Hulk n.
1. The body of a ship or decked vessel of any kind; esp., the body of an old vessel laid by as unfit for service. “Some well-timbered hulk.”
2. A heavy ship of clumsy build.
3. Anything bulky or unwieldly.
Shear hulk, an old ship fitted with an apparatus to fix or take out the masts of a ship.
The hulks, old or dismasted ships, formerly used as prisons. [Eng.] --Dickens.