Floating Prison: The Extraordinary Account of Nine Years Captivity on the British Prison Hulks During the Napoleonic Wars

by Louis Garneray

In 1806 Lt. Louis Garneray's ship was en route to France when it was captured by the Royal Navy. Confined for nine years with hundreds of others in the cramped quarters of a prison ship off Portsmouth, he tells a compelling story in turns violent, poignant, dark, and humorous. Originally published in 1851 in French as  Mes Pontons , the memoir is considered to be the most detailed account of shipboard prison life at that time. Translator Richard Rose presents the first full, unabridged English-language version of the classic and draws on extensive research to examine the veracity of the more fanciful elements of the narrative. As an added feature, the book is illustrated with paintings and etchings done by Garneray, who became a distinguished maritime artist later in life. This rare first-person expose; on a little-known facet of the age of sail is a valuable resource and makes fascinating reading.

Genres: History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 28, 2003

Reviews

[Chris Conrady · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique and fascinating first-hand look at the life of a French prisoner on a British prison hulk ship, in the early 1800s, during the Napoleonic wars. A prison hulk is basically an old ship, that has all of it's masts and sailing apparatus removed and becomes just a big floating tub, chained together in a line, well off shore, as a way of cheaply confining and isolating prisoners.

The copy I read included a well-researched forward and afterward that challenges some of the authenticity of what was published. Not so much that the incidents described never happened, but that they were "borrowed" from other published sources. Probably a lot easier to challenge and verify this now than back in the 1820s when it was first written. This, however, didn't factor into my enjoyment of the book. All in all it was an interesting inside tale of the day to day musings and scheming - which were both worse than, and not as bad as I had imagined. It's fascinating how people can adapt and thrive in almost any environment.

An interesting piece of this story is that the author, a Louis Garneray is actually a successful painter who throughout the course of his imprisonment until his death produced many paintings and illustrations of the hulks, french navy, people, places, and is considered one of the premier sources of images of these type. The book included about a dozen of the illustrations.

I'm a big fan of the Age of Sail and was looking for something from the French perspective, so this was enjoyable to me. But I don't believe it would hold that much appeal to the average reader.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

During the long Napoleonic Wars, many Frenchmen were captured by Britain's Royal Navy at sea. This book is by a sailor who was captured in 1806, but didn't receive his freedom until 1814. He was a prisoner aboard several different hulks (ships that had no masts). He hated his life naturally, but he, like others who had skills, led better lives than those who could not or would not find ways to make their lives more tolerable.

Garneray endured illness, ill-treatment by those in charge of the hulks, but had the fortune to speak English so he could act as an interpreter plus he was a capable artist. The years moved slowly since he was not granted Parole until 1811. Unfortunately, he broke parole, was recaptured and thus had to serve out his sentence until Napoleon abdicated. It's a fairly interesting book, but not always believable. The interpreter makes it clear that Garneray exaggerates, and possibly even plagiarized some of his material. It smacks of a story written to impress others with swathes of fiction.