Maritime Intelligence

[Newfloridian]

I have been browsing the Newspaper Archives for Victorian shipping movements. Just one small (hopefully) query:

In the following entry for Newcastle Exports (dated Thursday 2nd 1857):

Placidia, Jeffels, Hamburg, 123 chs coal, W Hutchinson

All these entries have the five data items in the same order. I assume the vessel is called 'Placidia'; its destination, Hamburg, its cargo coal and the owner W Hutchinson.

Was Jeffels the captain / master of the voyage?
What were 'chs'? Must be some measure of quantity although coke and iron were weighed in tons.

Many thanks Alan

[stanmapstone]

chs coal, Chaldron see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldron

Stan

[Newfloridian]

Many thanks Stan.

I've been looking further through these lists. I now suspect that the second name is the owner / master of the Tyneside Collier (or earlier equivalent) and the last name was the owner of the cargo.

Cheers Alan

[jon541]

Alan,

You were right the first time:  the second name is always the captain of the vessel - in this case probably William Jeffels who was born at South Shields in 1803 (info gleaned from the Masters & Mates certificates viewable with an Anc***ry sub).  There are other Jeffels listed on the site but none who held a certificate as a master mariner at that date.

[Newfloridian]

Have you come across a registry of ships and their owners? I used the name Jessels as an example but my own person of study was sailing the same vessel several times a year carrying coal to either Hamburg or Le Havre. I would assume a Tyne Collier (or earlier equivalent) would be too small to list elsewhere

Alan

[jon541]

I'm not aware of one online Alan.  If you're researching an individual, then the masters' certificates are invaluable as you can find a full list of every vessel on which that individual has sailed since he was an apprentice.  To research a vessel is harder - I think the approach you've already adopted isn't a bad one except the task is likely to be difficult to v. difficult without an unusual vessel name (and the OCR accuracy on the British Newspaper Archive is only c70% or so, so a lot of potential hits could be omitted).  Once you have a captain's name and can search on both ... 'Placidia, Jeffels' in your example ... you can do a much more focussed search.

[stanmapstone]

Have you come across a registry of ships and their owners?

Yes, you can see 117 copies of Lloyd's Register of Shipping at http://archive.org/search.php?query=Lloyd%27s%20Register%20of%20Shipping%20AND%20collection%3Aamericana&page=1

The register gives

[Newfloridian]

Hmmm ... He has a rather unusual surname (made somewhat more difficult as it changes over the years) There's been no difficulty following his progress over the fives years 1856 - 1860 where he is always in the same boat. However, the an*y listing only has him with a Mate's certificate (dated 1851) with nothing more after it.

Alan

[Newfloridian]

Another little wrinkle ... !
I have been slowly building up a picture of this chap's excursions over the years 1856 - 1865 by following the arrivals and departures listed in the local newspapers. He was obviously working on colliers between either Hamburg or Le Havre. The first several years were on a boat called 'Ocean' until this foundered and sank of the coast of France. He is named with three other boats in the years after this.

I have his 1871 census return when he was mate on the 'Perseverance'. It had a crew of four: Master, Mate, Cook, AB Seaman..

My new query again concerns the listing in my original question. When he was on 'Ocean' I can find all the outward (full cargo) voyages - but none of the return (empty or ballast) trips.
On his subsequent voyages (an example is 'Venus') I can find the return journeys when he is named but none of the outward ones.

Does this mean that one of the crew (not necessarily the master but could be the mate) was named as the responsible person for a particular journey?

Cheers Alan