Illegible Royal Navy Ship Name on Naval Service Record (1861 - 1863)

[jmmhistory2]

Hello,

Would anyone please be able to read the name of a ship on this Naval Service Record. According to newspapers, HMS Marlborough was at Malta when my ancestor moved to another ship. This means this illegible ship must have been at Malta. The ships at Malta at the time (I THINK) were: Neptune, Liffey, Caesar, Victor Emmanuel, Medina, and of course Marlborough.

From these, I would have guessed the ship is the Liffey. However, as you can see, my ancestor was serving on the Excellent in December of 1863, with the Excellent being a training ship in Portsmouth. Newspapers show that Liffey is on the coast of Syria in December of 1863. Perhaps the service records aren't entirely accurate with dates, or this ship is not the Liffey.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[arthurk]

Based on styles of handwriting of the time, I think the word below Marlborough is Queen, and below that do. (= ditto).

Ditto would make sense, as the change on 1 July seems to be of the man's rank rather than his ship.