Hi,
I think these sea jobs listed on the censuses can mean anything sometimes. No really fast stuck rules.
I have quite a few "Mariners" and "sailors"
Without looking through all my censuses I have at all my sea families ,I don't think I've had the term "Seaman" in any of the censuses though. I have just one ancestor, listed with that term "seaman"which is on a marriage cert , and on the birth cert of his son, as father's occupation.
I also have one which was in the merchant Navy, but I haven't traced this line back through the censuses, to see what he is listed as, as it is not a blood line, I have enough trouble finding the blood lines without going off on another track lol ( second marriage the ancestor married a captain of the Navy daughter , after my poor ancestor/wife died)
Some of the ones listed as being Mariners I know to be working on the Oyster Dredgers, labouring on the little skiffs.
Others that are listed with this term "Mariner" and what I consider to be sailors , which I have found listed on the long haul ships which sail around the world.
Others I have are Pilot families. One of my pilot families in one census, father and one son were listed as pilots , other son in household was listed as "mariner"( they normally state if they are pilots, probably had something to do with holding a pilots licence.The one son who was not a pilot, probably didn't hold a pilot licence and was just working with his family on the pilot boats at a guess) .
Some of my Mariners and sailors are carpenters on the ships
One ancestor which was on the lifeboats for a period , and also listed as Mariner , and as a sailor throughout the censuses. I found out his main job to be on the dredgers only when I looked at the baptism records for his children - their father was listed as "dredger " for his occupation. Probably on the Oyster skiffs again ( I have hell of a lot of oyster dredgers listed as Mariners and sailors. Oystermouth families)
The one I have on the marriage cert the father of a groom is listed with the term "seaman" ( deceased), as too the groom himself is listed with this "seaman" term . I haven't got a clue what his exact job on the boats/ships was though, as he (the groom)married and died between censuses, and I have no clue to what area he originally came from ( his address is listed as being the same as the bride's address at time of marriage).
I just have a name, and have found no death for him yet ( although family legend says he hit a sandbank just off Swansea while fishing and drowned. I don't know how true that is, you know what legends tend to be like
. If there is any truth in this , it seems this "seaman" who was listed on a marriage cert using that term was also a fisherman, he may be another Oysterdredger).
I don't know if you've traced your "seaman" through all the censuses , but sometimes the other censuses ( if he is an adult in any of the other ones) may list a little bit more detail about his job if you are lucky. One of my Oysterdredger for instance, was listed in the earlier censuses as "dredger" and then another census is "oysterdredger", in 1901 The same man,when he is a widow, and became a single man he becomes a "Mariner" , perhaps he though Mariner sounded a little bit more posh sounding than oysterdredger. My carpenter on the ships was listed as Mariner, and then as sailor in two of the censuses.
Maybe looking for baptism records for the children of your "seaman" may give you some more clues to his exact job , if you haven't done so already. Maybe they won't tell anything more either about his job , but you never know. I got lucky with one of my records, which told me what he did , instead of the more general term "mariner" and "sailor" which he was listed as in the census.
Just a few thoughts/ideas for you to track down what his job exactly was. And I've probably confused you with my post , I confuse myself sometimes when I read through my own posts
Best wishes, and happy hunting
