Missing Mariner's??

[Ringoroses]

Hi,

I'm at a brickwall with my lot, so thought I might try and help someone dislodge a few bricks with theirs.

My 3xgreat grandfather was a Master Mariner and I have several crew agreements and such like for the ships he was on which list the men on board.  As I'm very much aware of how difficult it is to trace mariners, I thought someone might be looking for some of these:

(Birth years are approximate)
Captain David Wright, b1844, Greenock
Captain Archibald McEachern b1845 Tobermory
Captain John Mitchell, b1838 Greenock
John Wilson,  b1842 Glasgow
A Gilespie,  b1850, Falkirk
Alexander Gunn, b1852, Stornaway
A Wright (or Wraight) b1844 Canterbury
Martin Nelson b1852, London
Oliver Muller, b1843, Rotterdam
Charles Smith, b1854, (birthplace unreadable – Breslow?)
C Turngust (?), b1859, Helensborough
Samuel C McDonnald, b1844, Halifax
Nils Jenson, b1853, Christiana (?)
Anton Carlson, b1860   Christiana (?)
Lawrence Cahill , b1853, Wexford
Robert Smith,  b1859 Shetland
John  Oxford,  b1859, Jersey
Gustov A Olson, b1861, Drontheim (?)
Otto Olsen, b1862 Christiana(?)
G Heine, b1860   New York
Basiel Smith   b1860    Shetland
Thomas A Johnson, b1860 Torquay
Thomas Matthews, b1855, Dublin
John White b1858 Kirkudbright
John Ollason,b1836  Lerwick
Alfred Elleston, b1847, Estee, Sweden
Christopher Strafford, 1832, Leers
William Dixon 1855, Greenock
William Costain, 1862,  Isle of Man
John J Moffat, b1857 Dublin
Hugh Cook, b1841, Melbourne
John James Canning, b1857, Londonderry
John Welsh, b1832, Westport
John Harrington, b1853, Liverpool
Charles Francis, b1862, Carnarvon
James Smith, b1854, Liverpool
Joseph White, b1858 Portland
Charles Baker, b1849, Jersey
Treat Mohn, b1850, Bergen, Norway
Frantz Enstrup Moller, b1865, Copenhagen
Edward Gregson, b1866, Liverpool
William Williams, 1863, Llanfair
John McNeil,  b1845, Tobermory
Donald Rolf/Rofs/Rols/Profs?  b1838 Inverness
Peter Smith,  b 1829, Edinburgh
John McFarlane,  b1839/1849, Paisley
E McFarlane,  b1853 Glasgow
Christopher McCormick,  1849, Irvine
William Slater, b1836 Stromness
James Kydd,  b1834 Greenock
Nicholas McMullen (birthplace unknown)
James Finnigan (birthplace unknown)
William Saunders (birth place unknown)
William Morgan b1833, Halifax
J Mikkelson, b1849 Denmark
William Clark,  b1849, Aberdeen
William Mitchell,  b1849, Saltcoats
Thomas Dale ,b1848, Irvine
Andrew McDougall, b1842, Stornoway
Charles Bird, cook, 1824, Inverness
Charles Anderson, , b1852 Montrose
Charles Whish,  b1852, Glasgow
Charles  Poyser(??), b 1847, Antrim
Lachlan M Eacherm 1856, Hull
Thomas Lewis, b1848, Anglesey
Thoms Hes, b1853, Penby
Henry Johnson, b1853, Boston
Andrew Jackson, b1853, (Unknown birthplace)
Hugh McKinnon, b1824, Argyll
Donald McKay,  b1852 Argyll


I'm also interested in hearing from anyone who may be connected to these mariner's:

William Wilson,  b1845 Glasgow
Allan McLean, b1845 Glasgow

Captain Charles McDonald, b1860, Dundee

And particularly anyone with a John Frederick Dunn(e) in their line, born Bristol c1845 - who ended up in Sydney, Australia.

Hope some of that is of use to someone.

Regards
Ann

[Sarahx1]

Hi I have a charles Mcdonald, i have found his marriage cert and calculated his birth to be approx 1867, what was ur charles mcdonald's wifes name if any?

