where to find the movements of Royal Navy ships

[overlandermatt]

I'm researching a number of relatives with Royal Marine and Navy connections. From the service records, I can find the ships name and the dates served onboard. It would be of further interest to find  out where the ships went and what they did during the time the relatives were aboard.

I'm not sure if there are some good sites for finding such information. It seems fairly random... I followed HMS Sapphire to Australia and around the South Pacific through newspaper articles from the 1870s. The information below relates to a quick search on HMS Caledonia in the 1830s.

Any suggestions would be very welcome. Thanks!

 

16 May 1833 Ship recommissioned.
Jun 1833 is reported to have been fitted with Earle's fire-engine pump, which was trialled on board the Druid.
3 Jun 1833 was undocked at Plymouth.
8 Jun 1833 In Hamoaze.
28 Jun 1833 In Hamoaze.
12 Aug 1833 arrived Cork from Plymouth.
23 Nov 1833 Had departed Malta for Vourla Bay.
4 Dec 1833 Refitting at Vourla Bay.
18 Feb 1834 In harbour at Valletta.
5 Mar 1834 departed Malta on a short cruise.
23 Mar 1834 In Valletta harbour.
29 Apr 1834 Remains Malta.
22 Jul 1834 arrived Vourla from Mytelene, and has since departed to Scalanova and Nauplia.
2 Oct 1834 Is reported to have grounded on a sand-bank in the Bay of Sardinia, but was got off without sustaining any serious damage.
19 Dec 1834 Vourla Bay.
31 Jan 1835 is reported to be at Malta.

[Bookbox]

Apart from the newspapers, the late Paul Benyon’s naval database can be very useful for this period, e.g.
https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~pbtyc/genealogy/18-1900/C/00770.html

Also (for c.1840-1880), this site ...
https://www.pdavis.nl/Vessels.php

[GrahamSimons]

Ships' logs are at the National Archives but are not digitised. See
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/royal-navy-ships-voyages-log-books/

[martin hooper]

WW2 period there's a lot here.

https://uboat.net/allies/warships/search.php

Martin

[overlandermatt]

Thanks for the suggestions and apologies for the slow response. I was aware of the Rootsweb pages which have proved to be a great help.

I am trying to find out more about HMS Impregnable between 1849 and 1851. She seems to have been a flag ship in Devonport at that time and there was a high profile court martial aboard in September 1849. Other than that, I don't have much to go on.

Perhaps there's a chance that someone reading this knows a little more?


 

[ShaunJ]

According to this, Impregnable was laid up at Devonport from 1843 to 1862: https://tinyurl.com/57vcnebn

[overlandermatt]

Thanks Shaun. I also spotted that one...

The person I am investigating was a private in the Royal Marines from 1830-1851. He spent 11+ years of the 21 year service 'afloat' on 4 ships - typically 3 years each.

On two of these he is away at sea but the other two seem to be aboard a ship that does not appear to leave Devonport according to the limited articles I have come across.

1837-39 HMS Royal Adelaide and HMS Impregnable - on this occasion the ship is a flag ship which possibly goes into dock for some repairs and the flag gets transferred to HMS Impregnable. Does the flag ship just stay in port? I would have expected some sort of readiness...
1849-51 HMS Impregnable appears to be laid up.

Census records and his children's birth certificates suggest he was not at home on dates corresponding to the period afloat so I do wonder what he was doing. If the ships were in port but men were embarked then was this a full-time role aboard ship?

Any suggestions very welcome. Thanks!

[ShaunJ]

Does the flag ship just stay in port?

I don't think it's unusual for the flagship in a home port to be laid up. Think about HMS Victory at Portsmouth for instance.

It's possible that he was nominally assigned to Impregnable but resident in barracks onshore, or serving in smaller vessels operating out of Devonport.

[GrahamSimons]

If my memory is right, all RN personnel are assigned to a ship, even if the ship is a "stone frigate" such as HMS Ganges or HMS Excellent, or is permanently laid up like HMS Victory . Their pay comes through this "ship" even though they may never be on board.