OK, I'm puzzled. I should probably look into this more before posting but everyone on this list is so knowledgable! I'm back to Daniel Quinn. Enlisted on board HMS Fair Rosamond as a Boy in 1825. With Lauretta Harris's I've managed to find quite a lot of his service but there are gaps because he is known to have used at least one alias. On FindMyPast today I found a ticket for him which I thought meant he had been in the merchant navy, but it mentions HMS Acorn and was actually issued aboard HMS Acorn while it was stationed on the River Uruguay (26th August 1846). I know that Continuous Service didn't start till around 1853. Were the two services interchangeable or was this just another way of recording sailors? I also can't make out the word in the very last 'Remarks' column. It looks like 'Received', but received what? There are also some hieroglyphics in his last entry on the record in 1848. It looks like 'Paid off 8/11/ ??' but this doesn't tie up with other records (from memory, the ship's muster book), which had him being discharged from HSM Acorn on 26th March 1848. Anyone care to have a stab at it if I were to forward it by e-mail? I can read the rest of it. Interestingly, the fact that he is usually resident in Lambeth when not working gives me a clue as to where and when he died! Thanks in advance. Jo