made
mention of in his excellent resource publication "What They Said About
Ned!": "Another work, which ran into numerous editions, was Joseph C.
Harvie's 'The Convict Hulk "Success." The Story of her life, and the
lives of those who filled her cells,' Spectator Publishing Co. Ltd., Melbourne,
1891.....While the "Success" was touring America a revamped edition of
Harvie's work appeared as 'The History of the Convict Ship "Success".
And Dramatic Story of Some of the "Success" Prisoners, which was
'published on board the convict ship "Success."...These American
editions carry additional, and in some cases outlandish, information
particularly in the bushranging sections. One example is the statement
that "Red" Kelly, Ned's father, arrived in Van Diemen's Land on the
"Success."...' [end of McDonald quote] Yes, you read that
right, the later editions of the book (the one I have has a 1929 copyright)
states that "Red" Kelly arrived on the Success and that he was present
when Inspector-General of Convict Establishments John Price (he was not Captain
of the "Success" as the exhibition catalogue states) arrived to hear
some of the prisoner's grievances. The book says (all a fabrication to be sure!)
that: "..."Red" Kelly, the father of the bushrangers of later
years, asked whether a sentence of three days' solitary, which he received a
week before, would affect his ticket-of-leave.
Mr. Price and Mr. Hallis [Superintendent of the
ship] agreed that he would have to wait six months, whereupon Kelly shook his
fist defiantly, and said, "You –––– tyrant, your race will soon be
run." For this display of insolence he was taken back to the
"Success" in charge of two overseers.." This is supposed to be a
historical record! What happened very soon after was that Mr. Price was
set upon and murdered by some of the convicts! (in another book it says the
convict was "James" Kelly, still assumedly not a James Kelly related
to Ned, and that he helped in the murder!)
From the Success catalogue, White collection.
There is even a "cartoon-type" pull-out
in the exhibition catalogue showing the assault on the "captain" in
progress and other such equally lurid scenes as well as Ned's armour with a
strangely hinged helmet faceplate and no shoulder caps. Who do
you think the book says presided at the trial of the convicts accused of Price's
murder? It was Judge Redmond Barry, who also presided over the trials of Ellen
and Ned Kelly. This was in 1857 that Price was murdered. Captain Melville whom
Barry had sentenced to prison in 1853 had a prominent role in the Price affair.
How preposterous to have "Red" Kelly even associated with all this!
One wonders where the "facts" came from! We know that "Red"
Kelly was not ever onboard the "Success"! He had arrived Down Under in
1841 on the "Prince Regent" and got his ticket-of-leave in 1845. By
1857 he was married to Ellen and had fathered several children by then, among
them Ned.
Strange to read of such contrived accounts as above
about "Red" Kelly being on the ship and yet how many would believe
them since they were in print! No telling how many of the tens of millions who
saw the ship brought the book! Another murder involving the "Success"
and a warder or constable or two (depending on what you read) was in the
previous year to Price's murder, 1856. This time it involved a gaol break with
Harry Power and Captain Melville (he seemed to always be the ringleader) and
others. During the trial, Melville was found guilty but Power and others were
acquited. The book also mentions about Captain Melville, previous to the attack
on Price, having appeared to have converted to religion and the chaplain was
happy to have a dedicated convert and supplied him with books and thus through
his piety was able to escape harsh punishment and to go to work ashore in the
quarry, and that is where the murder occurred. The book goes on to say that Dr.
John Singleton was a one time chaplain aboard the "Success" and I have
yet to confirm that. I have read that he had visited Melville before and after
the attack. There is a Kelly connection with Dr. Singleton. He was a medical
doctor and Christian philanthropist who first exposed the cruel treatment
prisoners on the hulks received and started the "Citizen's Committee"
to seek reform.
When Ned Kelly was in Old Melbourne Gaol he
allegedly asked to see Dr. Singleton. According to a review for a book about the
doctor's life called "Pioneer Doctor" it states that he visited Kelly
many times and witnessed to him about Jesus Christ. It goes on to say "His
visits were stopped prior to Kelly's hanging in November 1880, by the Dean of
St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral, who objected to Singleton's visits to
Kelly and his efforts to "convert him to the Protestant
faith"..." There was even one article I recall reading where it was
said that Dr. Singleton was the one to have heard Ned's final immortal words!
