Crew of ship wreck buried in Durness Churchyard

[johnb_tampa]

I am researching John Peter Tonge the captain of The Canton which sank off Durness on 2nd September 1847 with all hands.  He was buried, with the rest of those who perished, in Durness churchyard.  He was from Hull, but I cannot find any death or burial records for him or his brother Thomas, who was also on board.  The deaths do not appear on any civil registration (from England or Scotland) indexes that I can find.  Any ideas where to look?

[ShaunJ]

There was no civil registration of deaths in Scotland at that time (not until 1855).

[Forfarian]

As already indicated 1847 is before the start of civil registration in Scotland. There would not be an English death certificate as the deaths did not occur in England.

According to https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//research/list-of-oprs/list-of-oprs-1-56.pdf there are no records of deaths in Durness before statutory civil registation began in 1855.

Nor do there seem to be any mortcloth records from 1847 in the Durness Kirk Session minutes - see http://catalogue.nrscotland.gov.uk/nrsonlinecatalogue/details.aspx?reference=CH2%2f876%2f1&st=1&tc=y&tl=n&tn=n&tp=n&k=durness&ko=a&r=ch2&ro=s&df=&dt=&di=y

So unless there's a gravestone the overwhelming likeilihood is that there is no record of their burials other than what is in the newspaper reports.

[johnb_tampa]

Thanks for the responses.  I am wondering how, or even if it was necessary then, his widow proved he was dead in order to remarry.

JB

[KGarrad]

Why would proof be needed?
If a ship was wrecked everyone in the community would know about it.

[djct59]

The Canton failed to negotiate its way round Clach Mhor na Faraid and Clach Beag na Faraid, the dangerous rocks to the immediate east of Faraid head.

The deceased were buried together in a common unmarked grave in the south-western corner of the original Balnakeil cemetery, and no stone has ever been raised or proposed at the site. There are no other graves nearby. The wood from the ship was salvaged by the locals for household use, but as has already been said there was no formal registration of the deaths. It was clear that the ship had gone down with all hands