Hello everybody
Just to bring you all up to date, the book is out now so the website has been updated to reflect that.
Thanks to all rootschat members who helped with this, given that we had very little or no information to start with; this has now grown into one of the most detailed passenger and crew list of any wooden mid 19th century sailing ship. Well done everybody but let’s try and make it better.
Some information had been held back till publication for obvious reasons. Just so nobody can accuse me of flogging the book I am putting the direct links on this post. If you could all have a look at it again as all the crew details are there now and every scrap of information about the casualties and the survivors. If you know someone older who does not bother with the internet then take the list to them. The majority on the Annie Jane were Irish followed by Scottish then English. The lists are now alphabetical except the families have been kept in the same order as in the original list; they seem to run from the oldest (head of the family) to the youngest.
Steerage survivors
http://www.anniejane.net/steerage-survivors/ All but nine of the survivor’s origins have been found.
http://www.anniejane.net/steerage-passengers-drowned/ Thanks to a discovery be a rootschat member in Canada we were able to break the passengers up into family groups or if anyone was on a single ticket. The list now reflects that. Makes a lot more sense now.
http://www.anniejane.net/cabin-passengers-drowned/ We now know who every one of the first class passengers were.
http://www.anniejane.net/cabin-passenger-survivors/ Everyone found but the mysterious John Morgan, lots of hits on any search, surname very common. Was in Liverpool for the inquiry so may have been from there.
http://www.anniejane.net/crew-drowned/ We have all the crew who drowned now except for one; an unnamed apprentice. Name, age, location, register number, profession for all deceased crew members. No list ever existed as the names of the dead crew were not given or requested by the press at the time.
http://www.anniejane.net/crew-survivors/ Same again. we now have: name, age, location, register number, profession for all crew members except one.
Just a brief synopsis for anyone who is unfamiliar with the story. The Annie Jane was a newly built emigrant ship that sailed from Liverpool to Quebec in late 1853 with about 450 people on board. She turned back once to Liverpool after being dismasted, about 80 passengers left although they could not get their money back. She sailed again and was wrecked in the Outer Hebrides on the tiny island of Vatersay on the 28th of September 1853. Up to 350 drowned and there were 102 survivors. The dead were buried in two mass graves “like herrings in a barrel”. The survivors descended on the only house in the island looking for food and shelter, some of them being stuck there for two weeks.
Sadly, the location of the graves has been lost. Vatersay is suffering from coastal erosion and an explosion of rabbits. I am hoping with the raised profile from the publication of the book to do something about that with the help of the local population.
Main site is
http://www.anniejane.net/ There is a contact page to get in touch with me with any new information.
Thanks for your patience and a special thanks to all rootschat members for their help. Without you none of this would have been possible. Many of you working selflessly off site to find new information. The acknowledgement page in the book reflects that.
Allan
