Ship Deserters.

[jericho]

Does any one know of any records that are kept in New Zealand for seamen who deserted ship instead of returning to England.My gggrandfather apparently was a first mate on board an English ship, around the late 1850's early 1860's,and instead of returning to England jumped ship and settled in New Zealand getting married there in 1863.

[spades]

The only on-line resource I know of is on the website 'NZ Bound' which provides a background and lists resources to try, as well as some names of deserters from HM Ships in AUS and NZ waters. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nzbound/desert.htm

I don't know of any archival source material available in NZ regarding deserters. I presume if sailors deserted from merchant/immigrant ships they might, if caught (and many weren't), appear in court whose proceedings might be published in local newspapers.

riley

[jericho]

Hi Riley,
Thanks for directing me to the site,and I was pleased that it dealt mainly with seamen who deserted at Port Chalmers, as that is were my gggrandfather jumped ship
and I believe I have found him as one of the four seamen from the Winged Arrow,although his age is slightly different. As the story goes my gggrandfather had a tattoo
on his arm with the ships name on it and would never wear short shirts in fear of being caught.

[Gaye]

Gee what was the guys name?
He might be one of my grandfathers!

lol

who knows?

Best wishes,
GAYE - AUCKLAND

[jericho]

Hi Gayle,
         Thanks for the interest in the deserters of the "Winged Arrow"
which was in Port Chalmers on the 11 Dec 1861. In all there were 5 seaman who jumped ship on that trip,
they were
Robinson David 35
Brown John 27
McGowan William 27
Powell Andrew 25
Welch John 21.
Hopefully I will be able to connect John Brown to my tree, his entry into New Zealand only came to light last week after my trying to track him for quiet some time.Now to find when his wife arrived.Any way hope this is of some help,good luck in your research.

[ostarkly]

Hi Guys
Interesting discussion. I have a John Brown in my tree, living outside Dunedin. He married a Mary of unknown surname. The interest for me lies in the daughter, Mary Catherine "Kate" Brown, who married my g grandfather, Robert Steel STARK.

The only detail I have on the BROWNS, is that they farmed in the Taieri area, and that Kate died in 1901 aged 28 of TB. (Sad demise).

Any interest? Love to share!!

Hugh Stark,
Nelson, NZ

[jericho]

hi Hugh,
 John Brown is certainly a popular name,my John Johnson Brown was a Yorkshire man although I can't say for sure were in Yorkshire he came from.He married Mary McGuire from Fermanagh in Ireland.John and Mary married in Dunstan in 1863,before moving to Dunedin and having 10 children they had a daughter Catherine Bridget who married a Wainwright, unfortunetly at this stage I can't see any connection,good luck with your research.

[ostarkly]

Thanks for that. You are probably right, not connected.

Funny though, these small non-connected coincidences. The STARK I mentioned, married a Jeannie McGuire after the demise of Kate BROWN.

How is that for weird.

Thanks again.
Rgds
Hugh

[SlaterNZ]

I'm also interested in any court/police records in regards to someone jumping ship - but a little more recent than 1800's.... my Grandfather jumped ship, instead of returning to England in 1950.  He was caught and had to report to a local police station every day for a month until his court case....

Does anyone know if we have anywhere online or offline that I would be able to find record of this?