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My correspondent in NZ received Martha's birth certificate from GRO a few days ago. Attached is a heavily cropped version. We were correct that Martha really was born on Slains Castle on the way to NZ. The details given here were apparently very helpful when filling out the request from GRO.
 
Amazingly, it seems the ship left Deal on 18 Sep 1840, and Martha was born just four days later, on 22 Sep 1840. One can only imagine how her heavily pregnant mother felt as she stepped aboard.
If anyone wants a full copy I can ask my correspondent.

Topic can be re-closed now. Thanks for all your help.

Thanks Trish1130, Well done for finding Martha Hogg/Burkett/Mayers death entry, despite both surname and firstname being misspelled! I am impressed!

Benjamin Burkett was in hospital 1848 (https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ourstuff/ColonialHos2.htm) and Martha remarried 1851 (NZ BDM reg. 1851/1485) suggesting Benjamin died sometime around 1849/50

Benjamin Birkett and Martha Jane nee Hogg and their three sons travelled from England to Wellington, NZ in 1840/41 aboard the Slains Castle, and that during the voyage five births took place.

"The "Slains Castle," commanded by Captain James Petrie, left Deal on the 18th September 1840, and arrived on the 29th January 1841, with 41 married couples, 24 single men, 21 single women, 42 children under fourteen, 34 under seven and 15 under one. 5 births and 4 deaths occurred on board"
Source: New Zealand Settler Ships - Slains Castle 1841 (geni.com)

I suspect one of these five births on board must have been of Martha Birkett but, frustratingly, no names are given for these five births on any passenger list nor transcription (of which there are several)

The first evidence we have to support my contention is that on Martha's 1882 death certificate it is recorded that she was born at sea in 1840. i.e. date and location fits. See partial image of her death certificate. NB she lived with but never formally married Thomas Nodder because her first husband, John Slarks Jnr lived until 1913.

The second evidence is that on Martha's 1858 marriage certificate, (to John Slarks Jnr) one witness is 'Edward Birket'. This is, I believe, Martha's brother, born 1833. i.e. the name fits. He was one of the three sons who sailed on the Slains Castle. He was baptised in Wouldham, Kent, England 13 Oct 1833.

The third evidence is that there is a 'Martha Jane Burkitt' listed in the UK "Index to Marine Births 1837-1862" (see attached) but it is only an index of names, with no date nor parents etc. so no proof this is the 'correct' Martha. The index (partial image attached) is available on Family Search here:

FamilySearch Catalog: Index to marine births (births at sea), 1837-1965 — FamilySearch.org
[url]https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/731089?availability=Family%20History%20Library[/url

and also in FindMyPast British Armed Forces and overseas births and baptisms | findmypast.co.uk

Last, it would seem conventional to name one's first daughter after her mother and both are named Martha Jane.

So the circumstantial evidence seems to me compelling, but I need to somehow see the actual entry
in the UK Marine Births Register. Hopefully it will tell me the birth was in 1840 on Slains Castle, and that her parents were Benjamin and Martha Jane, thereby providing documentary evidence of her parents.

Can anyone 'see' the original entries in the Register online, or tell me how/where I can get sight of them?

Make my day, and thanks in advance.

I can read almost all of the cause of death in the attached image, which comes from an 1853 GRO death certificate of an 83-year-old Cornish woman.  It says <i>"Diseased Heart Many Years Ascites and many months Certified"<\i> What is the word to left of the red arrow? The Cornwall OPC transcription says 'Carcinoma' but I simply cannot see that.
Thanks in advance.

Can anyone decipher from the attached image why Charles Nodder of Devonport left, or most likely was forced to leave, the Navy in 1862 after just six years?

He had signed on for ten years, and his service was exemplary - always Character 'VG' and regular promotion. He was aged 22 at the time. He died a year later, in 1863, so it may be some illness that precipitated his departure. Maybe I need to get hold of his death certificate...

The image if from National Archives, Naval Service Record. Service No 13422