thank you David and Sue. David I note the report of the captain viz the deserters was in April ; note in SMH states the projected departure of the ship was 25th May, therefore maybe he thought he would give young James a little longer to come back before reporting him ?! I don't know; but the other 3 men surely adds weight to the overall hypothesis of ship jumping. regarding "Jas" he actually was listed with this name in the 1851 IOM census when he had moved to Ramsay as a grocer- Jas Radcliffe... it certainly seems to come up on a lot of other records, a bit like "geo" or "Chas" . many thanks for your interest and resourcefulness!