Good morning list I have been very quiet of late and so has the list. Hope everyone is OK. I was looking through the crew agreements in BT98/3005 in the National Archives on Saturday and came across this note tucked into the agreement for the Otter, which sailed from Liverpool July 1851. I thought it might be of general interest. One cannot help but feel sorry for Mr Fox! Master Thomas Fox Liverpool and Nova Scotia On the arrival of the Otter of Liverpool, Thomas Fox, Master, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Mayor's Court there dictated upon application that the ship's agreement was "an indifferent description of the Voyage" and not binding on the Mate, Louis Hodge and he was discharged accordingly. After which all the crew left the vessel on the same plea, thereby causing great additional expense to the Ship, the wage in Halifax being £4.00 (cy?? no idea what this might mean) per man. A most extraordinary decision in my experience. The signature was illegible. The description is the usual sort of thing, from Liverpool to "Halifax to the Mauritius from thence if required to any port or ports and places in the Indian Ocean, China or Eastern Seas or wherever freight may offer and back to Liverpool" I think it said not exceeding 2 years but I didn't write that down. I thought Louis Hodge might have been French Canadian, but he gave his birthplace somewhere in England. Mr Fox did manage to assemble a complete replacement crew. I feel there has to be a story behind this! Clare Abbott Oxford UK. Rain, thank goodness