Taking a voyage into the past of our sailors
Historian Keith Gregson has a love of maritime history in the Sunderland area and we are indebted to him for sharing it. This month, he talks about the huge number of sailors who joined the Merchant Navy – and how Echo readers can usually access wonderful
With the Tall Ships on their way, it seems a good time for those with sailor ancestors to delve into their heritage.
In a future article, I’ll tell how sail lasted longer than most people imagined and existed for a long time side by side with steam.
Basically, sailor ancestors might be found in wooden (or even metal) sailing ships, certainly throughout the reign of Queen Victoria and beyond, up to the First World War.
Surviving records of ordinary seamen are good – and their vessels too if they survived – as is the ships logs and census.
There’s a mixture of ordinary seaman from all round the world on local vessels but usually a significant number of North East sailors on vessels registered in the region and sailing out of the Tyne and Wear.
Many of their records can be views at The National Archives at Kew and the National Maritime Museum Archives at Greenwich.
Deck officers’ records are particularly good, especially at levels such as 2nd mate, 1st mate and master from midcentury onwards, as well as engineers.
Names appear in trade directories – but most important of all – in the records which can now be viewed online.
They reveal not only the ships that sailors had as deck officers but also beforehand as they had to give a record of ships on which they sailed from the start of their career when they were sitting exams.
For those wanting to look further into their genealogy, why not try the British Newspaper Archives, the Sunderland Echo and other newspapers online.
It is often possible to follow a sailor round on his journeys.
Tracing sailor ancestry can become a really absorbing hobby – and the Tall Ships should inspire those with maritime ancestry to give it a go.
Two of Keith’s published books – Tracing Northern Ancestors published by Pen and Sword, and A Viking in the Family published by History Press – refer to local maritime history.
Keith is just completing another book on local maritime history with a working title of From Shetland to Keel Square.