Lost at sea

[russellte]

My 5th g grandfather Joseph Learmouth and his brother Peter  of Earsdon, by North Shields, Northumberland both were lost at sea on April 1, 1743.  I have found a number of people in my tree, both in the UK and USA who died in coal mines.  But this is new to me really piqued my interest.  Any help getting more information would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks and happy holidays.  Tom

[philipsearching]

My immediate thought is a coastal vessel (possibly a collier transporting coal from the Tyne down south).  However, unless your ancestor was a master mariner rather than an ordinary crew member there may be no records surviving.

[Ayashi]

How did you come by the information?

The first two thoughts I have are newspaper articles (if any survive that far back) and Lloyd's Register of Shipping if you can find out the name of the ship but I don't know how far back they go, probably not far enough.

[seaweed]

The oldest surviving copy of Lloyd's Register was published in 1764. Before 1848 North Shields vessels were registered in Newcastle. Tyne and Wear Archives hold such records that are available. Reference EX/Nc. You really need the name of the ship on which they sailed at the time of their demise.

I think Philips observation is that she may have been a collier is probably correct but do not discount
other types of vessel. North Shields had a sizable fishing fleet around this time.

Poster Westow is knowledgeable on shipping from the North East ports. It may be worthwhile PMing.

Could you tell us where the information you have came from.

[russellte]

Thanks for the help.  I'll post what I discover.

[russellte]

The sources of the "lost at sea" information are from several family trees posted on Ancestry.com.  I PMed each of the tree owners asking where the information came from, but have received no replies so far.  None of the trees that I have reviewed had any "hard" sources of information.  I suppose the ultimate source could be from a Bible or family lore.  I'm still looking.  Thanks for your help and Merry Christmas.  Tom Russell

[Andrew Tarr]

The sources of the "lost at sea" information are from several family trees posted on Ancestry.com.  I PMed each of the tree owners asking where the information came from, but have received no replies so far.  None of the trees that I have reviewed had any "hard" sources of information.

Then it's quite possible those trees copied the info from each other, so there may only be one 'source' ....

[russellte]

I know.  The trick is finding the "original" source.

[Westoe]

Erm ... russellte .... I've looked at the Ancestry trees for your man. From my reading they have him not "lost at sea" = Drowned, but dying at a place called Sea in Somerset, which I think may be Burnham-on-Sea.

Cheers,
Westoe