Hello. I have an ancestor whose final period of service on HMS Powerful started 22nd April 1848 and ended 21st April 1849. On 22nd April 1849 he started 'a passage home' on SS Hibernia which arrived in England on the 12th June 1849. This is shown in his Royal Navy record SS Hibernia sailed between the Eastern ports of North America and Liverpool carrying mail amongst other things. My question is, would it have been usual for a Royal Navy seaman to return home on a merchant ship?. With many thanks. Robin

Hello, It was an accepted way of sailors leaving ships abroad and returning by merchant navy. My father left HMS Exeter before the battle of the River Plate in 1938 to return to England for an advancement course, he travelled on a banana boat from Montivideo. My sister and her husband a submariner travelled as part of a submarine crew plus their families to Sydney Australia in 1960 on an ocean liner, returning in 1963 by ocean liner, they were amongst the last to travel this way. Margaret Le Santo ROBIN COATES <robin.coates1@btinternet.com> wrote: Hello. I have an ancestor whose final period of service on HMS Powerful started 22nd April 1848 and ended 21st April 1849. On 22nd April 1849 he started 'a passage home' on SS Hibernia which arrived in England on the 12th June 1849. This is shown in his Royal Navy record SS Hibernia sailed between the Eastern ports of North America and Liverpool carrying mail amongst other things. My question is, would it have been usual for a Royal Navy seaman to return home on a merchant ship?. With many thanks. Robin ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SFHG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message