merchant service please help

[kirstie]

i have just received my g grandfathers birth cert and on his fathers occupation it says fireman for steam vessel (merchant service) could anyone please tell me was this the navy? on the 1901 census his occupation is ship fireman seas i can't find him on the 1891 but have found the rest of the family so maybe he was away at sea i have tried goggling ships firemen and didn't find anything i would realy appreciate any information anyone has
thankyou in advance
kirstie

[jorose]

That sounds like it would be the Merchant Navy:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/merchant/

[kirstie]

hi thankyou for that information i called into my local libary this morning who have a great man who works in the family history section he also said that it would be merchant navy and got me a few books on this subject it looks like its going to be a fun one to trace lol most of the records are in london (im in north yorkshire)
thanks again
kirstie

[Springbok]

Hi Kirsty , yes everyone is correct ,

 but you might need to look under engine room/engineers.

In 1901 they would be still coal fired ships ,with other types of engines using

from oil to diesel over the years.

Springbok 

[liverpool annie]

Thought maybe this might give you some ideas!!

http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/UKCensuses.html

Annie