Margaret Thanks for your response to my enquiry and sorry for neglecting to respond earlier - Xmas and all that.. I have no problem with the fact that an ancestor was a convict transported from England to Van Diemen's Land. I do know the transportation information - ship - arrival date etc.. What I am trying to find out is why his wife would have been at Bromborough. They did not come from that area I can only presume she was there to be close to her husband who was on a prison hulk. If so it would have been on the River Mersey or River Dee. I have been unable to establish that this was in fact the case as most references seem to relate to Chatham, Kent for instance. I will take up your suggestion and obtain further background information using the reference you suggest. It may identify the location of the hulk he was on of course. At 06:34 13/12/02 +1100, you wrote: >Hello Alan > >Have you tried the AJCP records at the National Library - Home Office 8 >Criminal. Convict Prisons. This lists by date (from 1824 through 1869) the >prisoners on hulks. Regards Alan Crawford Canberra - Australia