Looking for info on a merchant ship - Miltiades July 1899

[Aulus]

My great x3 uncle, John Ilett was a crew member (a cook) on the  Miltiades in July 1899 - he died aboard ship on the 19th March 1899 about 400 miles off the coast of Chile. 

I've been trying to find out a bit more about the ship, Miltiades, but without much success.  Most of what I can find on the internet relates to later ships (e.g. Miltiades launched 1903, renamed Orcana).

Can anyone point me at a site which has info on the earlier Miltiades?

[d.smith107]

Google "The Miltiades" (with quotation marks)
There is plenty of information there. Hopefully you will find the exact
ship you are looking for.

A link to an earlier one http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Bre01Whit-t1-body-d134.html

[SueK50]

She was built in 1871 in Aberdeen by Walter Hood & Co - http://www.aberdeenships.com/sb_walter_hood.asp?searchFor=mitiades and operated in the registered ownership of Geo Thomson and Co (Aberdeen Line)

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/aberdeen.html

For some "news of the time" - do a search on http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz and also http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/search?adv=y - look at entries from 1871 onwards

Good Luck

Sue

[LesleyAx]

Hi I am  just wondering if this could be 'my' John Ilett - he was married to Mary Ann Noakes and had a number of children with her in East end of London but he disappeared from his family life at some point...... My grandfather and great aunts had fond memories of Mary Ann but she made them think badly of him. I had the impression he ran off - but maybe this was him and he died.....

I got intrigued by your post and googled around about the ship. I found several images if you would like links to them -but nothing about any deaths off the coast of chile... I wonder what exactly happened?  And wherever /however did you manage to find the info?

All the best

Lesley

Lesley

[Aulus]

Hello Lesley,

The information comes from his death certificate (found via the GRO Marine Deaths Index on findmypast).

My John Ilett (as far as I've been able to work out!) was born 13 Apr 1842 in Stratford, Essex, the son of John Ilett (b. c. 1811 in Stratford) and Rebecca Clark (c. 1811 - 19 Apr 1891).

He married Mary Ann Harness (b. 11 Oct 1858, St Lukes Finsbury) at Holborn St John on 27th Dec 1886.

They had a son, also John Ilett, born c. 1889 in Limehouse.

Typing this out, I realise I've not looked at this family for a while, so must have a look at all the parish records on Ancestry to see if I can fill in any more gaps.  Though, as you'll have worked out, it's a difficult surname as it's so odd, it's always mis-spelled on censuses.

I'm descended from John's sister, Sarah Ann Ilott (c. 1839 - 10 Dec 1915), who married William Wilson Palfreman (c. 1836-16 Feb 1904)

I'm intrigued by your John Ilett and his wife though. Both yours and mine have wives called Mary Ann.  And your tale of running off, could well be going off to sea. Intriguing ...

[seaweed]

The crew agreements of  MILTIADES official number 60710 for 1899  are available from MUN
http://www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/searchcombinedcrews.php
The Crew agreement may give you some basic information about the John Ilett on board, such as last address, NOK, last ship etc. It may also give you some information as to the cause of his demise but this was usually recorded in the vessels Official Logbook which appears to have been destroyed.

[Aulus]

Thanks seaweed,

That's very interesting - never knew such things were available. Unfortunately the costs are beyond my means just at the moment,  but I hope to follow it up some time.

Seems odd that British maritime records should be made available via a Canadian website, though no doubt there's a good reason for it.