I have been sent the numbers of two of my Capt. Thomas Kemp's certificates and some volume information but I have no way to follow up on it as I understand you have to go to the records office to view the records. Is there anyone in the area that could hire to do the look-ups for me? I'm not even sure what the numbers they sent me mean but everything I got is below: Thomas Kemp-born Liverpool, b. 1820 Liverpool -certificate # C30787 1850 : vol 9: 1851-1864 ; vol 51 Thomas Henry Kemp b.1853 - Liverpool - certificate #C05868 changed to 09614 - 1`879: Vol 36-Liverpool 1879; vol. 21 - 1879; vol.136- 1880, 1882-1887; vol. 51- 1888-1890 I really do not understand all the coding. I guess some information is filed in more than one volume. Thanks Michelle Wilson Vermont USA

Hi I have several Ships my son in laws ancestor James Bryan of Somerset, served on between the years shown below. I have no idea where they served and what battle and wondered if anyone can help me with this please. This information came from the Greenwich Hospital Pensioner discharge from the Royal Marines paper. I am now waiting for the papers from the National Archives Kew of James Bryans son, Silas Bryan. He attended the Greenwich Hospital School. As yet I haven't found any other full record but as James was 27 when he was discahrged Consumptive in 1808 to the Greenwich Hospital, he would have been aout 15 when he joined the royal Marines. Would he have apprenticeship papers or was that necessary Defiance 8/7/1796 -10/11/1798 Tigress 23/12/1798 -10/6/1799 Pearl 27/7/1799 -31/10/1801 Foudroyant 1/11/1801 - 7/12/1801 Massina 8/12/1801 - 13/9/1802 Calcutta 21/11/1802 - 11/6/1804 Crescent 27/8/1804 - 19/2/1806 Alert 18/4/1806- 31/7/1807 Thanks Edie

Hello Michelle,   The C30787 and C05868/09614 are the certificate numbers, You can hire a researcher to look up the voyages or, with that information, yourself, you can order images of the original paperwork from Greenwich. Once you have ship names and dates you can try searching the newspapers for snippetts about the voyages.   Here's a link to the application form: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/upload/pdf/masters_certificate_order_form.pdf BUT noodle around the National Maritime Museum site first and check that the price hasn't increased as I saved this PDF a few months ago, before their renovations.   Here's a link to a post in Mariners List Archives giving an actual example of the information you'll get if their Applications for Certificates have survived (not all do). http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/Mariners/2011-03/1300554486   The last one I bought ran to 16 pages total. They mail you a CD with the images on it.   Regards, Adi   --- On Wed, 7/20/11, Michelle Wilson <micpaint.wilson@gmail.com> wrote: I have been sent the numbers of two of my Capt. Thomas Kemp's certificates and some volume information but I have no way to follow up on it as I understand you have to go to the records office to view the records.  Is there anyone in the area that could hire to do the look-ups for me?  I'm not even sure what the numbers they sent me mean but everything I got is below: Thomas Kemp-born Liverpool, b. 1820  Liverpool -certificate # C30787  1850 : vol 9: 1851-1864 ; vol 51 Thomas Henry Kemp b.1853 - Liverpool - certificate #C05868 changed to 09614 - 1`879:  Vol 36-Liverpool 1879;  vol. 21 - 1879;  vol.136- 1880, 1882-1887; vol. 51- 1888-1890 I really do not understand all the coding. I guess some information is filed in more than one volume.