[Ringoroses]

Hi Sarah,

I'm sorry, I don't know his wife's name.  All I know is, he started out as an apprentice on the merchant vessels 1875 (when he was 15/16 - which could make your Charles too young), and eventually became a Captain/Master in the Merchant service. He he was still alive c1927 and was living in Glasgow, possibly Paisley.

Earlier research on this man seems to indicate he was actually born in Dundee,  but spent some of his childhood in Argyllshire and Skye.  I believe his mother was called Catherine (b1837, Scoonie [?] Perthshire), and his father was an Alexander McDonald  (b 1836, Abertone, Banffshire) who at one point worked for the Glengilt Distillery, and at another was an Inland Revenue Officer. One of his grandfathers was also a farmer in Craigellachie, Morayshire.  He had several siblings, including John, Catherine, Jane, William, Robert and Archibald.


In the 1861 census, the family lived at 13 Malthouse Close, Dundee.
But by 1871, the family had moved to Lochgilphead/Knapdale, and were living in a cottage.

Hope that's enough information to go on.

Ann

[Les de B]

Unfortunately, my mariner gg grandfather Frederick Nugent de Belin b.1846 Guildford, is not one of those mentioned, but I was wondering how did you find the crew agreements for those mariners mentioned?

I have found my gg grandfather as a crew member of a number of ships between Sydney and the Panama in the 1860's/1870's, and although I have all his "land history" in England and Australia, if I could find anything else about his maritime history it would be great.

Les

[Ringoroses]

Morning Les 

They were all merchant mariners on merchant vessels. Was he a merchant seaman? Was he on British vessels? Have you tried Newfoundland? Or the maritime archive here?

Have you got the vessels official numbers (ON's)?  If you have, put them in here

http://www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/searchcombinedcrews.php


and it'll tell you whether they have the agreements, or where they are.


If you haven't got the ON's, don't panic. You can often trace them online - here are a few places I know of to help you locate them by name:


http://www.pro.rcip-chin.gc.ca/bd-dl/nav-ship-eng.jsp

http://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/rocrewlists.html

http://www.findmypast.co.uk/clip-crew-lists-search-start.action?ic=Y
And have you tried putting his name into Find my past?

I'd also try putting the ships names into Google and seeing what it comes up with.

(Is anyone else having trouble with the textbox on this thing at the moment - keeps jumping about all over the place  )

[Ringoroses]

Couldn't get this into the last post cos it was playing silly beggers.

I'd also check each known vessel in ship wreck's lists,  google the name and put the the word wreck or such like in the search box - you never know, it's like a ships graveyard down there. And try wreck and dive sites too.

http://oceans1.customer.netspace.net.au/international-wrecks.html

http://www.plimsoll.org/WrecksAndAccidents/Investigations/WhatHappensInUK/Procedure.asp

And you can often find out a lot about the ships themselves from the ship building records
http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/shipbuilding.asp

And I'd also try the newspaper archives - the British library archive is online, but I'm having trouble with the text box again now so can't post the link! )

[seaweed]

I have a Captain Charles McDonald born 1859 in Dundee
Attained his masters ticket Liverpool 1884 certificate number 08462. Voyages recorded between 1884 and 1889.
I don't know if this is your man. What do you think?

[Ringoroses]

Very possible. PM me with any further details you have. Is he a relative of yours?

Regards Ann

[Les de B]

Thanks very much for those links Ann - I will certainly try them.


These are arrival dates of my gg grandfather in Sydney, the ships, and his postion. I don't know what happened in 1878. I presume being an Able Seman is a demotion from an Officer?

16/10/1865 - "General Caulfield" - Apprentice
9/4/1866 - "General Caulfield" - Apprentice
2/1/1868 - "Kaikoura" - 4th Mate
27/4/1868 - "Kaikoura" - 4th Officer
24/8/1868 - "Kaikoura" - 4th Officer
28/12/1868 - "Kaikoura" - 4th Officer
25/9/1878 - "Garonne" - Able Seaman

I have previoulsy searched the Internet for these vessels, and have found all their details (size, routes, fate, etc), and also have pictures of them. I have also checked the British papers and have details and/or advertisements of the actual voyages. So, I am pretty well covered there, but hopefully some of your links might get me a "little more" on him.

Thanks again

Les