« Reply #21 on: Wednesday 14 October 15 11:31 BST (UK) »
And finally....
Thanks to a lot of help on Rootschat and further afield plus a bit more digging I think I can safely say my captain went down with the Countess of Airlie in 1847. Once again, it was all about making those connections.
I recently followed through on the 9 year old John Hood to be found with his granny Margaret Rae living in St Cyrus in 1841. He turned out to be the son of Diana Rae and a John Hood born Milton, St Cyrus on the 3rd of June 1832 - five years before Diana married David Jolly.
John Hood joins the merchant navy in 1846, on his navy record his birth place is given as St Cyrus and his birthdate is given as the 3rd of June 1831 - that makes him only 14 not the stated 15 when he goes to sea as an apprentice. There are only two years of records for John 1846 and 1847...in the 1847 column is written 'Lost'. This is the year the Countess of Airlie goes missing. An inspection of both his and David Jolly's records for 1846 and 1847 show they were both sailing on the same ship (huge thanks to Seaweed for helping me with the navy codes). I'll still want to look at the crew list (if it exists) at Kew but I'm fairly confident that John Hood was sailing with his step-father on the Countess of Airlie and that Diana Rae lost both her husband and son in late 1847.
Jen
North East Scotland above the Tay...
JOLLY, Johnston,Thom, Rae, Davidson, Fielding, Sherret
FEARN, McKenzie, Stirling [brick wall], Robb, Wilson, Stott
RUSSELL, Fullerton, Christie, Cochrane, Davidson, Coutts, Easton, Scott
FRASER, Henderson, Noble, Mundie, Goodall, Thain, Neish, Moir