Merchant Navy Apprentices?

[HMac]

Do you have any idea what time scale a Crew would be signed up for? I'm guessing that it would be months rather than whole years?

The crew would sign on and off for each voyage, some voyages would be relatively short, others could be for much longer periods, many months - it was not uncommon for a ship to be away from a UK port for a year.

Regards
Hugh 

[Romilly]

Many thanks Hugh for the further info.

I will order the records for 1912 initially, and take it from there.

Best Wishes,
Romilly.

[seaweed]

It could well be that the crew agreements for 1915 are with the ones for 1916. Depends when she returned to a UK port.
Research at MHA is charged on an hourly basis. It may well pay you to ask for as many years as they can copy for what you are willing to pay.
If you just ask for one year it may take only half an hour to copy, but you will be paying in effect for a full hours research.  If they can copy four years in two hours that would cost you $80. Doing it individually would cost you $160. If you get my drift.

[Romilly]

Yes, you're certainly right about the charges Seaweed.

The info for just 1912 comes to $79.10, - whereas 1912 + 1913 is $124.30...

(I have yet to work out what that is in our money!:-)

Romilly.

[Romilly]

I've now discovered that the Logbooks for the 'JOHN SANDERSON' for the years that I'm interested in are held at Kew, - and so I will go and check them out before ordering from the NMM.

I'm guessing that they will have more details than Crewlists anyway? But I might be wrong...

Romilly.

[HMac]

Hello Romilly,
The ship's Official Logbook will hold much more information but it is important to know that the Crew List and Crew Agreement are all part of the Official Logbook and not separate to it. The Official Logbook has a lot of different sections some of which will be of no relevance to your research but others such as the narrative pages would note any incidents onboard and cross refer names involved to the Crew List. Not all Logbooks have survived and also some of their sections may not be intact. For example if a ship was sunk the Official Logbook would be lost with the vessel and what you have left would be the shore copy, again if it has survived, along with additional information such as list C & D (Casualty and Deaths) etc.

Regards
Hugh 

[Romilly]

Hello Hugh,

Many thanks for explaining the differences re: Logbooks and Crewlists.

I will go and take a look at the Logbooks held at Kew initially. (It's closer than Newfoundland to visit:-)

The charges at the NMM Newfoundland seem rather steep to me... It's a shame that records relating to British Mariners weren't retained in the UK.

Best Wishes, Romilly.

[Romilly]

Further to my last Post, I have now visited Kew and found and copied part of the Logbook of the 'JOHN SANDERSON' for it's voyages from Sunderland to the Black Sea and Constantinople in 1914.

My late Father features in the Logbook as an Apprentice Seaman, and on the 24th January 1914, it is noticed that while painting on the Lower Bridge, he tripped over the Bunker Hatch and sprained his ankle(!) He resumed duties on the 29th January 1914.

I'm pleased to have found some mention of him, - even if it wasn't for a very pleasant reason.

The Crew Lists in Newfoundland will have to wait until I have the funds to obtain them.

Romilly.

[seaweed]

Glad you are on the right course. Logbook narrative pages can reveal a wealth of information on individual seamen but they are rarely mentioned in research guides and similar publications. Please keep us updated as to your future progress.