Doubtful in the extreme! So after all that meandering, let's review the Kelly
Gang connections to the "Success": we have bushranger Harry Power and
his myriad adventures onboard, we have Joe Byrne's free emigrant father arriving
on her, we have an erroneous account of Ned's father having been sent out to
Australia and serving time as a prisoner on her, we have the Gang as educational
wax dummy exhibits along with Ned's armour hanging on deck swinging in the
breeze, we have Judge Barry who sat on trials related to the ship's prisoners
and we have Dr. Singleton who visited Ned in his last days at the Old Melbourne
Gaol.
There were sure enough connections to make me sit
up and take notice and to delve deeper. I have learned a lot during the course
of this research. I have tried to compare and verify facts as best as I could
with my limited resources. Amazing to see what has been in print and possibly
taken as gospel for many years, isn't it? I am still struck by the fact that the
book "The History of the Convict Ship 'Success'.." has parts in it
that sound so convincing, yet have been proven to be fabrications. It is hard to
know just what the real story was. I guess like with all else, we should
take anything we read with a grain of salt, or maybe where it concerns ships, it
should be taken with a bit of saltwater?
..............................................
Notes:
*In Ferguson's Bibliography of Australia, he
gives this quote confirming the evidence of the "convict ship" museum
being a hoax: "Year after year the "Success" was hawked about the
sea ports, rivers and lakes of America, and year after year her notoriety and
the stories about her grew and spread until 1934, when the Commonwealth
Government thought the joke had gone too far and instructed the Investigation
Branch of the Attorney-General's Department to make a thorough research into the
real history of the "Success".
The Australian Government representatives in
America-armed with the official history of the ship, made a public statement
that the showman's history of the ship was untrue, and gravely resented in
Australia. "The official representatives of Australia in the U.S.A,
asked the Commonwealth Government in 1925, and again in 1931, to explore the
history of this vessel. A thorough investigation of official and other records
has clearly established the fact that the ship now being exhibited in the United
States was never used as a convict transport........." (it went on in some
detail debunking much of what was in the "Success" book and exhibition
catalog).
**As far as there being other "Success"
named ships, the best known one was the "HMS Success" commanded by
Capt. James Stirling which was associated with the early exploration of the Swan
River area in 1827.
***In Corfield's 'Ned Kelly Encyclopaedia' it has
under the Joe Byrne entry that his grandfather in Australia in 1848 had sent for
his sons to come join him, thus seemingly confirming the 1849 arrival, it goes
on to say about the 1855 wedding of Patrick and Margret, BUT a couple of pages
later in the Margret Byrne entry it says about her 1855 wedding to Patrick and
says Patrick was a digger who had arrived in Australia "eleven" years
earlier! That would have been 1844!
****Of course, this would not be Joe Byrne's first
time becoming a "man of wax." The Ovens Murray
Advertiser of July 3, 1880 had this: "Byrne in Effigy–An addition has
been made to the Chamber of Horrors at the Melbourne Waxworks. The figure of the
outlaw Joe Byrne, a cast of whose head was taken by Mr. Kreitmeyer, the
proprietor of the Waxworks, has been added to the collection of notorious
outlaws."
Also on the "More" page here at
Glenrowan1880 is this newspaper tidbit:
The Herald, Friday Evening July 2
1880.
"Waxworks…
The interest in the details of the encounter which led to the
destruction of the Kelly gang and the subsequent doings in what is known
as the
Kelly country still continues. A life-like representation of the dead
bushranger
Byrne has been added to Kreitmeyer's excellent collection of waxworks,
and will
no doubt prove a great attraction."
..............................................
SOURCES
Various webpages and internet databases
Books/Publications: The History of the Convict Ship
"Success" And Dramatic Story of Some of the "Success"
Prisoners, 1929, 150 pp.
The Last of England's Felon Fleet: The Convict Ship "Success," 1924,
16 pp. (Exhibition Catalogue/Pamphlet)
What They Said About Ned!–Looking at the Legend of Ned Kelly through Books
(including An Annotated Bibliography of The Kelly Gang), Brian McDonald, 2004,
102 pp.
The Ned Kelly Encyclopaedia, Justin Corfield, 2003, 525 pp.
Australian Bushrangers, George Boxall, 1975, 208 pp.
Bibliography of Australia, John Ferguson.
Ovens Murray Advertiser The Herald
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