Thanks Desma, That's quite an interesting story :-) The problem I have with my grandfather's story is that on his naturalisation he claimed to be in Townsville for 1 month, meaning he could not have been in Brisbane on the same ship only a few days later. I'm know wondering if he meant 1 *day*. Cheers, Mark -----Original Message----- From: aus-qld-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:aus-qld-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of desma bowman Sent: Thursday, 17 April 2014 2:14 PM To: aus-qld@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [AUS-QLD] Shipping Lists - Crew For Mark: In 1959 I sailed from Southampton in England to Montreal, Canada. The ship did not dock in Quebec City but stayed out in the St Lawrence River. But that was considered the place of entry for all passengers and Immigration Officers came on board and interviewed us all and stamped our passports as entering Canada at Quebec, even though we were not allowed to go on shore there, even if we wanted to and the few people who were ending their journey there were taken ashore in boats. We then sailed further up river to Montreal and disembarked. In 1967 I sailed from Auckland to Brisbane. Some of us were ending the journey there and others going ashore for the day as tourists. We stood around waiting for about an hour as the Immigration Officers had to examine everyone and their passports and there were two passengers who the ship's information said were on board, but who had not been checked by the said officials. Eventually the couple were found sunning themselves on a top deck. When contacted they said that they had heard the loudspeaker going constantly, but not clearly and they did not have to be interviewed because they were not going to get off the ship, but stay on board until Sydney. When told that they had to be seen, they still argued that they did not need to be, as they were not going to enter Aus until Sydney. They were told very firmly that they were officially entering the country in Brisbane as this was the first port of call and that no one at all could go ashore until they were both seen. I was very annoyed as I had not seen my parents and young brother for three years and they were there waiting. The balance of probability is that your ancestor wanting to achieve his naturalisation, knew that his previous info would be checked to see his original entry status and to see if he had been in the country for the required number of years. He knew that it was at Townsville that the formalities occurred that allowed him to stay legally and that would be what was in the records. So, that is what he entered on the form. However to his mind, that this happened in Townsville was unimportant and so he probably only bothered to tell family what he felt was important to him, that is, about the place where he disembarked and what happened after that. I hope this helps Desma Bowman > From: "Mark Feodoroff" <mark@feodoroff.com> To: <AUS-QLD@rootsweb.com> Hi Kerry, It turns out my son got a copy of the scan of these pages from our visit on Saturday :-) Reading the document, it really does look like FEEFLOFF. I'm guessing the crew handed the immigration people some documentation with the crew's names, and a transcription error occurred at that point. Alex's age is close (ish) to what I know his age to be. That leaves me with a theory that my grandfather disembarked in Brisbane, which then questions why his Naturalisation file states he got off in Townsville. I'm hoping to access Sydney records for Nikko Maru crew (payment via some transcription work on my part), to see if there were 4 Russian crew on board as the NAA records show. It's not entirely conclusive, but would add weight to him disembarking as a passenger in Brisbane...or he got off in Townville as a passenger, assuming the identity of someone who kept heading south on the ship although this is not supported by immigration records in Townsville. It's inconclusive, but a lead nonetheless that should keep me entertained for a while. Cheers, Mark On 16/04/2014, at 8:54 PM, Mark Feodoroff <mark@feodoroff.com> wrote: > Hi Marg. > I have immigration records for the ship arriving in Brisbane, and > there were quite a few Russians on board. > > It gives me a glimmer of something to make a story of, but probably > never finding his place of birth as that has currently drawn a blank > and the information hasn't really changed that much. > > Cheers, > Mark > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mark Feodoroff" <mark@feodoroff.com> > To: <AUS-QLD@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2014 10:41 AM > Subject: [AUS-QLD] Shipping Lists - Crew > > Hi All, >> My grandfather claimed to have arrived on the Nikko Maru that docked >> in Townsville on 20 May 1914. > Hi Mark > > What a great record your grandfather left in his 17 page > naturalisation file ! > > The Government were more interested in migrants that cost them money > as in assisted passages than folk who paid their own fares. > > As far as I can judge he was just a paying passenger on this ship and > no passenger list survives. > > Bye > MargM > Qld List Admin Please remember to snip most of the earlier message before you post any reply...... 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