Chris, Maybe something of which you are already aware, and does not add anything re your query about training on HMS FISGARD, but general history of the floating/shore establishments given in the Wikipedia entry at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Fisgard_%28shore_establishment%29 Ron Mapplebeck (UK) **** On 19/07/2011 18:27, Chris Gilham wrote: > > > > Hello Listers > > > > I have just discovered that my great grandfather was a boy when he enlisted in > the royal navy in 1868, when he was sent to HMS Fisgard. Later he served on HMS > Clio and HMS Sandfly, but jumped ship whilst the HMS Sandfly was docked in > Sydney harbour in 1875. The Victorian Gazette put out a sort of 'wanted poster' > for him offering a £3 reward. What I > would really love to know is what happened next? He obviously managed to > return to England, as he was married in London in 1879 - perhaps he returned on a merchant ship; but, is there any way of discovering the > facts? Possibly I'll never know, but if anyone on the list can help, I would > appreciate it. > > > > Also , is there a book or website which can describe the training > aboard HMS Fisgard in the 1860s to early > 1870s, please? > > > > Many thanks. > > > > Chris > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Edie, Something of the quite interesting career of the FOUDROYANT, built 1798, is given in the top half of the page at: http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_foudroyant.htm Ron Mapplebeck (UK) ***** On 19/07/2011 23:48, Edie McArthur wrote: > Hi I have several Ships my son in laws ancestor James Bryan of > Somerset, served on between the years shown below. I have no idea > where they served and what battle and wondered if anyone can help me > with this please. This information came from the Greenwich Hospital > Pensioner discharge from the Royal Marines paper. I am now waiting > for the papers from the National Archives Kew of James Bryans son, > Silas Bryan. He attended the Greenwich Hospital School. > > As yet I haven't found any other full record but as James was 27 when > he was discahrged Consumptive in 1808 to the Greenwich Hospital, he > would have been aout 15 when he joined the royal Marines. Would he > have apprenticeship papers or was that necessary > > Defiance 8/7/1796 -10/11/1798 Tigress 23/12/1798 -10/6/1799 Pearl > 27/7/1799 -31/10/1801 Foudroyant 1/11/1801 - 7/12/1801 Massina > 8/12/1801 - 13/9/1802 Calcutta 21/11/1802 - 11/6/1804 Crescent > 27/8/1804 - 19/2/1806 Alert 18/4/1806- 31/7/1807 > > Thanks Edie > > > > > > > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please > send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > message >

The correspondence on the 1864 cyclone at Calcutta caught my eye as I have an interest in one of the ships wrecked there, the Aladdin. I did a desultory search for new information on Google and surprised myself by finding a photograph of this wreck, together with that of the paddle steamer Mirapore, taken by John Thomson and now in the George Eastman Collection. http://www.geh.org/fm/mismis/m197302190041.jpg There are several other photographs of the aftermath of this cyclone, which destroyed 160 vessels and brought about the bankruptcy of a number of Liverpool insurance companies. http://www.geh.org/ne/mismi3/india_sum00005.html#73:0219:0041 A further look around the Internet found this site which has eight prints of the aftermath of the cyclone taken from the Illustrated London News. Type 1864 calcutta cyclone in the Search box. http://www.prints-4-all.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=0 Best Wishes, Tim Latham www.mightyseas.co.uk

Hello Again, My apologies to Curt for not looking at his mail again...and relying on a dodgy memory,and calling him Craig Thank you, Curt for your help Roy

Good Evening, My thanks to Craig and Piers for their help. I now have some idea of which direction to go. Roy

Hello Listers I have just discovered that my great grandfather was a boy when he enlisted in the royal navy in 1868, when he was sent to HMS Fisgard. Later he served on HMS Clio and HMS Sandfly, but jumped ship whilst the HMS Sandfly was docked in Sydney harbour in 1875. The Victorian Gazette put out a sort of 'wanted poster' for him offering a £3 reward. What I would really love to know is what happened next? He obviously managed to return to England, as he was married in London in 1879 - perhaps he returned on a merchant ship; but, is there any way of discovering the facts? Possibly I'll never know, but if anyone on the list can help, I would appreciate it. Also , is there a book or website which can describe the training aboard HMS Fisgard in the 1860s to early 1870s, please? Many thanks. Chris

