List Through Ancestry I recently got in touch with a long lost cousin – we share a 3 x Great Grandfather – Thomas Hodgson who was from Blyth, Northumberland, UK. I knew that he was qualified master mariner but she has several original documents relating to his service in the merchant marine. First was his apprentice agreement: He signed it in early January 1852 when he was fifteen, his master Emanuel Young agreed to teach him to become a seaman over a period of 4 years. His pay was to be a total of 29 pounds over the 4 years 3 pounds for the first, 6 pounds for the second, 8 pounds for the third and 12 for the final year + 12 shillings extra each year for doing his own washing. Some Questions for the list: Thomas’s parents did not sign the document (I have a copy of a weavers apprenticeship agreement from another branch of the family which was signed by the apprentices father) was that unusual? Would it imply some breakdown in family relations? Was the amount paid typical for the period? Whilst the agreement said that he was to be taught to be only to be a seaman Thomas qualified as a Master Mariner in 1859 about three years after the apprenticeship finished and claimed whilst giving evidence in a trial at the Old Bailey that he first sailed as 2ndMate in 1853 when he was 16 and whilst he was still an apprentice. So was the aim of the apprenticeship to train him as a merchant officer rather than as ordinary seaman as the text of the apprenticeship agreement implies? He obviously had good relations with his master as his 2nd son, my Great Great Grandfather, Thomas Emanuel Hodgson was named after him. Many thanks in anticipation Gavin Sent from my iPhone