Sailor Liverpool (Royal Charter)

[oliebarton]

Hi

Can anybody point me in the right direction please?

An ancestor of mine John Hodson died as a sailor on the ill fated Royal Charter that hit rocks off Moelfre in North Wales in 1859. The ship was travelling back to Liverpool from Australia. I was wondering how if they exist of any records of John Hodson and what ships he sailed on until his death. He was born in Preston but the family resided in Lytham.

Many Thanks

Olie

[seaweed]

Not easy I am afraid. No central Mercantile marine personal records were kept between 1857 and 1914
The Board of trade officials argued that records in Crew agreements would be sufficient. This was not the case.
Finding Seamen from this era (1857-1860) is made more difficult than usual due to TNA,s complicated catalogue system.
Ships crew agreements(1857-1860) are cataloged via the vessels Official number but cataloged in blocks so its difficult to  search directly.
The official number of the ROYAL CHARTER you are interested in, is 1355. All her crew agreements 1857 -1859 should be stored in this reference.
BT98/4779
You would have to go to Kew to sort her last crew agreement. This should tell you his previous ship. Then you find the O/N of that vessel, trace her crew agreements and trace backwards using  this method and hopefully find all the vessels he sailed on.
FindMyPast have records online for service pre 1856. I have found a John Hodson age 19 born Preston but without a DOB cannot say if this is your man.

[oliebarton]

Many Thanks for your help Seaweed

It does sound a difficult task to go through but you've answered my question. Think I will have to put this one on the back burner for the time being.

I'll have a look on find my past. My John was born Jul qtr 1838.

Regards

Olie

[rusted]

From the Australian end you could have a look here,
http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/

[oliebarton]

Thanks for the link