British Merchant Shipping records are all over the place. Some are in Kew, at the National Archives, some are in Greenwich. Some are in Canada! The Maritime History Archive in Newfoundland took a huge number of records from the UK when the archivists at Kew were going to dump them. Thanks a bunch! The image above is what I found when checking out the latest news from the MHA, and seeing that they had digitised the 1881 crew lists and agreements. WOW!
So what we get is verified evidence of where Antony sailed, at the time when he and Julia were still living in Nailsea, with four children. Their child Victor Ernest died in January 1880, aged eighteen months. His son Charles Victor was born in early January 1881. In between, Antony sailed to Brazil and back, and also was shipwrecked in Nova Scotia, Canada!
Read on...
The Thomas C Seed (68630) was due to leave Cardiff on 4th June 1880, and its voyage was initially to Santos, Sao Paulo, in Brazil. The notes on the front of the Crew Agreement below say that it was then going to pick up orders in any other ports within a certain area (south of the 60th and north of the 75th), then back to a port in the United Kingdom, the journey was not to exceed twelve months. The boat returned to Greenock, Glasgow on 31st January 1881.
Antony was the Mate, ie. deputy to Captain M Brown. He was 47, and had come off a boat some time before, but the name is illegible. His wages were to be £5 10s a month, and he was given £2 10s on boarding; the balance on return was £14, 6s, 71/2 pence (this is on the last page of the agreement).
So what we get is verified evidence of where Antony sailed, at the time when he and Julia were still living in Nailsea, with four children. Their child Victor Ernest died in January 1880, aged eighteen months. His son Charles Victor was born in early January 1881. In between, Antony sailed to Brazil and back, and also was shipwrecked in Nova Scotia, Canada!
Read on...
The Thomas C Seed (68630) was due to leave Cardiff on 4th June 1880, and its voyage was initially to Santos, Sao Paulo, in Brazil. The notes on the front of the Crew Agreement below say that it was then going to pick up orders in any other ports within a certain area (south of the 60th and north of the 75th), then back to a port in the United Kingdom, the journey was not to exceed twelve months. The boat returned to Greenock, Glasgow on 31st January 1881.
Antony was the Mate, ie. deputy to Captain M Brown. He was 47, and had come off a boat some time before, but the name is illegible. His wages were to be £5 10s a month, and he was given £2 10s on boarding; the balance on return was £14, 6s, 71/2 pence (this is on the last page of the agreement).
The crew agreement is a full account of the voyage, and even on the signing-on page (p2) you can see that it took on people along its journey. The Mate (born Oregrund, Sweden) was on board 'at once', the Mauritian Cook (Joseph Adolphe), and James Burr (from Bath) Bosun joined it at the start, as well as six Able Seamen, including another Swede Charles Pettersen. Four men (born Gloucester, Germany, America and Brazil) joined the boat at Santos, between 11th and 16th September, to replace four who had deserted (the Swede amongst them).
The ship then went north to Paraiba, arriving on October 18th and handing in its 'articles' the next day. Three of the new men deserted, and the Cook was paid off. The Articles were returned by Richard Corfield, the British Vice Consul, on 27 November, and he confirmed that five more men were taken on, including another or possibly the same Swede Charles Pettersen, who had come off a Norwegian barque! He also confirmed another deserter before the ship left. On 24th January the ship takes on two more ABs, in Queenstown, and a week later,
all the new men, plus Antony, James Burr and a Norwegian AB were discharged at Greenock, on 31st January 1881.
Who knows how Antony got home to Nailsea to see his new son, but his next voyage also started in Cardiff.
The ship then went north to Paraiba, arriving on October 18th and handing in its 'articles' the next day. Three of the new men deserted, and the Cook was paid off. The Articles were returned by Richard Corfield, the British Vice Consul, on 27 November, and he confirmed that five more men were taken on, including another or possibly the same Swede Charles Pettersen, who had come off a Norwegian barque! He also confirmed another deserter before the ship left. On 24th January the ship takes on two more ABs, in Queenstown, and a week later,
all the new men, plus Antony, James Burr and a Norwegian AB were discharged at Greenock, on 31st January 1881.
Who knows how Antony got home to Nailsea to see his new son, but his next voyage also started in Cardiff.
The Larnax (68985) began its journey on 13 March 1881, bound for Malta. So I am not sure how, on 18 May 1881, it foundered in fog, on the rocks of Charles Island, Tangier, which is in Canada! The Nova Scotia Museum archive says that it was on its way from Baltimore, Maryland (USA), to Sydney, Nova Scotia (Canada) when it ran aground, and that it was a total loss.
One fact appears to be missing generally from the Crew Agreements, which is what the ships carried. So although you can speculate as to what might be carried because of the 'usual' trade between countries (eg. salt, timber, furs, etc in Finland and Sweden) it is a shame we can't know what the cargo was and why the routes were designed as they were. However, it looks like coal was the main cargo from Cardiff to Malta, but the captain/owner would usually get 'orders' at the last port they put in at, to take them on to the next port...
Still, for the Larnax everybody got on at Cardiff and Antony was second mate on this one, travelling with the Captain (William Simpson) and 1st Mate (R Wiseman) with whom he had been on a boat immediately beforehand (?Dancer).
Several of the men had come off other boats together, some were British, others from Italy, Finland, Le Havre. But John Bull was sick for 2 days because of drink and so was late getting on board and the Engineer had to find other men to get the boat ready!
Two months into the voyage the ship foundered on the rocks at Charles Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia near Tangier. Everyone left the ship via Halifax, Nova Scotia, following the vessel being stranded, including Antony, on 27th May. Discharged possibly, but the entry on the logbook has a word that might be "maintain" on it, for his fate, same as the first mate, and John Bull. It might be the name of another boat, so I will investigate! However, there are just these two entries for him in the Crew Lists of 1881, and clearly he would be wanting to get home - it looks like he did not sign on as a crew member on another boat in order to do this. At least he lived to have another shipwreck in 1894, this time a little nearer home, in the Bristol Channel!