I was, before I retired some years back, a Customs Officer... not that I worked in ship or plane "areas". I was not going to own up so to speak! But Mike has virtually outed me. Things are perhaps changed now to how they were say 100 years back - computers, and instant updating of databases, and.. and also, risk assessment (not everything gets inspected) and advances in technology (eg huge xray machines do a whole container or three in one go) and so on... Dawn -----Original Message----- From: Mike Hurburgh [mailto:mike_robin@aapt.net.au] Sent: Sunday, 31 August 2014 6:46 PM To: Chris Nilsen Cc: Dawn Webb; AUS-TASMANIA Subject: Re: [AUS-Tas] Shipping Terms Chris, The terms are both related to Customs clearance, and were used in Britain and America, as well as Australia. Most of the nautical dictionaries I looked at listed "cleared out", but none included "entered out". Without any absolute certainty, but having read many shipping reports in search of my ancestor's activities, it appears to me that the terms should be considered as abbreviations. "Entered out" refers to the process of 'entering' the customs clearance process on the 'outward' journey. I presume once this occurred no more cargo could be taken on board. "Cleared out" refers to the completion of customs inspection and payment of all dues when the vessel is 'cleared' for the 'outward' voyage. As Dawn mentions, there is a time gap between the two events. I assume that the ship would be in virtual quarantine while being inspected, to ensure no contraband was added while the ship was waiting to be cleared. I can supply you with copies of articles which appear to explain this. One article clearly links the terms to the Customs process. -- Regards Mike Hurburgh --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com

Excellent. Thank you so much for your help. My plan is to hopefully get to the archives one day ( I live far away ) and search through the crew lists for vessels to try to find some details of my ancestor. He has been very elusive. However I know he was a mariner, and I also know his marriage date. So I figured he must have been in Hobart on the day he was married. So I have been searching the newspapers to see what vessels left Hobart in the following month or two after the marriage date. Hopefully if I get to the archives I can look at those vessels and he might be a crew member of one. You have to start somewhere I guess. Thanks for the info. Chris. On Sunday, 31 August 2014, Dawn Webb <dawnwebb@optusnet.com.au <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','dawnwebb@optusnet.com.au');>> wrote: > I was, before I retired some years back, a Customs Officer... not that I > worked in ship or plane "areas". I was not going to own up so to speak! > But Mike has virtually outed me. Things are perhaps changed now to how > they were say 100 years back - computers, and instant updating of > databases, > and.. and also, risk assessment (not everything gets inspected) and > advances in technology (eg huge xray machines do a whole container or three > in one go) and so on... > > Dawn > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Hurburgh [mailto:mike_robin@aapt.net.au] > Sent: Sunday, 31 August 2014 6:46 PM > To: Chris Nilsen > Cc: Dawn Webb; AUS-TASMANIA > Subject: Re: [AUS-Tas] Shipping Terms > > Chris, > > The terms are both related to Customs clearance, and were used in Britain > and America, as well as Australia. > > Most of the nautical dictionaries I looked at listed "cleared out", but > none included "entered out". > > Without any absolute certainty, but having read many shipping reports in > search of my ancestor's activities, it appears to me that the terms should > be considered as abbreviations. > > "Entered out" refers to the process of 'entering' the customs clearance > process on the 'outward' journey. I presume once this occurred no more > cargo could be taken on board. > > "Cleared out" refers to the completion of customs inspection and payment > of all dues when the vessel is 'cleared' for the 'outward' voyage. > > As Dawn mentions, there is a time gap between the two events. I assume > that the ship would be in virtual quarantine while being inspected, to > ensure no contraband was added while the ship was waiting to be cleared. > > I can supply you with copies of articles which appear to explain this. > One article clearly links the terms to the Customs process. > > -- > > Regards > > Mike Hurburgh > > --- > This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus > protection is active. > http://www.avast.com > > > --- > This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus > protection is active. > http://www.avast.com > >