James Jenkins James Mariner Crew Record Help

[Ceryswyn]

I've been falling down a rabbit hole for the last several hours and decided it's about time I turn to you guys for some help.

I've been looking into a great uncle, James Jenkins James b. 1854 in Poplar, London.
He's listed as a Sailmaker on the majority of the census records I can find, but I cannot for the life of me locate him on an 1891 census.
His wife Mary is shown on an 1891 census with the kids, so I wondered if James was at sea, his later census records show "Sailmaker at sea" as his occupation.

So I started poking around on Find My Past and eventually located a possible record for a James James who is an apprentice on a ship called the Olive Branch in 1868. The following is part of the record.

First name(s)   James
Last name   James
Birth year   1854
Birth place   London
Birth country   England
Year   1868
Role   Apprentice
Vessel name   Olive Branch
From date   01 Jul 1868
To date   31 Dec 1868
Previous port   [Ramsgate]
Previous vessel   [Indentured At]
Indenture port   Ramsgate
Vessel official number   62244
Vessel registration port   Ramsgate
Port registry year   1868
Port registry number   26
Vessel type   Sail

Trying to delve deeper I started looking for the Lloyd's register of ships, which took a while to figure out. I finally found a site that has the 1868 one that you can page through but I'm not sure how it's indexed so I just tried the search at the top of the page. I found no Olive Branch, and no ship with the above ships number.

I also tried looking at the Mercantile Navy List, there are lots of ships called the Olive Branch but none of them appear to be the right one.

Any suggestion for my next move to figure out if this is my James Jenkins James? I will be taking a trip home in October and plan to hit Kew, so if there's anything I might find there I'd love to be able to look.

cheers!

[seaweed]

 For the Year 1868 you need to look in East Kent Archives
Ship whose official number is 62244
Ship: OLIVE BRANCH, Archives: East Kent Archives Centre
Year   RO Reference
1868   RGS/RA34
All her other Crew Agreements are at MUN
https://www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/viewcombinedcrews.php?Official_No=62244

With the exception of 1875 By which time he would have finished his apprenticeship, which is at NMM Greenwich
Be aware the OLIVE BRANCH 62244 was only a small smack of 26 tons and would have used a 6 month running  crew agreement. The info contained within may not be much but there's only one way to find out.

Central personal MN records were not kept between 1857 and 1913. So you really need to find his last vessel and then work backwards via crew agreements. Easier said than done.

Contact Ramsgate Maritime Museum. Always found them very helpful in searching for Ramsgate ships
http://www.ramsgatemaritimemuseum.org/

Also Debbie Bevis co owner of the Mariners L website is very knowledgeable concerning Ramsgate vessels and seamen.
http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/

Try a search here. Best we have but far from comprehensive

http://www.crewlist.org.uk/crew/crew.php

 also http://www.mun.ca/mha/1881/crews1881.php

[Ceryswyn]

Thank you this is very helpful.

You mentioned finding his last ship, and working backwards. Would they each list the last ship he worked on?

He was still listed as a Sailmaker at Sea on the 1911 census so I'm hopeful he might have been on a ship past 1913.

[seaweed]

By and large. Yes. Problem you have is finding his last ship.
Forgot to say.  Most Central MN  individual service records For the period of the First World War have been destroyed.
Searched the 1915 Crew Agreements from NMM Greenwich. Nothing. Likewise the first war medal rolls.

[Ceryswyn]

Thank you for looking at those.

Regarding him missing on the 1891 census, is there anywhere I can search for censuses taken on board ships? I'm guessing he might be off on one at that time as I have the rest of the family located.

[seaweed]

As far as I am aware No. You need to know the name of the ship. If we had that then we would not be looking at census records.
He is a link to ships in port on census night 1881
http://www.angelfire.com/de/BobSanders/81Intro.html