crew lists

[Paulap]

Hi,
My Grandfather born in Greenwich in 1905 left home when he was about 17years old so about 1922 and went to sea to work for the port line so we were told. He was a seaman for most of his life, working on all sorts of different routes and ships. Is there any way of finding crew lists for this sort of thing.His name was robert henry gilbert and he did spend a fair amount of time around australia or between australia, new zealand and england. any ideas would be so appreciated
paulap

 

[gibbo]

Hi there,
I think you might have to know the name of the ship to be able to search for a crew list. You can try this link below.
On this link some lists have the crew and passengers but then some dont have any info on a particular ship at all besides the ships name and arrival date, so could be a bit of pot luck with it.
Someone else might have a better suggestion maybe that might help.

http://www.blaxland.com/ozships/page.htm

gibbo

 

[Paulap]

thanks gibbo, i knew it was going to be a difficult one with no names for the ships he was on,i will search this site and just see what pops up
paulap

 

[gibbo]

I've just been thinking
Is he on any Australian electorial registers? They usually have occupation on them but dont know how much info they would have for a seaman, probably just that, seaman.

 

[gibbo]

Ok this might be a long shot but was he based in QLD by any chance?

The QLD archives have a register of seaman online index for 1882 - 1919 and there is this on it ... no dates given tho. See what you think.

Name GILBERT R H
Ship Thalimar
page 111
QSA Ref. HAR/2
Item Number 17909
Mircofilm No Z2412

Name GILBERT R H (2)
Ship River Nith
Page 111
QSA Ref. HAR/2
Item number 17909
Microfilm No Z2412

 

[Ben]

Can i ask if this man was in the merchant navy in the UK or in Australia ?
If he was in the Uk merchant navy, you should be able to get his service poach / records and should come with a photo of the man on enlistment and discharge.

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers/library/research-guides/the-merchant-navy/research-guide-c13-the-merchant-navy-tracing-merchant-seamen-sources-of-information-in-the-national-maritime-museum

If he was in the Australian merchant navy, then try this site.

http://www.naa.gov.au/about-us/publications/fact-sheets/fs30.aspx#section2

 

[Paulap]

thanks so much Ben, I am not sure what merchant navy he was in, he left the UK and we were told he was strike bound in Australia but spend some time in New Zealand.I am not sure if he became a New Zealand citizen but will try and find out, but in the meantime will search the two sites you have given me.
thanks again
paulap

 

[Ben]

It may well be worth checking this site out if he joined the New zealand merchant navy ?
Ben

http://www.nzmaritimeindex.org.nz/