Hi Noeline, It might help us a bit to know exactly where Thomas Allcock was living in 1851 and 1861 when he was master of his flatboat.  Leftwich, Cheshire? Regards, PK ________________________________ From: Leonard Heswall <lenols.heswall@xtra.co.nz> To: MARINERS@rootsweb.com Sent: Tuesday, 1 November 2011, 7:14 Subject: [MAR] Flat boats 1800's This is a new experience for me,and I have a lot to learn.I am trying to find occupation information about Thomas Allcock (Alcock) born 1814 in Leftwich.He is listed on the Census of 1851 as out on his flatboat;1861 as master of a flatboat;and 1871 as mariner retired.One of his five sons,John I think was on the 1871 census as mariner. I'm having trouble finding info about flatboats in general-were they called other names and what was their purpose? Looking forward to hearing from someone through this " new to me" method.Thanks Noeline ------------------------------- 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