Hello Caroline, My apologies: it seems I did not express clearly that you are referencing two separate  voyages. Your persons  of interest from Sydney aboard NANCY *did* arrive in England in August 1831. There is no doubt, from the newspaper reports,  that  it was the woolship that arrived. (I am now on the road for several days  with a baby laptop of limited capabilities so I cannot send you the actual newspaper clippings.) Further evidence suggests that Henry Pryce disappeared and should be "presumed dead" after the waterlogging-and-abandonment on the subsequent voyage. Perhaps this was indeed a whaling voyage and those two vessels named-NANCY-with-masters-of-similar-names *are* one and the same.  With the resources available to me, I cannot  say. But ... if you Google for ["Henry Pryce" "ship Nancy"] (without  those square brackets), the notices in The London Gazette strongly suggest what I wrote above. Regards, Adi ----- Original Message ----- > From: Caroline Gaden <[email protected]> > To: Mme_N_Carmichael <[email protected]> > Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Sent: Saturday, July 6, 2013 3:31:22 AM > Subject: Re: [MAR] Ship Nancy, Captain Henry Pryce, 1831 > > Hello again Adi > Thanks for the extra information, I'll check out the archive files... It > seems from the initial advert Capt Pryce had been an RN commander but > Nancy was advertised as a wool ship with accommodation for passengers so > it looks as if the good Capt had switched to commercial ships. > So I guess the questions still remain:- was it the same 'Nancy' that was > > spotted by the French vessel and reported by 'Asia'? > If so where were her passengers at that time? It seems unlikely that > they could have resumed their journey on board 'Nancy' if they had > abandoned ship and left her to the mercy of the sea. > How did Nancy come to be seen arriving safely in Falmouth? > Archives here we come! > Thanks > Caroline

Generally speaking, all officers whose biographies are included in O'Byrne were alive in the 1840s.

Thank you, Peter. I didn't know that. Perhaps this is the exception that proves the rule? Perhaps this is a second ex-RN Henry Pryce? But ... I think that it is a bit of a blind alley. From Caroline's first post, I got the impression that her main persons-of-interest were passengers on that Sydney-Rio-London voyage and that she was chasing down the abandonment for human interest filler to their story. Regards, Adi >________________________________ > From: Peter Beeston <[email protected]> >To: Mme_N_Carmichael <[email protected]>; [email protected] >Sent: Saturday, July 6, 2013 2:25:58 AM >Subject: Re: [MAR] Ship Nancy, Captain Henry Pryce, 1831 > > >Generally speaking, all officers whose biographies are included in O'Byrne >were alive in the 1840s. > > > > > > >