To Lanark listers: I had forgotten I had this information that I had sent to the Wigtownshire list four years ago. If I had my “genealogy research life” to live over again I would have printed off this information and indexed it in a binder. Unless I store it in the computer (not dependable as computers can do funny things!) or on the External Free Agent, I am liable to forget much that has already been researched, such as the following description of the three Hyslop brothers who died at sea. I have just recently found out that Gordon Hyslop drowned when the ship was in Lagos, Nigeria. Maybe more can be found about the circumstances of his death as time goes on. Take note of how young one of the brothers was who went to see. At the moment I am reading James Barke’s ‘Land of the Leal’ in which a very young boy character in the story at the age of seven- ten is pining to go off to sea. I haven’t reached the part in the book yet if he does or not, The locus of the book is in Southwest Scotland, exactly where my antecedents came from. Maisie, Glaswegian aeons ago! Paso Robles, California ---------------------------------------------- My outstanding sleuth on the Wigtown list has been able to access the Merchant Navy Seaman's Ticket records 1835-57 which have just become available on Find My Past. I am the second great-grand niece of John Hyslop and Grace Thomson, on my father's Kirkcudbrightshire Hyslop side, which line I have going back before 1700. John Hyslop and Grace Thomson had 11 children, three of whom were "lost at sea." I have tried for years to get information on them through the Merchant Navy records, and the local history of both Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire (thinking perhaps they were just local fishermen), but to no avail. Today was a bonanza, thanks to the outstanding help of the Wigtown lister! James, the oldest son of John and Grace Thomson Hyslop, "first went to sea as a boy" as an apprentice seaman at the tender age of TEN. He served with the Royal Navy for three years, and then I assume he switched to the Merchant Navy where he was ticketed at age 23. He was 5'5", had black hair, blue eyes, and a sallow complexion, with a cut above his left eye. Ink mark on arms (tattoo?). When unemployed he resided in Glasgow. His seaman's ticket was stolen in Glasgow and he had a new one issued. The next son, Peter, born 1832, died 1858. Apprentice. Height "growing" "Supposed drowned 20-4-1856. Vessel lost." The vessel was the "City of Montreal, Liverpool," but I can't find it yet on ships' lists. (I have the year of death obviously wrong for Peter Hyslop on the FTM.) The third son, Gordon Duncan Hyslop, born 3 Oct. 1848 "died at sea" 2 Jan. 1875. No information on him yet. (Since learned the ship was ‘Victoria,’ Lagos, Nigeria 1878, April 2016.) It was suggested that as so many ships foundered and sank at an unbelievable rate in those times, perhaps all three ships the Hyslop brothers were on just sank, maybe as a result of storms, even if only plying across the English Channel to the Channel Islands. I don't have much on William Hyslop, the second son, born 1826, except that in 1854 he served on the Admiral Napier, London, for three sailings, I suppose, and then on the Monarch which plied between Scilly and London (?). (Go to this link to learn about Scottish born Admiral Sir Charles John Napier ---http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Elers_Napier). William Hyslop, b.1856, served on the Tuscan, London. We have no documentation of when he died, but not at sea. The assumption is that he may have left the navy to become an iron/lead miner, and we think he is the same William Hyslop who erected a large headstone to his family in Auchencairn Cemetery, Kirkcudbrightshire, with special reference to his three brothers lost at sea. I have tried to find the genesis of this headstone, who paid for it, as William stated he had erected it in memory of his brothers. Was William back in Kirkcudbrightshire, or did he go to England or Wales, or even Lanarkshire, to work in the mines, and then ordered the headstone when he could afford it? The odd thing about this headstone is that inscriptions of quite a few of his descendants/family were added long after his death, but his name was not added at all. I cannot find out who paid for the later inscriptions which were added long after William would have died. No records have been kept on this by the monumental masons or local authorities. All this as a fill-in in that apparently Find My Past is offering more than Ancestry.com in some instances, and in Merchant Seaman's Ticket records specifically. It is a pay for view site, but I have heard that the library may have this link for free viewing. I was "blown away" by this young boy, James Hyslop, out to sea at the age of TEN, and wondered why. Too many children in his family for his parents to feed, or what? Maybe not as this Admiral Sir Charles John Napier was at sea at the age of TWELVE, but he came from an extremely well-to-do Edinburgh family. How very fortunate I am to have a volunteer on the Wigtown list who goes away above and beyond in doing research on my family, not just in south-west Scotland but the rest of Scotland and England, as well. Hope these notes will encourage others to go to Find My Past to help with any leads. Maisie