Kew Archives R Navy

[2mm]

Have a copy of  Stephen  Hazard  Naval Service, on 2 ships, found with lots of help from other rootchatters.

Astrea 4 Sept 1793 - 25 Sept 1799

Amethyst  26 Sept  1799 - 15 Apr 1803

Hoping to visit Kew,in Oct,  Need your help again, please, on trying to decide which  Orignial records to try and order for the doc reading room. and look at in the hope I may at least find something personal about him.
Also any help on the possible lay out of these books.
E.G.  Adm 36/15298 - Adm 36/15301 Series 1  (4 Books)  Amethyst Muster Books.

Will have approx. 3 hours  time there, very unsure where to start, after ordering readers ticket.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

2mm 

[Ermintrude46]

The muster books should give his rank, date when he joined the ship (and age at joining), the previous ship he joined from and whether or not he was a volunteer.  It may also give his place of birth.  There will be a entry each month and the final entry for his time on the ship should show his discharge date and whither or for what reason he was discharged so you can follow him onto the next ship (so the April 1803 entry should show whether he was discharged due to injury/illness).  If you have time (and they are available) you may also be able to check the captains logs for the ships he was on which will give a daily account of where the ship was, what it's orders were and any events of notes (such as sailors falling out of the rigging or being flogged for drunkeness, gun practice or capture of enemy ships etc!).  These are all original documents, not transcripts, fantastic to hold a book in your hand that you know has travelled halfway round the world two hundred years ago and where the writer was someone who lived and worked in close proximity to your ancestor 
Ermy

[2mm]

Ermy, Many thanks for your reply, it will be  a great help in planning the visit, It doesn't  seem quite so dauntting now.
Thank you  2mm

[Ermintrude46]

TBH I still find Kew a bit daunting (and I've been there at least half a dozen times) because of the sheer size of the place and the variety of documents held.  But most of the staff are very helpful and there are lots of leaflets telling you which are the best places to start looking for info in specific categories.  I would suggest that you check out the catalogue as thoroughly as you can online before you visit and make a list of document reference numbers you are interested in.  Then once you have your readers ticket order the first handful of docs straight away via the dedicated computer terminals as there will be a wait of 15-20 mins for original documents to be produced.  Whilst you are waiting you can browse through the leaflets, look at the huge number of other catalogues in book form or help yourself to any relevant microfilmed documents.  Three hours will fly by and I'm sure you'll soon be planning another visit 
Ermy

[2mm]

Ermy thanks for  the tips, have got a few refs already,  Iam sure there are more for me to find will make sure I check and make my list ready for the day.
2 mm