Where do I search for merchant shipping records from England 1910-1925?
Looking for Alfred Pimm's arrival in NZ. It is thought he was in the British Merchant Navy.
on 2016-01-21 21:49:08
Gwilliam has been a Family Tree Circles member since Oct 2014.
Answers
Is this the Alfred Pimm who died at Lyall Bay, 15 November 1912, age about 30
No, our Alfred died in Balclutha, at 71 years. He lived at Milton at the time, but thanks for the reply.
There are muster lists for merchant marine vessels available on microfilm through the LDS, but the lists are grouped by port and year. Do you what county in England? What possible port(s)?
https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/55017
That is for all English ports from 1747-1856, the series where I found my ancestor.
The National Archives, Kew (TNA) (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) has various guides and one is for Merchant Seamen after 1917. Southampton Archive Service also has information. Apparently the records for 1913-1918 have not survived. Before 1913 you would need to know the name of his ship.
One of the difficulties you will need to know about is that the NZ authorities tolerated seamen who jumped ship. The country was interested in new people and provided the man stayed out of trouble he would be able to live in NZ legally for as long as he wanted.
Thank you to everyone for your help. janilye, i do believe this is my Alfred! I will go to the English records as suggested above and see if I can verify this. Again thanks.