Can anyone help with this please: Thomas Bolding [RMLI] my G.Grandfather, last shore base was Eastney Barracks, drowned in 1893 when two ships, the Camperdown and Victoria collided off Tripoli whilst on manoeuvres, there was a great loss of life in the accident. From his service record I have the exact date of death, but cannot find a death certificate. Does anyone know what the procedure was for multiple deaths such as this, were death certificate not issued? Would appreciate any help, thanks Jean

Hi Jean IIRC the routine according to KR & AI for 1913 was that RN personnel should be reported on in precisely the same way as the civilian population, with ship's offices and padres having their own forms etc. but I don't know if the rules were the same in 1893. I say this as I have a feeling that they changed in 1914/5, with start of the Great War. I should also perhaps add that this does not apply to the Merchant Navy who have their own rules and regulations The other problem in a case like this, ie when the ship itself is lost, presumably along with all the records etc., the rules aren't, as far as I can see, specific, as to who should do the reporting. One wonders if the creation of the death certificate, at such a distance, and with those who survived, being picked up by or transferred to a number of different vessels, may have been forgotten ? Another thing that occurs to me, in a case like this, in the absence of original records, is that if a death certificate was created, the spelling of the name may well have got corrupted along the line. This was at a time of some change in the administration of the RN, and RM afloat, with pay and muster lists having disappeared some 10-15 years previously and new bodies and routines being created around this period to replace what was lost in the changes. If a death certificate was raised I wouldn't have thought that it would appear in the Register until some months later, or maybe as an addition, ie at the bottom of the page, where it should have appeared ? If I were you, I should be inclined to try to find the names of a couple of others who lost their lives in the same incident eg the Admiral, IIRC, who ordered the turn which brought the vessels on to a collision course, and maybe a couple of others - as you obviously know there are a number of web sites out there which cover this incident, which might mention names - or alternatively I expect the Times and other papers of the day probably gave it wide coverage ? Regards Paul On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 09:58:29 EDT, Jeanjane45@aol.com wrote: >Can anyone help with this please: > >Thomas Bolding [RMLI] my G.Grandfather, last shore base was Eastney >Barracks, drowned in 1893 when two ships, the Camperdown and Victoria collided off >Tripoli whilst on manoeuvres, there was a great loss of life in the accident. > >>From his service record I have the exact date of death, but cannot find a >death certificate. >Does anyone know what the procedure was for multiple deaths such as this, >were death certificate not issued? > >Would appreciate any help, > >thanks >Jean > > > >==== ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT Mailing List ==== >Visit the knightroots website at www.knightroots.co.uk > >============================== >Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the >areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. >Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx 50.33.50N 02.26.70W http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html