Hi Diane
Well this one has to be one of the most frustrating but interesting bits of research I have done in a long time!!
I first had to refresh what I had done some 5 years ago to make sure I had done things correctly. The whole system of the Merchant Seaman's Pension Fund is a bureaucratic nightmare. Particularly as not all the records exists. You first have to look up a register to find the person's name. This is (supposedly) in alphabetical order but of course when the names were written into the Register, if there was insufficient space to keep them in order, they get inserted wherever they can.
I therefore found an entry for Charles Harvey, which gives you a page number (461) and a letter which refers to another volume (currently on microfilm).
I found the entry for Charles Harvey who started making payments into the fund in February 1855 aged 30 years and from Burnham which ties in with the man in question. At the bottom is written “Drowned”, the last entry being dated June 1858.
Now, I stated that he was on the Susan & Jane but now know more about these records and this is not necessarily the ship that he would have been on when he drowned. Sailors didn't pay into the fund until they returned to Jersey and as he hadn't returned, the ship he was on would not have been mentioned. Also, remember the fund only related to Jersey registered ships and he could have sailed on other vessels and not been recorded.
This is all well and good but then an entry caught my eye for another Charles Harvey from Essex (page 402) aged 20 years when he started paying into the fund in 1854 and still paying in 1870. I know the age doesn't tie in but it's rather a coincidence that there were two Charles Harvey's from Essex at the same time??
I have searched all the death records for a Charles Harvey without any success. I can only suggest you have a look at
www.bmdregisters.co.uk which has deaths at sea. There is one in 1858 but I don't have subscription to check this out.
I you want send me PM with your email address, I took photographs of the ledger entries which may be of interest.
Regards,
Stewart