I need some help on the customs and practices of the late 18th century British Merchant Navy.
My 4x great grandfather was Francis Emmet(t). He began a sea apprenticeship around 1778 and served for 6 years. He was on the “John and Mary” belonging to Richard Pratt of Faversham, Kent. The Pratts seem to have been a long-established family of merchants in coal and deals (timber), based in Faversham. I assume these facts would suggest a date of birth from 1763 to 1768 and a birthplace for Francis in Kent.
However, all the other records I have for him suggest his place of origin (or at least, residence) to be Newcastle upon Tyne, i.e. his marriage in 1794, the baptisms of his children from 1795 to 1806, a Royal Navy allotment record of 1798 and his wife’s petition to Trinity House in 1813.
In 1807 he was certainly serving on board a collier brig (the Expedition, of Sunderland) when he was taken prisoner by a French privateer. He remained a prisoner of war until at least 1813 then at some stage he returned to Tyneside where he died in 1838, described as a mariner.
My questions:
1) does my assumption of a starting age of 10 to 15 for a seagoing apprenticeship in 1778 seem reasonable?
2) why might a Kentish-owned collier vessel take on a Newcastle boy as an apprentice?
3) does anyone know of any surviving sea apprenticeship records for the 1770s, particularly for Kent or Newcastle upon Tyne?
Any information or suggestions would be most gratefully received.
NeMor