I'm currently reading Two Years Before The Mast whenever I'm stuck waiting in an office of one sort or another. excellent book for a good idea of life on board ship. the other book I highly recommend is The Seaman's Friend. the former is written in story form, or to some effect, in diary form, the latter is a book most seaman kept in their possession for their own protection and knowledge. both are scanned and can be read online at such sites as Googlebooks and Openlibrary.org Cornelia

Hello Paul (and the List), sorry for the late reply, I have checked out the Continuous Service record for a gentleman who shares the same birth year. But it is a very empty document. Apart from a description of eye and hair colour, there is not much else to it. And the signature is a plain 'X' which doesn't gel with what I know of the man. (I'm very close to obtaining some medical records that may state his eye colour and completion, so I will revisit that when they arrive.) I'm tend to agree with you Paul on the nature of the man and his upbringing. I have a report written by him in 1865, when he was 22, that details the correct way to enter a newly navigable river. I'm not a mariner but it seems that he knew what he was talking about. May have found a crew agreement that lists him a a 1st mate... but have to work on that to confirm. Much thanks, Paul > > >> Also, I don't know properly, but what are the chances of being >> a 'boy 1st class' in 1861 and then Captaining a Schooner in 1864? (if >> any list member wants to weigh in on this please feel free) > > Paul > > I would have thought that he would be able to read and write if he was > a boy 1st class and would as such he would have signed on for a > Continuous Service engagement in the RN, so committing himself to some > 10-12 years in the RN, unless he purchased his discharge or deserted > from the service. You should be able to download his service record > for a small fee from the National Archives - see : > I get the feeling that they are invariably young men who have > sailed in these > vessels since they were boys and had probably worked their way up from > cabin boy to mate, and then master, a somewhat different background to > that of a Seaman.in the Royal Navy, who no doubt would be taught to > sail small RN boats.

Hello again, Edie,   Further to my last,   1) there is a Robert William Evans, Master's Certificate #2772, born Portsmouth, 1814. In 1859 he was master of the P. and O. steamer ALMA, but chances are the word "steamer" would have appeared in the newspaper accounts of the cyclone, if he were the 'right' Robert Evans. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-ukNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA364&dq=%22Evans,+Robert%22+Alma&hl=en&ei=qLglTuu7HKifsQLer9GODA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22Evans%2C%20Robert%22%20Alma&f=false   2) However, there are plenty more Robert Evans' for you to eliminate in the online indices to Lloyd's Captains Registers:  http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/capintro.htm   Scroll to the bottom of that page and click on the letter "E".   Regards, Adi

Thanks very much for that ADi. I am trying to gather up as much as I can and starting to do that thanks to folk like you. didnt have this. Thanks again Edie ----- Original Message ----- From: Mme_N_Carmichael To: MARINERS@rootsweb.com ; Edie McArthur Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 2:00 AM Subject: Re: [MAR] Captain Robert Evans, of the Merchant ship "Colombo" sank in Cyclone of Calcutta, 1864 Hello Edie, I can't help with all your questions - can't even find the article in The Bristol Mercury to which you refer, but here's a much later bit. From: SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE . Glasgow Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), Saturday, April 8, 1865; Issue 7879 "The Colombo, Evans, from Calcutta for Hull, was at anchor at Saugor until the cyclone of the 5th of October last, but has not since been heard of." Regards, Adi --- On Sat, 7/16/11, Edie McArthur <ediemc@bigpond.com> wrote: Has anyone any more details about the mariner Robert Evans who was by 1864 a Captain Robert Evans who had the misfortune of being aboard the "Colombo" in the awful Cyclone at Calcutta in October of 1864. I have seen one report in the Bristol Mercury where it states he was washed overboard along with a carpenter and two seaman. I think there are three more articles in same newspaper for other weeks I haven't seen as yet. Does anyone belong to this family please. He was married to Mary Ann Tucker in the Gloucestershire area in 1852. Mary Ann was born in Somerset. It isn't completely known for sure if This Robert Evans who married Mary was a Captain by 1864 but he was definitely a mariner and a family member has a memorial plague of sorts to state he was with the Colombo when she went down. Does anyone know where such a plague can be found please. Edie

