John Hood - Merchant Navy record 1840s -does it say 'lost'

[jennywren001]

Hi Everyone,
I've got three questions really the first is - in the column for 1847 do you think it say 'lost 1847'. The second is was it a regular occurrence to indicate 'lost' on these forms? And finally the most difficult - can you tell from the numbers if any of these runs were Montrose to Riga?
Thanks
Jen

[seaweed]

Taking your last question first. As Riga was a none UK port there would be no indication on the Seaman's ticket. What I can say is that the vessel/s he sailed on were registered in the port of Montrose. (Port number 71)
The Seaman's tickets, as seen on FindMyPast are office copies, the vast majority of the originals have been lost or destroyed.
There is a slim chance you can find the name of the vessels he sailed on together with the ports they sailed to by looking at the 1846/7 Crew Agreements of Montrose registered ships. In my experience these are far from complete and it is a long shot.
They are available at TNA Kew in the following piece numbers.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_srt=3&_st=adv&_ep=montrose&_cr1=bt98&_dss=range&_sd=1846&_ed=1847&_ro=any&search=r
You would need to visit yourself as these records are stored in boxes containing sometimes dozens of different ships and are not arranged in any logical sequence. You would need to trawl through these. A time consuming exercise.
Looks like " lost" to me and I have seen it before on tickets but I am not sure wether this means the person or the ship. If you are lucky with the C/A's, all may be revealed.
I stress it is a long shot.

[jennywren001]

Hi Seaweed,
Thanks for getting back so quickly - the crew agreements do look like a long shot but they are on my list to check out the next time I'm back in the UK. I've only recently discovered this John Hood was born to Diana Rae before she married (the much discussed  ) David Jolly (captain of the Countess of Airlie which I believe was lost in 1847). Wondering if John Hood was sailing with his stepfather? I've attached David's record which like John's stops in 1847...IF John was sailing with his stepdad then I think I'd be getting on for having enough evidence to say with confidence they were both lost in 1847....
Jen

[seaweed]

If you look at both Seaman's tickets. In the first column you will see the number 127. This is the ships Port Rotation number.  No "key" to Port Rotation numbers is known to exist. But it does prove they were both on the same vessel, be it, or be it not COUNTESS OF AIRLIE, at least in 1846. I find it difficult to read the 1847 entry for John Hood.
I have seen your postings on other forums and it seems to me that COUNTESS OF AIRLIE was lost in 1847. So if you do decide to go to Kew, then her 1847 Crew Agreements should be your starting point. They should tell you his previous vessel, so just work backwards.
Be aware that many of these documents have been lost or destroyed.

[jennywren001]

Seaweed thanks SO much - finding out they were both on the same vessel is simply brilliant. I know that in 1846 David was definitely captaining the Countess of Airlie - lots of evidence to support that. A RED letter day in family history for me (I'll still be checking out Kew though - totally obsessive woman that I am).
Jen

[seaweed]

Glad to help.
Obsessive, I think not, You just wish to find the true history of your ancestors and you are prepared to go out of your way to search original documents. All to often I find that people take the position,  "If the information is not available immediately via the internet"  Then I am not prepared to spend time and money pursuing details which are only available from various archives, local record offices etc.
 
I admire your resolve and continuing tenacity.

regards
SW