HOME THE SHIPS HULK MASTERS     Duncan Campbell     John Capper     Aaron Graham     William Williams REVIEW EXCERPTS INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE AUTHOR BUY THE BOOK CONTACT LINKS	In March of 1847 William John Williams accepted a charge by the Home Secretary to "inquire diligently" into conditions of confinement on the hulks. Questions about filth, inefficiency and cruel treatment of convicts had been raised in the House of Commons. After a lengthy and uncompromising investigation, which included interrogating staff and taking disturbing testimony from convicts, Captain Williams issued a scathing report detailing the horrors associated with utilization of the Hulks as prisons. The courageous efforts of this remarkable man spelled the beginning of the end of the British prison hulks.