Death of Seaman at Sea

[Chris_t]

Hi Christine,
What a shame there is no crew list

A little late in the day but for reference.
The Bark ELORA official number 2831 was built in Dumbarton in 1831, 333 grt. In 1853 she was registered in Port Glasgow.
If it has survived it should be here. Crew agreements for Port Glasgow vessels 1853 are lodged in the National Archive piece BT98/3528
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4067895
Given the length of a voyage to and from Australia, the Crew Agreement would have been given up to the port authority in 1854. May I suggest you also look at this 1854 crew agreements in BT98/3939.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4068306
I note that vessels from Preston and Portsmouth are also included in the pieces. Your best bet is to visit Kew yourself to research these documents.

The Crew agreements may or may not give you more information than you already have but should give the approximate Latitude and Longitude position of his demise.

Regarding Samuel Bell I found him in the Index BT114/2 but that's all I can find on FindMyPast. Seems his records have been lost or destroyed.
The only thing is to look at the original Port Glasgow Crew agreements as outlined above to see if you can find him.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?name=Search&_aq=port+glasgow&_ep=&_or1=&_or2=&_or3=&_nq1=&_nq2=&_nq3=&_cr1=bt98&_cr2=&_cr3=&_dss=range&_sd=&_ed=&_hb=&_ro=any&_rd=&_rsd=&_red=&_st=adv&_rv=

 Problem is he may have served on vessels from other ports.

Thank you for your comments. I am in NZ so it is a bit hard for me to research at the National Archives in person but at least I know where to look when the finances are available.