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For anyone who does have access to Ancestry, the record is here: https://www.ancestry.ca/interactive/2271/31936_1831101456_0302-00579. Only the Masters certificate is indexed, so if you view the image, use the arrows to view previous images which include his Mates certificates and application form.

Forrest Priest Carruthers got his Masters (captain) certificate in August 1863. Before that he got his First Mate certificate in March 1862. And before that his Only-Mate certificate in December 1859. His certificate number (which is re-used as he progressed) is 21394. On all 3 he listed his address as Hafod, Swansea, Glamorganshire (Wales), and his birth date and place as 1838, Kensington, Middlesex. His Register ticket number was 524528.

When he applied for his 1st mate certificate (March 1862), he entered his birth date as June 2, 1838 and included a list of ships on which he had served (to that point):

Ship	Port of Registry	Rank	Origin	Destination	Time Served
"Earl of Hardwick"	London	Boy	London	Bombay	9m 24d
"Palmyra"	London	Apprentice	London	Various	5y
"Bellona" (#4284)	London	AB (able seaman)	Calcutta	London	4m 6d
"Mangosteen"	Sunderland	2nd Mate	Swansea	Cuba	3m 11d
"La Serena" (#7940)	Swansea	Mate	Swansea	South? America	11m 25d
"Evangeline" (#24438)	Sunderland	Mate	Llanelly	Alexandria	5m

He stated he had 8 years of time in ships.

Notes: official ship numbers are included where he provided them. The 5 years he spent on Palmyra was indentured apprenticeship, for which there is paperwork, so I can tell you those 5 years started September 26, 1853 and ended 1858.

Burial records suggest he is buried at St. Mary's parish cemetery in Swansea.

I've only recently begun researching the Carruthers (my 3rd great grand mother's family).

According to my notes, Julia left for Australia in 1892 with 3 of her adult child (all aged between 18-21). Most of the children married in Australia, so it is entirely possible that not even Julia is buried there. It's possible that Cecilia Julia Carruthers/Richardson, who didn't go to Australia with her mother and siblings because she had already married in England, added a reference to both of her parents on her husbands tombstone when he died in 1910. It may just be Richardson who is actually buried there.

As to the captain, his Masters, First Mate and Only-Mate certificates are available on Ancestry, as well as the application form he submitted for his Mates exams in 1862 (which includes ships served on until that point). If you don't have access, let me know and I can transcribe the list here.