Hi FRwances, Where did you find this Maariners will please. Friend cannot find her Mariners will anywhere. Thanks Edie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frances Laird" <frances_laird@yahoo.co.uk> To: <mariners@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 1:33 AM Subject: [MAR] sea chests > Further to the interesting information so far, does anyone have any ideas > what might have been classed as equipment for a 17th century > quartermaster? I have a copy of a will which leaves all of his equipment > to friends and I wondered what he might have had. > Thanks > Frances > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi newbie on the list. I was interested in this sea Chest especially the Captains Log book. I am currently trying to ascertain whether Captain Robert Evans of the "Colombo" which sank in the violent cyclone of October 1864,is the spouse and father of Mary Ann EVans and children Robert, George and Maryann. Also to gather as much information as possible of the movements of this ship. I have now been shown an article in Australia thanks to a list member, that the "Colombo" was on her return journey to Hull, Yorkshire. Now would the Captains log be recorded in India somewhere as well. She left from Calcutta so since it sank it would have been lost but would have been handy if Captains, in the possible occurrence of being lost at sea, would need to record his Log Book contents on arrival to port of destination in this case Calcutta. Thanks Edie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Norma Brown" <browndm@sympatico.ca> To: "Mariners Rootsweb" <mariners@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 18, 2011 11:23 PM Subject: Re: [MAR] contents of a ship master's sea chests? An example of contents in a ship master's chests for a voyage from Liverpool to Bombay in 1865 (MHA, St. John's, Nfld). Death of Captain Walter Nicol, Cursetjee Furdoonjee, from the Official Log Book: "May 28th 1865 at 130 P. M. lat. 40 degrees 11 South long. 20 degrees 30 East We Sailed from Liverpool in the Ship "Cursetjee Furdoonjee" on a Voyage to Bombay. At 8 A.M. on the 1st of April, Captn Walter Nicol joined the Ship in the River. Weighed Anchor and proceeded down the River. The Tug-Boat Knight Templar Towing the Vessel. April 2nd. The Knight Templar left us off the Tusker. Captn. Nicol came on Deck to look at the Light House, but only remained a few Minutes on Deck as he was very poorly, on the 3rd inst. he told me to take care of the Ship, as he was not able to interfere with anything, he gave me Charge of the Chronometer and everything concerning the Ship, in fact he gave me full charge of the Ship; he was then confined to his bed, getting worse every day as we went on. I offered him to call at St. Vincent, but he would not. While on the Coast of Brazil seeing he was declining fast, I offered him to put him at Rio Janeiro, but he would not, he Continued weaker & weaker every day, till May 28th when he Breathed his last, at 1-30 P.M. his body was worn out to a mere shadow, his decease was, we had anticipated a Decline, a Putrid Sore Throat, and an ulcerated leg. At 5 P.M. Burried him in the deep, his leg being badly mortified. (signed) Francis Norman Mate George Anderson 2nd Mate William Johnson Steward William Lindsay Carpenter " -------- "May 28th 1865, 3 p. m. Took an Inventory of the Deceased Captn Nicol 28 Pair of Trousers. 1 pair Shoes 14 Pocket Hangerchief. 5 Caps & Hats 19 Pair Stockings. 3 Pair Boots 12 Vests. 3 Blanket. 1 Hat Brush 2 Pair Parallel Rules. 1 Silk Umbrella 4 Crimean Shirts. 2 Comforters 12 Singlets. 1 Mattress Cover 1 Bed Rug. 1 Quadrant 6 Pair Drawers, 1 Paper Box 4 Bags. 8 Coats. 1 Barometer 3 Doz paper Collars. 1 Hat Box & Hat 3 Pair Braces. 10 Neck Ties 1 1/2 Doz Linen Collars. 1 Portefollio 3 Pair Mittens. 17 Towells 3 Pair Cotton Sheets. 1 Sextant 1 Hair Mattress, 1 Sumpisometer 8 Pillow Slips. 1 Chronometer 1 Writing Desk, 1 Silver Watch & Gold Chain A Purse Containing 4£ 10s in Gold 10/6 in Silver. 3 Pence and 6 penny ! Small Box containing sundry medicine. 1 Chest of Books 2 Deal Chests. 1 Box Containing sundry Papers. 2 Pair Dividers 10 Striped Shirts 21 White Ditto 1 Cloths Brush 1 Ennema 1 Chart Box containing 33 Charts (signed) Francis Norman Master William Lindsay Carpenter Wm Johnson Steward " When the ship arrived in Bombay in early July an auction was held of the belongings. Most went to crew members. James Horsburgh, O. S., age16 or 17, formerly on the Annie Walker of Anstruther, bought the quadrant. James was likely Capt. Nicol's nephew. Norma On 17-Jul-11, at 9:10 PM, Piers Smith-Cresswell wrote: When he owned them, they would have contained his clothes, books, and other personal possessions. They might have looked something like this at http://tinyurl.com/6awr6yn Piers Sent from my iPod On 17 Jul 2011, at 21:50, Sue Maxwell <suemaxwell@comcast.net> wrote: I recently found an article that referred to my ggg grandfather, Shubael Swain, who was a ship master, who moved from Nantucket to NYC. He did his sailing there between 1810 and 1840ish. This article was written many years after his death, but was about his son's family, who had moved to Cleveland. They talked about owning his sea chests, and I am just curious to know what might have been in them. Thanks, Sue ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

