Alexander Love ship-master campbeltown

[parklove]

I would be most grateful for advice on tracing my ancestor Alexander Love.
I have an image of his headstone in the Kilkerran New Graveyard (death 4/2/1849) courtesy of ralstongenealogy.com.
He is buried together with his wife Jane and is titled as shipmaster.
I have located him in the 1841 census at Back Street Campbeltown in the same dwelling he shared with his son Alexander and grandchildren.
Family tradition has him sailing between Campbeltown and Archangel with silk as his main cargo.
His son who was a merchant in Back street is listed as silk merchant on his death certificate.
I have been unable to locate birth or marriage documentation for him to date.(Scotlands people/Ancestry) .
I assume there must be records of his qualification as a shipmaster and the ships he sailed on.
I am in Australia and have to date not been able to locate the appropriate maritime records.
His father Fo Choise died (1803) at Loch Sanish  a farm located close to the current Campbeltown Airport.
Both his brothers John and Archibald by family tradition were sailors and may have been privateers.
I hope to visit Kintyre in the next few years and would appreciate any guidance on maritime searching that would be appropriate.

[Skoosh]

Try the National Archives,   http://www.nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue/

Skoosh.

[Mike in Cumbria]

I must admit, when I saw this thread title I first thought your ancestor Alexander was master of a love-ship, whatever that might be. Something like a love train?

[GrahamSimons]

Lots of advice here
http://www.maritimearchives.co.uk/crows-nest.html

[fifer1947]

Could this be him?  From the book "List of Inhabitants upon the Duke of Argyle's Property in Kintyre in 1792" entry reads

43 Longrow (Campbeltown)

John Love age 66
Isobel Anderson 42 (maybe wife as married Scottish women of that date kept their maiden name)
James Love 20
John Love 16
Alexander Love 12
Andrew Love 8
Janet Love 3

Only one other Alexander Love shows in the book at 5 Main Street (Campbeltown) and he is aged 68, so perhaps he is a brother of John snr?

No occupations are given as the document was primarily a list for men who could be called up when the Duke raised his standard.

Checking on Google maps this street still exists and is a stone's throw from the quays.

[Skoosh]

Fifer, by 1792 the Duke of Argyll could stand on his lawn  and wave his standard till he was blue in the face in expectation of anybody showing up.

Skoosh.

[fifer1947]

Fifer, by 1792 the Duke of Argyll could stand on his lawn  and wave his standard till he was blue in the face in expectation of anybody showing up.

Skoosh.

True :-D

[parklove]

Parklove:

 Thanks for all the posts.
The National Archive has so much information and one is tempted to wander into other subjects (reading newspapers of the time).
However I was able to locate Alexander jr in 6 court actions to obtain outstanding money.
He was listed as wool draper and silk merchant  at Longrow Bridge in 1850s.
That suggests the warehouse may have been located at the crossing of Witch Burn Creek ?
The maritime archive will take me weeks to work through and i suspect will be fruitful.
Fifers post from The Duke looks promising with the recurring John, Alexander and  a Janet which occur in my family but the dates do not match.They may be cousins and I will work on getting a connection to my line.
Thanks again

[fifer1947]

My eyesight (and knowledge of roman numerals) is not good enough to make out Alexanders age from his gravestone, what age was he at death in 1849?  The age of the Alexander snr who is resident with or next door to his son Alexander in 1841 appears to be 80 but could be as much as 85 due to the rounding down.  Of course being a seaman Alexander could well have been at sea during the Duke's census in 1792.

In the same book there are 5 Archibalds listed do you have a dob/approximate age in 1792 for your Archibald?