Lost at sea

[Pipemakers]

One of my relatives was a coal merchant and died when a coal ship (out of Swansea or Newport or Cardiff) was shipwrecked or lost in a storm (according to a family story).  I can't find any record of his death.  So - if someone is lost at sea - where will the death be registered?

[mckha489]

I’ve a person who was washed overboard and drowned and it has been written above his name in his merchant navy apprenticeship record.

[ShaunJ]

It should be registered as a Marine Death. Can you tell us his name and the approximate year?

[mckha489]

It should be registered as a Marine Death. Can you tell us his name and the approximate year?

.

From National Archives

Births, marriages and deaths at sea on British registered ships (1854-1891)

Search digitised images from registers of births, marriages and deaths at sea on British registered ships (BT 158, BT 159 and BT 160) on  The Genealogist (£).

There was no obligation to keep records of births, marriages or deaths at sea before the mid-19th century.

Births, marriages and deaths on Royal Navy and merchant ships (1794-1972)

Search the registers of maritime births (1854-1960), marriages (1854-1972) and deaths (1781-1968) on findmypast (£), drawn from ten different record series (ADM 80/4-12, ADM 183/114-120, ADM 184/43-54, ADM 242/1-15, BT 153/1-22, BT 156/1-4, BT 157/1-9, BT 334/1-117, CO 386/170-172 and CUST 67/74). For some years within the ranges detailed above there are no records at all – use our catalogue to view descriptions of the ADM, BT, CO and CUST references listed for the precise breakdown of dates.

[Pipemakers]

His name was George James Mills, born in 1867 in Gloucestershire.  His last address was in the 1901 Census when he and his family were living in Roath, Glamorgan.  In the 1911 Census his wife was described as a widow.  So - all I know is that he died sometime between 1901 and 1911.

[mckha489]

Welsh newspapers here

http://newspapers.library.wales/search?range%5Bmin%5D=1804&range%5Bmax%5D=1919&alt=&page=2&sort=score&order=desc&rows=12&refine=Coal&query=George+mills+AND+Drowned&decade%5B0%5D=1900&lang%5B0%5D=eng

[ShaunJ]

Can't see anything in Marine deaths. There are a couple of online trees that suggest he was the George Mills who died in Gloucester in 1910, aged 43, but it all looks a bit tentative.

[Pipemakers]

I have the death certificate for that man - not the right one.  Thanks.

[Gadget]

There are 2 deaths at sea in the Overseas Deaths Records (Nat Archives) for a George Mills:

October 1904
Ref BT 334/0032

June 1908
Ref BT 334/0042


Gadget