Hi Rootschatters
Attached are two extracts from a Non-Resident's 1920 Florida death certificate for my great-uncle. He was an Irish merchant seaman who, according to this document, died from accidental drowning in the St Johns River, Jacksonville, Florida during the course of his employment as a crew member on a vessel which I cannot fully decipher.
My great-uncle (who lived in Dublin) had apparently sailed over to Florida on this voyage in 1920 from either Ireland or somewhere else in the British Isles.
It looks like it could be the SS Nauva or the SS Naiva, but when I Google these names it comes up with absolutely nothing, so I think I must be reading the name wrongly.
I'd love to know what sort of merchant navy vessel this was, the shipping line it belonged to and more about the context of the voyage and the circumstances of the drowning.
I have no more information around the drowning incident at this stage, but there is a headstone erected to my great-uncle (shown on Find A Grave) in the Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida, which I presume was probably paid for by his employers as a gesture to his family back in Ireland, as there were no family connections in Jacksonville who would've erected it.
I feel that if I could accurately name the ship he was on, this would also help with my newspaper searches. I have tried the newspapers with name searches, but this comes up with nothing other than a family death notice in the Irish newspapers which acknowledges the incident of drowning in Florida, but doesn't give any further background or detail around his employment.
He's shown on the document as 'Michael Karney' but this was either mis-heard or mis-reported by other crew members, as his name was actually Mark Kearney, which is then correct on the headstone.
If anyone can see the obvious name of the vessel with fresh eyes I would be most grateful!
Thanking you in advance
Runner55