------ Forwarded Message Sunday, January 28, 2007 By John McGurk Here is the shipping news . . . about Ulster folk who sailed away to new lives. Thanks to a massive new online historical information service, it's plain sailing for anyone seeking to discover the amazing journeys taken in your family's past. The initiative - www.ancestorsonboard.co - has just been launched, offering details of the passengers who emigrated to the America, Canada, Australia and other far flung corners. Information about more than 30 million loved-ones who set sail from 35 ports around the British Isles from 1890 will be available thanks to family history site www.findmypast.com and the National Archives. Among the ports included in the database of passenger lists are Londonderry, Belfast and Galway among others. At present, ship passenger lists for 1890-1899 are available at the click of a button. But a spokeswoman for Ancestors On Board told Sunday Life that many more records up to 1960 will be accessible in the coming months. Included in the passenger details is the list from the legendary Belfast-built Titanic's ill-fated maiden voyage to New York in 1912 Other lists to be found among the records from more than 1,800 ships include the August 15, 1890 sailing of the Ethiopia from Derry. But it's not just emigrants who pop up on the one and a half million pages of passenger lists. For the treasure trove of travel information also includes details about celebrities, businessmen, diplomats and tourists. Among the famous names to be spotted are Sir Matt Busby, Charlie Chaplin, Harry Houdini and Noel Coward. Find My Past spokeswoman Elaine Collins said that the service would be " an invaluable tool for people tracing relatives they believe may have left the UK during this period". She added: "Previously, these records were only accessible from The National Archives in London. But now, everyone can easily research their ancestors' voyages over the internet, from the comfort of their own home, anywhere in the world." ------ End of Forwarded Message