Book reviews

Abstract

Dickens penned the simile, "Like a wicked Noah's ark", in his vivid description of the prison hulk observed by young Pip in Great Expectations. Sarah Luke begins her history of the 19th-century industrial school ship, the Vernon (later replaced by the Sobraon), moored in Sydney Harbour with changing cohorts of young boys on board, by asking if it was "a floating hell".Using an extensive range of sources, Luke takes the reader into daily life on board the ships, introducing a large cast of characters including the captains, crew, teachers and boys. She examines the aims of politicians and social reformers in setting up industrial schools, along with other institutions to deal with child poverty, homelessness and crime. The Vernon was never a gaol and boys were not sent there to serve sentences. A boy might have already served time in an adult gaol for petty crime such as thieving, and upon release had no responsible family to care for him. Or he might have been found homeless on the streets and charged with having no means of support.The book is presented in three parts, one for each captain in charge of the institution: