Rena
Was it common for women and babies to be on board boats in the 1860s? Many of the boats around Seaham etc were coal boats and I'd always (probably wrongly) assumed that seamen couldn't bring their wives along - but maybe they could?
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I'm really enjoying your contribution here!
'Officers wives would travel on ships', I didn't know that... Did this extend to other crew members, too, or was it a privilege for the men in charge, to have their lady with them?
I know Filey and it's quite a long way from Sunderland, so you have taught me that ships can get registered in Sunderland but operate a long way away.
(I live very close to a working North East harbour which accepts cargo boats, and some of these are registered in Russia and Gibraltar.)
I am still thinking that this Mariner's family must have spent a lot of time on the boats, whether or not he was Captain. At least one of his daughter's sons was born on the High Seas (according to Ancestry), which must mean open sea, not harbour.
Do you know what became of that enormous ruby and diamond ring?
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I've never really looked into which officers were allowed to have their wives with them. The crew would be tightly packed sleeping in hammocks below decks, thus they would be ruled out. If you look in old newspapers you will see adverts from ship's captains/owners who advertise they have a ship with X type of cannon gun and will receive customers in the pub named X on X date. Presumably those owners who became extremely successful would open up trading centres in other countries, which meant they would organise for a ship's officer to go live in that country, which means the officer's wife would be shipped to the new business destination.
As for the ruby and diamond ring. It was eventually given to one of her two daughters. I next saw it when my daughter came home from uni and was sorting out her bedroom. Thirty years later she admitted she'd thought it was a cheap "dress ring" and had given it to a uni pal who admired it. (I tried not to weep - and succeeded).