Dear friends of Beara, In this morning's Irish Genealogy News I find this: http://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2015/08/apprentice-seamen-records-1824-191 0.html Ancestry has uploaded a big collection that will be of interest to those with seamen ancestors: Apprentices Indentured in Merchant Navy, 1824-1910. The records come from the UK National Archives in Kew and contain registers listing young men who were indentured to merchant navy ships during that time period. >From 1823, Masters of British merchant ships of 80 tons and over were required to carry a given number of indentured apprentices. These had to be duly enrolled with the local Customs Officer. These provisions were extended by the Merchant Seamen Act 1835 which provided for the registration of these indentures. The collection includes many Irishmen, including some of my own ancestors. Details provided include name, age and date at registration or indenture, vessel, port of registry, and birth year. Not all include a place of birth, but some do and may provide the vital location reference for men who subsequently settled outside Ireland and were recorded in censuses as 'from Ireland'. (More at the link) Considering the many Beara men who went to sea, this should be a useful reference for many of us. Bill Gawne

Thanks so much, Bill. I have wanted to look up the British Navy records to see what I could find out about my grandfather but I didn't know how to go about it. He apparently joined in Cork but jumped ship on his first trip to Canada and came to Butte from there. Maybe they are still looking for him ;) Jackie Williams -----Original Message----- From: Bill Gawne via <beara@rootsweb.com> To: beara <beara@rootsweb.com> Sent: Fri, Aug 7, 2015 9:34 am Subject: [BEARA] Apprentice seamen records 1824-1910 Dear friends of Beara, In this morning's Irish Genealogy News I find this: http://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2015/08/apprentice-seamen-records-1824-191 0.html Ancestry has uploaded a big collection that will be of interest to those with seamen ancestors: Apprentices Indentured in Merchant Navy, 1824-1910. The records come from the UK National Archives in Kew and contain registers listing young men who were indentured to merchant navy ships during that time period. >From 1823, Masters of British merchant ships of 80 tons and over were required to carry a given number of indentured apprentices. These had to be duly enrolled with the local Customs Officer. These provisions were extended by the Merchant Seamen Act 1835 which provided for the registration of these indentures. The collection includes many Irishmen, including some of my own ancestors. Details provided include name, age and date at registration or indenture, vessel, port of registry, and birth year. Not all include a place of birth, but some do and may provide the vital location reference for men who subsequently settled outside Ireland and were recorded in censuses as 'from Ireland'. (More at the link) Considering the many Beara men who went to sea, this should be a useful reference for many of us. Bill Gawne ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message