Hello Ruth, 1) Newspapers, Ruth, that's your ticket. I had a wee look for you and can confirm that both PRIMROSE and BEAMISH were coasters (not foreign-going vessels, so not likely to be listed in volumes of Lloyd's Register of Shipping) and their Port of Registry was Stockton. More on newspapers further down and I will email you direct with a few examples. However, have a look in Lloyd's Registers anyway. There are many volumes free online. http://www.maritimearchives.co.uk/lloyds-register.html 2) Your man does appear to possibly have made two Baltic voyages in 1840. At least, in the Sound Toll Registers, the master was a "J. Woodcock of Stockton". Those registers do not give ship names.To determine vessel name, you need to line up mention of a vessel with that master in the "Sound List" printed in the newspapers with the dates given in the registers. (yes, smile, newspapers again.) But ... if you click on the orange circle to the left of his name in the link below, that will lead you to the actual images showing that he brought coal from Stockton and his homebound cargo was timber. http://dietrich.soundtoll.nl/public/names.php?lname=Woodcock 3) If you can get to TNA, BT 98 files (description below) would be of interest. The pertinent ones for Stockton are BT 98/474 to BT 98/480 inclusive. Reference: BT 98 Title: Registry of Shipping and Seamen: Agreements and Crew Lists, Series I Description: This series contains surviving muster rolls from 1747, agreements, 1835-1860, and official log books kept by the General Register and Record Office of Seamen. A few of the official log books survive from about 1852, but it was not until 1854 that masters were required to deposit them at the end of the voyage. The log books that have been preserved are chiefly those containing entries of a birth or death at sea, or log books of smaller vessels which were printed on the same form as the crew list and agreement. Also from 1850 a form M was introduced for mutual release of seamen at the end of a voyage; a few of these survive. The rolls include names and addresses of seamen, dates of engagement and discharge and the name of their previous ship. Date: 1747-1860 Arrangement: The muster rolls are filed alphabetically by port under name of ship in one run for the years 1835-1844. With the introduction in 1845 of a system of register tickets for merchant seamen a record of the ticket numbers was attached to the crew list: from here on the documents are kept in separate yearly runs. With the introduction in 1855 of a central registry all ships were given an official number as soon as practicable. From 1857 the agreements are filed under official numbers rather than alphabetically. Five major schedules are to be found amongst the agreements and crew lists from 1835, namely: Schedule: A, Type: Agreement (Foreign Trade), Filing requirements: Within 24 hours of return to a UK port; Schedule: B, Type: Agreement (Home Trade), Filing requirements: Within 30 days after the end of each half year (30 June and 31 December); Schedule: C, Type: List of Crew (Foreign Trade), Filing requirements: Within 24/48 hrs of return to a UK port; Schedule: D, Type: Account of Voyages and Crew (Home Trade), Filing requirements: Within 21 days after the end of each half-year; Schedule: G, Type: Names & Register Tickets of Crew (Foreign Trade), Filing requirements: On sailing from the UK; 4) For searching newspapers, the usual format in the shipping news columns is "Vessel Name COMMA Master's Surname" and yes, do use those quotation marks. Another useful search term is "Vessel name OF Port Name" and again use the quotation marks. It is free to search the British Newspaper Archive and get the thumbnails, from which you can glean a lot. It's only to read the actual articles that you need a subscription. And ... if you have FindMyPast, those newspapers are included there. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ One of the bits that I will email you directly tells you (in the very first hit!) that the vessel he sailed to the Baltic in April 1840 was STOCKTON. How's that for results (smile)? 5) Are you aware that someone else is searching for the same person? Admittedly, this message board post is from 10 years ago, but is still worth following up on. http://boards.ancestry.ca/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=4842&p=localities.britisles.england.dur.general Regards, Adi ****************************************************** Jet the unstoppable, paraplegic black Lab is doing the Lions Foundation/Purina "Walk for Guide Dogs' again this May 30th and is looking for sponsors. https://www.purinawalkfordogguides.com/locations/team.cfm?ID=164