    Hello again, Edie,   Now that you have given the actual date of the Bristol Mercury citation, I have had another look. The only thing I find is the first death entry in the BMD's.   Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries . The Bristol Mercury (Bristol, England), Saturday, October 7, 1865; Issue 3940   "October 5, 1864, Captain Robert Evans, of the ship Colombo, of the port of Liverpool, which was lost in the cyclone at Calcutta on the above date."   But where do you get the information about the carpenter and two seamen?   The timing of the death notice, almost exactly to the one year anniversary, suggests two possibilities: 1) The family had finally accepted that he was probably dead and inserted the notice intimating that, or ... 2) A survivor from COLOMBO who had subsequently shipped from Calcutta on a long voyage had finally returned to England and, not knowing where the family was to inform them, had inserted the notice out of respect for his late captain.   I've looked in Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1863, 1864, 1865 but can't find her, at least not a COLOMBO of 932 tons as reported on page 144 of this Google Book: Report on the Calcutta cyclone of the 5th October 1864 - Page 144 James Eardley Gastrell, Henry Francis Blanford - 1866 - 150 pages - Full view The banks of the river at Cossipore were for weeks subsequent to the Cyclone thickly strewn with masses of jute beneath and among the ... 454 „ Colombo . . . . .. 932 » India . , .. 450 „ Vespasian .. 919 AJ Kerr .. 444. Baron Seufrew . ... books.google.co.uk - More   There's a Maritime Museum in Hull, but I didn't get any hits there. http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/museumcollections   Also one in Liverpool, but ditto. http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/search/sitesearch.aspx   If COLOMBO was registered at Liverpool, there should be mentions of her in the Liverpool Mercury (home port newspaper). I looked at every occurence of "Colombo" in the business news from January to November, 1864. These are the only hits for a ship of that name, and as you see, she can't be the 'right' COLOMBO.   7 January, 1864, a COLOMBO, master Belcher, left Liverpool for Bombay.   2 March, 1864, COLOMBO [no master's name given], hence for Bombay, spoken 21 S., 20 W. [that's latitude, longitude] [reported 8 April]   31 August, 1864, COLOMBO from Colombo [no master's name given] arrived at Deal [reported 1 September]   16 November, 1864, COLOMBO, from London for Colombo, passed Deal [reported 17 November]   Regards, Adi   --- On Tue, 7/19/11, Edie McArthur <ediemc@bigpond.com> wrote: .... in fact it wiped out Calcutta.  The news article about the Cyclone mentioning Robert Evans was in The Bristol Mercury, of Saturday, October 7th, 1865. Cyclone happened 1864.  However, it would appear that this was reproted in many newspapers worldwide including Australia this is where the information about Hull and surname of Evans is reported.  Does anyone in Hull have any news reports about this ship please, they all seem to differ and I am trying to gather all of the bits and peices up.  It appeared in the Scottish newspapers as well. .....

