Cathy, There is no easy way to find the information you want. If David Crone drowned at sea in a shipwreck there would be no death certificate, nor is there an index of such deaths, as far as I know. I have researched some Maryport vessels, but I know of no collier brigs or coasting vessels wrecked in Dublin Bay between 1861 and 1869. This does not mean there were none, because I suppose I have loss records of only about 10% of the vessels belonging to Maryport. A couple of larger vessels built at Maryport were wrecked on the Irish coast in this period - the Dalemain on Arklow Bank in October 1862, the Canada at Bettystown in December 1868. But these were ocean going vessels starting their voyage from Liverpool, and the crew were unlikely to have been from Maryport. I have a record of a Crone being in command of the Brunswick of Maryport in 1865 - the Brunswick was lost on the Co.Down coast in December 1873. I also have a record of a George Crone in command of the Lady Gordon of Maryport in 1864. That vessel was abandoned on a voyage from Maryport to Havre in December 1867. You could follow up these wrecks by looking up the report in the local newspaper, the Cumberland Pacquet, which often gave the names of the complete crew of local vessels lost. If you wanted to make a systematic search then the way to go would be as follows : 1. Assume he was in a Maryport-registered vessel (quite likely, but he could have been in a vessel registered at Workington, Carlisle, Whitehaven, Dublin or elsewhere) 2. Go through the Maryport Shipping Register (at Carlisle Record Office) and note all vessels wrecked on the Irish coast in the period 1861-69. The Maryport Shipping Register is three volumes, and I reckon it would take you a morning or afternoon to do this. 3. In the same archive, look up the report of each loss in the Cumberland Pacquet - most shipping news was grouped in a "Shipping Intelligence" column on page 8 in this period - the Pacquet was published weekly. If you prefer microfilm rather than the bound original copies, the newspaper can also be read at Carlisle Library. 4. If the Maryport register did not produce anything, you could try the same with the Whitehaven or Workington registers, but these are at the Whitehaven record office, and are very much larger. I looked through the Shpwreck Index of Ireland to see if there were any Maryport vessels wrecked in the period of your interest, but could not identify any. However, others will tell you that this Index is far from comprehensive. Best Wishes, Tim Latham www.mightyseas.co.uk