Hi, Where would I find a cruise ships, crews list? I can find passenger lists, but not crews lists. My Grandmother, Gertrude HARRISON, worked on the early cruise ships,1920's or so, and traveled around the world on them, it didn't seem to matter that she gave birth to two children, neither of which knew of the other one, until after all my digging from the last 9/10 years and I found out that my Father, who thought he was an only child all his life, he is now 87, has an older sister, who is still alive, but in a nursing home, she is 90. This is a little of their story. When my grandmother Gertrude HARRISON got pregnant with my Dad, her parents and one or two siblings were living at Crossbank Farm, Edstaston, Wem? Her father Peter HARRISON, being a retired Police Chief, sent her away to Manchester to have the child, then she gave my Dad to a family to bring up, he was never adopted, and she went back to Shropshire, only to see him maybe once or twice more, he knew a little of her, but we as his children, were never privileged to know anything, he was and still is extremely private. Last summer I was in the UK for 6 weeks, and my sisters and I went to Shropshire twice, but n ot really finding much, it was only after I came back to the US, that I was contacted by a second cousin I knew nothing of, she also did not know that Gertrude had two children, she only knew of her Aunt Beryl,, we talked on the phone and were both flabbergasted from all the things we found out. My family plucked up the courage and told my Dad about his sister, he was very upset, firstly because I had been snooping about, but because he never knew a thing. They finally met in early October, Beryl was very excited, he was and is still not sure of it all, but from things that Beryl told my Dad, Gertrude worked on cruise ships, and I am trying to find out where she went and when. I know this is a long email, I tried to send one before this, but was told it was too big, so I am pleading for any help from you all. Hopefully some of this makes sense, Barbara Foran, Charlotte, NC.USA

Fascinating story, Barbara. The following Merchant Navy site may well be of use. <http://www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers/library/research-guides/the-merchant-navy/tracing-people-crewlists-agreements-logs>http://www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers/library/research-guides/the-merchant-navy/tracing-people-crewlists-agreements-logs Cheers Graham Melbourne Oz

Hello Barbara Presumably it would help if you could work out somehow which shipping line your relative served on. Do you have anything which might give you a clue, even the routes of the voyages might help. On The National Archives web site at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/researchguidesindex.asp they have numerous Research Guides. Go to letter 'M' and have a look through the Merchant Seamen entries to see if any of them are of any help. You might like to try the Rootsweb 'Occupations: Mariners Mailing List' at http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Occupations/Mariners.html You will need to subscribe (free) with your e-mail address using the 'Subscribe to Mariners-L' link on the above page. The people who monitor these messages are more likely to have specialist naval knowledge. Make it clear in your message that you are looking for someone with a UK origin. Mike Shropshire, UK _________________________ jeangr40@aol.com wrote: > Hi, Where would I find a cruise ships, crews list? I can find > passenger lists, but not crews lists. My Grandmother, Gertrude > HARRISON, worked on the early cruise ships,1920's or so, and traveled > around the world on them, it didn't seem to matter that she gave > birth to two children, neither of which knew of the other one, until > after all my digging from the last 9/10 years and I found out that my > Father, who thought he was an only child all his life, he is now 87, > has an older sister, who is still alive, but in a nursing home, she > is 90. > > This is a little of their story. When my grandmother Gertrude > HARRISON got pregnant with my Dad, her parents and one or two > siblings were living at Crossbank Farm, Edstaston, Wem? Her father > Peter HARRISON, being a retired Police Chief, sent her away to > Manchester to have the child, then she gave my Dad to a family to > bring up, he was never adopted, and she went back to Shropshire, only > to see him maybe once or twice more, he knew a little of her, but we > as his children, were never privileged to know anything, he was and > still is extremely private. Last summer I was in the UK for 6 weeks, > and my sisters and I went to Shropshire twice, but n ot really > finding much, it was only after I came back to the US, that I was > contacted by a second cousin I knew nothing of, she also did not know > that Gertrude had two children, she only knew of her Aunt Beryl,, we > talked on the phone and were both flabbergasted from all the things > we found out. My family plucked up the courage and told my Dad about > his sister, he was very upset, firstly because I had been snooping > about, but because he never knew a thing. They finally met in early > October, Beryl was very excited, he was and is still not sure of it > all, but from things that Beryl told my Dad, Gertrude worked on > cruise ships, and I am trying to find out where she went and when. > > I know this is a long email, I tried to send one before this, but was > told it was too big, so I am pleading for any help from you all. > Hopefully some of this makes sense, > > Barbara Foran, Charlotte, NC.USA >