Hi Roy The page and year references enable you to apply for copies of the relevant certificates - they refer to the registers, where entries would have been made as details were received. You can't look at the registers, but you can apply for certificates of the information therein online at the GRO website. Don't worry that the reference doesn't fit the standard form exactly - just give the details and make it clear it's a marine death. It will cost you. See https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp FAQs here https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/faqs-overseas.asp You may be able to discount a number of the entries if you know his approximate age. The details on the certificate are likely to include only a brief cause of death (eg fell from aloft, drowned etc) and may not take you much further. But it should give you the date of death and official number of the vessel, which may enable you to track down a copy of the crew agreement and or official log for the vessel and voyage concerned, and (assuming he gave accurate details when he signed on) you may be able to identify him from his place of birth/home address. The Newfoundland web site is the place to start: http://www.mun.ca/mha/ . I have always found the staff at the MHA extremely helpful. If you know that your guy was born at a particular place, or lived somewhere, you can ask them to check the archives to see if you can identify which William Davies he is - you don't have to get copies of ALL the documents, only those you want. There is a fee for research time but in my experience it is usually money well spent. The MHA now have a very interesting section entitled "More than a list of crew" which tells you something of what you might be able to discover from Crew Agreements and Official logs. See http://www.mun.ca/mha/mlc/index.php . I wasn't aware of this until I started to look up the links for you, but there's lots of good research tips there. I would just observe that depending on the DoB of the last child, Davies might have actually died anything up to 9 months earlier - but news may not have reached home by the time his wife registered the birth. So you might need to check 1885 too..... Unless he was the informant himself, of course, in which case you know he was alive then. Cheers Piers -----Original Message----- From: mariners-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:mariners-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of R Davies Sent: 18 July 2011 21:02 To: Mariners@rootsweb.com Subject: [MAR] William Davies Good evening, I have resubscribed to the list with new queries,that I hope can be answered. My great g/father.William Davies, was a seaman who died between 1886 (when his last child was born) and 1891 when his wife was described as "widow" in the census. In the "Overseas Deaths 1761-1991" ,Marine Deaths 1846-1902 section I found the following Surname Name age Vessel Page year Davies WB 53 Berwick Law 166 1866-1866 Davies William 22 Napier 118 " Davies WH 31 Lovaine 127 1887-1887 Davies William 22 Lord McDuff 109 " Davies William 18 Harry Russell 83 1888-1888 Davies William 36 Cartago Nova 112 " Davies William Adult County of Carnavon 162 1889-1889 Davies William 39 Kilmore 63 1891-1891 Davies William 22 Inchlonga 140 " Davies William 16 Sunbeam 167 " Davies William 26 Euphrates 241 " My questions are; How do I get to read the page numbers given? And other sites where I can possibly look for the causes of deaths. I have no idea where,or when William was born, but his widow was 36 in 1891 if that helps. Neither do I have any idea of the ON of the vessels. Apologies for the big ask Roy Davies ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I now have two articles that are of interest. One says that he was a lawyer before he was a ship captain, and one says that he did all of his sailing our of NYC. It had never occurred to be before that he was nearly 30 when he moved to NYC. I never have found anything to prove that he was a lawyer, and I suspect I would have to go to Nantucket to research in their Swain files, but I also suspect I would find nothing much. I know that young men were all apprenticed to ship captains at the age of 12 in Nantucket, so he did get sailing experience. But now I see it is possible that he just may have been a lawyer for awhile. One of his sons became a well known lawyer in NYC, so now there is something else to consider. This is getting a bit more complex and interesting than I realized it would be. Any thoughts are always welcome. The Nantucket Historical Society is not always so co-operative. So I am a bit puzzled and probably will have to say that there is a strong possibility that this was true. Sue

