Hello Sylvia,
I found this on - Manxnotebook - in the ' Index ' - thank you, Frances - been in the index all morning !
Isle of Man Family History Society Journal
Volumes 1-18 1979-1996
Indexed by Topic
Note only major articles indexed - ephemeral + requests for help are not indexed here
ht tp://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/famhist/fhsjtpc.htm (close gap ht tp)
Shipping.
SCHOONERS
Crew lists and incident logs for every voyage were required by the Board of Trade Regulations and were sent to the Registry of Shipping and Seamen at Cardiff where they accumulated from the 1850's. A national outcry against the proposal in the mid 1960's to destroy the archive in its entirety resulted eventually in the distribution of the records to the Record Offices of the maritime countries and the National Record Offices of Britain including the Isle of Man.
Altogether almost half a ton of Manx records were selected from the Public Record Office Repository at Hayes, by the Librarian - Archivist Miss Ann Harrison. These records are deposited in the Manx Museum library where they yield valuable information on the commercial operations of sea-born trade as well as the composition of crews and their biographical details.
CREW LISTS - These should tell you a man's name, age, place of birth, rank,the ship in which he last sailed, the date and place of his joining and when he left the ship.
The lists are indexed first under the town the ship was registered with i.e. Ramsey, Castletown, Peel or Douglas, then the name of the ship and finally the year.
FOR EXAMPLE
CASTLETOWN ENIGMA 1883
After you have given the librarian this information, she can then obtain the crew list which will give you the following details.
Owner John Maddrell of Port St. Mary
Master Daniel Doran of Port St. Mary aged 30 years. Sailed on the coasting and foreign trade.
On Board:
John Doran b 1852 Port St. Mary wages 3.10.00 a month
Robert Clarke b 1859 Port St. Mary wages 3.00.00 a month
Arthur Doran Port St. Mary wages 1.05.00 a month
Wilhelm McEnger b 1865 John Hawkins b 1854
Wilhelm was discharged at Runcorn 22nd December 1883. Voyage ended in Runcorn on the 2nd Jan. 1883. Ship sailed to Hamburg arrived 3rd Oct. 1883 leaving there only 9 days later and finally arrived in Port St. Mary on the 17th December 1883. Provisions included bread, beef, pork, tinned meats, soup,preserved, potatoes, flour, peas, rice, tea, coffee, sugar and molasses.
WESTERN MAID 1880 Tonnage 147
Owner Henry Graves
For the years 1879/80 the ship sailed from London on the 11th March 1879 and went to France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Holland before returning to Yoole on the 3rd January 1880. On board were 6 crew plus the Master- Thomas Corkill aged 35 years and was born in Peel. The names, ages and birthplaces are given of the rest of the crew which consisted of the Mate, Cook, 2 Able bodied Seamen and two boys aged 16 and 17 years. The Mate was paid £5 a month, the Cook £3.5.0 and this sum was paid at the end of the journey. Daily provisions consisted of lemon and lime juice, 2 oz sugar, tea, coffee and bread, beef or pork were served on alternate days,plus 1½ lbs of flour a week, peas and 1/3 yd of a pound of rice. No spirits were allowed.
CASTLETOWN KATE 1878 Tonnage 59
Owner George Bradshaw of Compton House, Castletown
Master John R. Mylchreest of The Water Mill, Castletown
Crew on first voyage
William Francis Raisbeck 35 years Port St. Mary Master
Joseph Raisbeck 40 years Port St. Mary Mate
Edward Collister 29 years Port St. Mary Seaman
Richard Wilkinson Woods 19 years Port St. Mary "
Crew second voyage
James Mylchreest 28 years Castletown Master
Last sailed on the Harkaway of Douglas
Robert Kelly 22 years Castletown Mate
Last sailed on the Venus of Castletown
Charles Crellin 21 years Castletown seaman
Crew third voyage
John R. Mylchreest 35 years Castletown Master Last sailed on the Kate of Castletown
George Mylchreest 26 years as above
William Kinrade 18 years Douglas Seaman Last sailed on the Crest of Castletown
Richard Corlett 15 years Castletown Seaman Last sailed on the Kate
On the first voyage the Kate sailed from Troon to Carlingford with a cargo of coals, then from Carlingford to Liverpool with a cargo of broken stones and finally from Garston (Liverpool) to Castletown with a cargo of coals.
As you can see by the above examples the ships sailled from various ports and each crew list gives slightly different information depending on whether the voyage was only a short one or whether the schooner would be on foreign trade.
Unfortunately, to use these records you do need to know what ship your ancestor sailed on, this can be obtained in A variety of ways ranging from census records, family legend, obituary, in the local newspaper or burial records. IF your ancestor worked for the Isle of Man Steam packet - crew lists are available, again listed under the name of the ship.
Hopefully in time the Family History Society may be able to compile a list for some years of the crews, IF your ancestor's occupation was given as a Mariner and you live off the Island, I believe a few records are kept at the National Maritime Museum In London for the years 1861, 1862, 1865,1875, 1885, 1895 and 1905. The crew lists cover the years from the 1860's until early this century.
hope this helps,
Averil