All I have a problem in tracing an ancestor which may or may not be in Northumbria so I hope the moderator will bear with me My gt gt grandfather was James Falcus born 3.3.1852 in Newcastle and on 1861,1871, 1881 and 1891 census was living in Newcastle (the Falcus were a Newcastle family). By 1901 he and his wife Frances and children have moved to Berwick where they lived in Church Street. He has variously been described as Mechanical engineer, Steamship engineer and waterman. By the 1911 census his wife Frances was a 'widow' (in Berwick). On her death certificate in 1916 she is described as a widow of James Falcus a 'seagoing engineer' and lived at 20 West End, Tweedmouth. She was buried in an unmarked grave in Berwick and there are no other 'family' members in that plot. We have checked the electoral role for Berwick and James is on that for for 1904 and the 1906-7 edition but is not on the 1908-09 roll. Because of these dates we suspect that he 'died' 1905-1907. We have considered the possibility that he did not die and just left his family but we think that this is unlikely Family 'legend' has it that he was 'lost at sea' (not 'died at sea' which may or may not be relevant), the location given as 'off Dunbar' or 'off Tweedmouth'. We have searched the local Berwick paper for 1904 to 1911 (approx) but found nothing.Obviously BMD has nothing either. So we are wondering are there any records of Berwick based ships sinking in the relevant period or what would be the procedures if James was in fact 'lost at sea' (fell overboard?). How would the death/disappeance be documented at the time? Would he be 'missing' and then at a later date have to be pronounced 'dead'? (if so how long would this normally be?) Sorry if this is 'out of the area' but the close proximity of the Northumbria-Scottish border means that it could be in our area or perhaps just outside it, however the family did live in Berwick at the time Many thanks for any suggestions as to what we can search next Mike Fairless