You're right, what he would actually take with him would depend on the type and length of voyages he was making. If Swain usually traded between NYC and the West Indies, he probably wouldn't need so many changes of clothes because the voyages weren't so long. Nicol, on the other hand, died on a voyage from London to India via the Cape of Good Hope which took over 3 months and could have taken longer. Given that fresh water was usually extremely limited (on British ships, the ration was usually 8 pints per man per day for all purposes, including steeping the salt off salted meat, cooking and washing up), it may explain why Nichol had so many of some types of clothing and so few of others. I would hazard a guess that trousers and towels (good thick British woollens no doubt) would have needed lots of water in laundering, and so they probably had to wait until the end of the voyage to be washed, whereas underwear and socks could be washed in a bowl with a little water once a week! As for the collars, of which the inventory notes Nichol had 54 of assorted types, he I would guess that he intended to wear each for a couple of days before it went into the wash bag to await the dhobi-wallah (washerman) in Bombay! I don't know how long it takes to sail between NY and the West Indies - a month maybe? Less? - but Captain Swain wouldn't have needed to stock up to the same extent. His list would probably have included similar things, but maybe not so many. If you want to have a better idea of what Swain took with him, you really need an inventory for a deceased master (or mate) from an American East Coast vessel on a similar type of voyage. This is a bit specialist of course! Have you tried Mystic Seaport http://www.mysticseaport.org/ ? Piers Pier- that is very interesting. I wonder if I can find some books on that at the BYU library. I got so interested in Nantucket, that I read 8 books on it, bought a few, and would love to go there, but can't. They say that if you are related to someone from Nantucket that you have millions of ancestors in this country. It is a fascinating place, and I suspect that he left due to the privations they always suffered as well as the fact that whaling was very dangerous. Just working for merchants would be much safer and apparently he had fascinating adventures all around the world. I found six of his letters, written from the West Indies, in the NYHistorical Society, while he was working in 1815-16 for Lynch and Amar, merchants in NYC. He is a dead ringer for Robert Burns, also, even though his ancestors go back to England. I don't think the link to the ship chest made it to the sight, and it is gorgeous- unless I just didn't see it there. I am also wondering about the difference in Brittish and American shipping. Sue ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Good evening, I have resubscribed to the list with new queries,that I hope can be answered. My great g/father.William Davies, was a seaman who died between 1886 (when his last child was born) and 1891 when his wife was described as "widow" in the census. In the "Overseas Deaths 1761-1991" ,Marine Deaths 1846-1902 section I found the following Surname Name age Vessel Page year Davies WB 53 Berwick Law 166 1866-1866 Davies William 22 Napier 118 " Davies WH 31 Lovaine 127 1887-1887 Davies William 22 Lord McDuff 109 " Davies William 18 Harry Russell 83 1888-1888 Davies William 36 Cartago Nova 112 " Davies William Adult County of Carnavon 162 1889-1889 Davies William 39 Kilmore 63 1891-1891 Davies William 22 Inchlonga 140 " Davies William 16 Sunbeam 167 " Davies William 26 Euphrates 241 " My questions are; How do I get to read the page numbers given? And other sites where I can possibly look for the causes of deaths. I have no idea where,or when William was born, but his widow was 36 in 1891 if that helps. Neither do I have any idea of the ON of the vessels. Apologies for the big ask Roy Davies