Dear Sir/Madam, I am researching my ancestor Captain Charles Teft Laurence (1845-?). He was born in Louth, Lincolnshire, England. In 1872 he married Catherine Anne Wright. At some date before 1893, when they had a son in Francis Street, Rockhampton they emigrated to Australia. According to Trove, Charles was Mate on the A.U.S.N. Company steamship Aldora from 1884-28 July 1889, when he was promoted to Captain of the ill-fated s.s.'Vissinglen', that sunk in the Fitzroy river in 1898 after a collision with the 'Leichardt'. In his trial after the collision he stated that he had been a seaman for thirty years, as master mariner, first and second officer and on te Fitzroy river for twelve of those years. Charles became insolvent. This is all I know. Please could you tell me any more about him? Thankyou for your time and patience. Kind Regards, Paul Brookes Sent from my Windows Phone

Hello Paul >From the Index to Lloyd's Captains Register letter "L" http://www.history.ac.uk/gh/capsL.pdf : LAURENCE Charles Teft b. Louth 1845 C93015 London 1877 Vol 21 1877-79; Vol 36 1880-1884; Vol 51 No voyages listed. This is evidently your man. He passed as a master in London in 1877 and was granted certificate number C93015. He appears at least once in the handwritten ledgers for the two volumes of the Captains register in the periods 1877-79 and 1880-1884 (in volume 51, his name is in, but there were no voyages notified. This may be because he had emigrated to Australia and Lloyd's information as to voyages originating there isn't too good). The ledgers should list voyages he sailed on, either as master or mate, after he obtained his "ticket"; giving the name of the vessel, its official number, and approximate destination. It won't be comprehensive, because it will contain only those voyages details of which were notified to Lloyd's. However it may narrow down the point at which the family emigrated to Australia. Should you wish, you may be able to track down copies of the relevant Crew Agreements for the voyages in question. These can tell you quite a lot, if you are prepared to dig; see http://www.mun.ca/mha/mlc/index.php . The same goes for the ALDORA and VLISSINGEN, since you have some dates. Search elsewhere on the www.mun.ca website to see what they have. As you have his Certificate number, you can ask the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich if they have his applications for his certificates (second mate, mate, and master). If they do, these should give you a physical description of him, and a list of the vessels he sailed on up to the date he qualified as a master. Further research, using Lloyd's List as to vessel movements during the dates you think he was aboard, may enable you to reconstruct other aspects of his career. Further guidance can be found at, for example, http://brew.clients.ch/Seafarers.htm#Tracing and http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/UKMasters.html There is a wreck report for VLISSINGEN at http://www.plimsoll.org/images/69111_tcm4-296843.pdf But I think this is the same as the one you probably found on Trove. Hope this helps. Cheers Piers -----Original Message----- From: mariners-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:mariners-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Paul Brookes Sent: 10 November 2011 12:46 To: MARINERS@rootsweb.com Subject: [MAR] Charles Teft Lau(w)rence (1845-?), master mariner Dear Sir/Madam, I am researching my ancestor Captain Charles Teft Laurence (1845-?). He was born in Louth, Lincolnshire, England. In 1872 he married Catherine Anne Wright. At some date before 1893, when they had a son in Francis Street, Rockhampton they emigrated to Australia. According to Trove, Charles was Mate on the A.U.S.N. Company steamship Aldora from 1884-28 July 1889, when he was promoted to Captain of the ill-fated s.s.'Vissinglen', that sunk in the Fitzroy river in 1898 after a collision with the 'Leichardt'. In his trial after the collision he stated that he had been a seaman for thirty years, as master mariner, first and second officer and on te Fitzroy river for twelve of those years. Charles became insolvent. This is all I know. Please could you tell me any more about him? Thankyou for your time and patience. Kind Regards, Paul Brookes Sent from my Windows Phone ------------------------------- 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