Author Topic: Death Certificate; Name of Ship  (Read 352 times)

Offline Runner55

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Death Certificate; Name of Ship
« on: Tuesday 25 July 23 20:02 BST (UK) »
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



Offline rutht22000

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Re: Death Certificate; Name of Ship
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 25 July 23 20:07 BST (UK) »
Hello  :)

That second one looks possibly like SS Naiwa?

It was a US cargo ship that was around 1918/1919.  Only issue is she was decommissed in 1919.

Might still be worth a look though
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Offline Runner55

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Re: Death Certificate; Name of Ship
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 25 July 23 20:19 BST (UK) »
Hi rutht22000

Thank you for your reply.  Hmm, that's vey interesting - looking at it again,it certainly does look like it could've been the USS Naiwa

I've just checked on Wikipedia and it says that while this vessel was de-commissioned in 1919, it wasn't scrapped until 1929 and 'remained in the custody of the US Shipping Board' until that time.  So it then begs the question, where would it have been all that time? 

Could it have been docked in Jacksonville for some reason, and my great-uncle and colleagues were taking a look around it while they were in dock on another boat?

That's really got me thinking now - I shall make some enquiries.  It's certainly worth a try.

Thank you so much for that!
Runner 55


Offline rutht22000

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Re: Death Certificate; Name of Ship
« Reply #3 on: Tuesday 25 July 23 20:28 BST (UK) »
No problem at all!

I couldn't find where it was kept after decommissioning and searching it with 'Florida' comes up as nothing. 

Hope you find something!  :)
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Online mckha489

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Re: Death Certificate; Name of Ship
« Reply #4 on: Tuesday 25 July 23 20:29 BST (UK) »
It sounds as though you have a newspaper sub. So I won’t type out.
But the Naiwa features in shipping movements

Including one dated 1 April 1920

Going from Savannah to Jacksonville  on 29th March


Online mckha489

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Re: Death Certificate; Name of Ship
« Reply #5 on: Tuesday 25 July 23 20:34 BST (UK) »
Doesn’t that decommissioning refer to the fact it was removed from the Navy?


Offline rutht22000

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Re: Death Certificate; Name of Ship
« Reply #6 on: Tuesday 25 July 23 20:38 BST (UK) »
There's also another one of it possibly running aground in August 1920. 

I don't have a subscription to the newspaper site its on but there are 3 reports of it being in trouble in the Tampa Tribune, Miami News and Miami Herald.
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Offline rutht22000

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Re: Death Certificate; Name of Ship
« Reply #7 on: Tuesday 25 July 23 20:48 BST (UK) »
https://casetext.com/case/the-naiwa

This is the 1920 incident.  After decommissioning it looks like it was used for shifting goods around the world.  Doesn't look like it suffered any fatalities during the incident.
Jeacock
Colebourne
Shepherd
Scotter
Sievers
Knowles
Pritchard
Lilley
Hart/Hertz
Woodmansey
Monnington
Thomas (South Wales)
John (South Wales)
Pearce (South Wales)

Offline Runner55

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Re: Death Certificate; Name of Ship
« Reply #8 on: Wednesday 26 July 23 11:27 BST (UK) »
Hi Rutht22000 and Mckha489 - Much appreciated replies.  Really helpful.   What's so interesting about the 1920 incident of the Naiwa running aground near the Bahamas, is that this occurred in August 1920 on a voyage to Japan, with the Naiwa finally back in Jacksonville, I presume for lengthy repairs, in September 1920 .... my great-uncle Mark Kearney subsequently drowned in October 1920 as a crew member,  so I'm (maybe wildly) guessing he might have been working on the repairs in some way. The time line certainly seems to fit.  I will do some newspaper research ...

I'm also imagining that the boat took a while to repair, after Mark's death, so this might've given the shipping company time to give Mark a proper burial in the Evergreen Cemetery and erect the mystery headstone.  Hmmm ..... Fascinating.

Thank you so much again.  This is great information for me to work on!

Runner55