Hello List Bev said: Following on from earlier email questions about my ancestor in the Honorable Company Marine, cited as a Master in Bengal Pilot Service in 1819 register and also as an H C marine on both his marriage and death certificates. Does anyone have an opinion or knowledge on this career and whether this profession was recruited from the native population (i.e.those already living in India) or recruited in UK and sent to India? I'm just trying to work out whether my ancestor might have been first generation in India or whether there were earlier generations. There is evidence of boys being apprenticed to Bengal Pilots. There is mention of boys from the Military Orphan Schools (the Upper Orphan School and the Lower Orphan School) and also the Free School being apprenticed to Bengal Pilots, from the late 1700s/early 1800s. Whether they went on to become Bengal Pilots themselves, I have no idea. There is a FIBIS Fibiwiki page called "Bengal Pilot Service" http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Bengal_Pilot_Service This gives details of the holdings at the National Maritime Museum which include index cards in the Percy-Smith Collection (MS 88/006) relating to Bengal Orphans (1780-1840) One would expect these to be Orphans who were apprenticed to the Bengal Service (although it doesn't actually say this). There are also index cards in respect of Bengal Marine and Bengal Pilots (1700-1914). The Fibiwiki page "Bengal Pilot Service" also has a link to a short story by Rudyard Kipling called "An Unqualified Pilot". This is a story about a father who was a Bengal Pilot, 'who had waited on the [Hooghly] river from his boyhood', who wanted his fourteen year old son to join the Subordinate Civil Service, so the son at least was born in India, possibly also the father. The son ends up being apprenticed to another Bengal Pilot. This is an interesting read (and quite short). It was first published 1895 and set in a time 'a good many years ago' There is another FIBIS Fibiwiki page called "Maritime Service" http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Maritime_Service which has links to other websites with information about records. Cheers Maureen (Sydney)