The Dunkirk hulk was moored in Plymouth, and in addition to "local" prisoners it also served as a collection point for prisoners from various gaols as they were assembled for the First Fleet. Conditions there were so bad at one time that the officer in charge complained "many of the prisoners are nearly if not quite naked." The women prisoners held on board were brutalised by the marines supposed to be guarding them. The superintendent of the Dunkirk hulk wrote a shocked protest to the authorities on 25 August 1784, which resulted in a Code of Orders being drawn up to protect the women.

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