General Chat

Hi All, Anyone got any ideas on how and where to find out which ship my great great great grandad was on?? his wife was down as a 'merchant mariners' wife on the 1851 census but he's not on it, so i assume he was off sailing.! ...PLEEEEEEEEASE tell me it's going to be easy to find..!! I haven't even wrote a crimbo card yet, I can't pull myself away from the Family Searches long enough to do anything else...!! If the 'ship' search is going to be long and intensive I think our house will have to have christmas in February..!!! cheers all. x

If you can get to Kew, then yes, it ought to be easy! At this period, merchant seamen were required to be registered. You can find out date of birth, physical appearance, whether they could read and write and coded details of their voyages. As a Christmas present, get Michael & Chris Watts book on Merchant Seamen which will tell you all about it. Enjoy Brenda

The actual boat he was on may be a long trawl through crew lists if he was sailing from a large port. B

Thanx, So did Merchant mariner mean Captain? or could he have been any of the crew? dont know much about ships etc...!

Thats sound like a good idea for a prezzy. cheers. The family lived in Stockton On Tees, so i dont really know how big a port it was.

Sunderland was horrendous. I think the crew lists are microfilmed now, but I had to work through original, paper documents. THey were made of the cheapest, woodpulp paper and crumbling fast. No matter how careful I tried to be, I was left with a little pile of cornflakes after I'd finished with each box. Horrid work, but amazing to find people. Everybody was supposed to have a ticket, but the scheme did not last very long. B

Jackie - I've got a crew list CD but it's for the years 1863-1913 - if you think he might be on it, let me know his name and I'll check for you! (I'm off to bed soon, you might want to email as these threads disppear quite quickly). Sheila x

Mariner meant he went to sea - the merchant navy carried goods/materials rather rather than being a fighting force.

thank you all, sheila, his name was Robinson Wright. I think he was born around 1822. (if that helps) thank you so much. jackie x

I have one from the same area during the same period(in SEAHAM) by the name of Andrew Mackenzie, a master mariner. As with this case, he was never at home for the census and I don't know which ships to look for.
He MAY have been the capt of the 'Ellen' from which 8 crew were rescued by the famous Redcar lifeboat. A brother or son of his, WILLIAM, could have been one of the crew of the lifeboat in later years. Does this ring any bells with anyone?