Far below the serene blue waters of the West End, the two divers came upon a far darker world where, packed beneath several feet of compacted coal dust (left behind after the blockades of the Civil War), were the poignant remnants left by men who lived -- and often died -- in the effort to erect the vast, empirical structure that became Bermuda's Royal Dockyard. Those men, slaves in all but name and arguably treated with greater cruelty, were convicts who, for often petty crimes, were transported from Britain across oceans and forced to languish in `prison hulks' when they were not actively engaged in the back-breaking task of (literally) empire-building.

It was some 17 years ago that divers and marine historians Chriss Addams and his partner Mike Davis discovered the site of one of the most infamous of these hulks, the Dromedary , stationed at Dockyard from 1826 and which formed part of the infamous 19th century penal system.

Since then, they have uncovered a fascinating cache of artefacts (which Mr.

Addams refers to as "a time capsule'') that tell the story of the convicts' sojourn here. As far as is known, these artefacts are the first carvings ever to be found at a convict hulk site and, as Mr. Addams points outs, "give a fresh picture of this dreadful time in Bermuda's history. They're a stunning reminder of what the human spirit can endure.'' In addition to their undoubted historic value and interest, many of the relics are beautiful carvings fashioned by the prisoners, in their brief moments of rest, from the Island's cave limestone. They include pipes, rosaries, necklaces, crosses, Bibles, dice and `fist' tokens for the superstitious that were supposed to ward off the `evil eye'. Their collection has now been accredited as authentic -- and unique -- by experts who regularly undertake evaluations for both Sotheby's and Christie's.

"What began as a fairly small project, covering a very unpleasant part of Bermuda's history, has now gone international,'' says Mr. Addams who, with Mr.

Davis, has spent years laboriously researching the background and history of the convict system.

"We didn't really realise the extent to which this was world-wide,'' he explains. "The British needed cheap labour, especially after slavery was abolished, so they would collect prisoners -- and a lot of people were kidnapped, especially in Scotland -- and send them off all over the place.'' Not just to Australia, but also to the US (the present Brooklyn Navy Yard, for instance) Nova Scotia, and of course, Bermuda, which according to Mr. Addams, was the last place to abandon the inhumane hulk systems.

Now, they have issued an illustrated booklet entitled `Convict Establishment Bermuda' which sets out the convicts' story. As Mr. Addams points out in his introduction, it is a story that Bermuda seems curiously reluctant to investigate -- let alone utilise as a tourist attraction, as other countries have done with great success: `Tasmania and Devil's Island have come to grips with their horror stories of convict prisons...In Bermuda, one of the mass grave sites of the convicts (victims of yellow fever that periodically swept through the Island), is now unwittingly a trash-burning site and the bones of the felons and convicts stick out of the sparse top soil, in unconsecrated ground.' Besides the underwater artefacts, Mr. Addams and Mr. Davis have also discovered a vast collection of buttons. "These were on the uniforms of prison hulk guards and various military and naval people who passed through Bermuda, only to fall victim to yellow fever.

"At that time, they weren't sure what caused these epidemics, but they used to burn all the clothing on the beaches and, of course, the buttons were left behind.'' One of the buttons comes from London's infamous Newgate Prison, and there is another, even rarer example of a button from the Thames Rowing Police which, explains Mr. Addams, were the marine equivalent of the Bow Street Runners.

"Things used to get quite rough on the Thames because of the trade in heroin and opium.'' Chriss Addams, who has now established a `Convict Hulk' site on the Internet (http:/www.inad.com.bermuda) is currently researching a full-length book on the subject: "You could say that our booklet is a kind of `taster', which will, hopefully, get people more interested in this fascinating chapter in our history,'' he explains.

Copies of `Convict Establishment Bermuda' can be obtained at a price of $7 from the Ship's Inn Book Gallery in the Clocktower Mall at Dockyard.

HOME IS WHERE THE HULK IS -- An engraving of a convict hulk ship, familiar to Bermuda waters in the early 1800s. Prisoners housed on the barges lived in brutal and cramped conditions and were susceptible to diseases such as cholera and yellow fever -- not to mention great personal and mental anguish.