Merchant Seaman on 1911 Census

[seaweed]

Is this the man you are seeking?
http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=3059305
CRAIGENDORAN was lost to submarine attack off the coast of Algeria.
http://www.uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/ship.html?shipID=1480

See also
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=8483459&queryType=1&resultcount=14

[marionq]

Thanks Seaweed.  I do have that but I was wondering how to find him on the 1911 census or is it unlikely that I would find him if he was at sea?

Marionq

[seaweed]

If he was at sea it is unlikely you would find him on the 1911 census.
I guess you are trying to find details of his seagoing career?
Unfortunately, there are no surviving central records of British Merchant seamen from 1857 until 1919.
The only way to find out is to backtrack via crew agreements. It can be a long and  costly job with no guarantees.
Do you wish to go along this course?

[marionq]

Is this the record base in Nova Scotia you have to do this through?

[seaweed]

The 1917 crew agreements, your primary starting point, for CRAIGENDORAN are in the British National Archive.
Subsequent crew agreements may be in one of three places.
British National Archive, British National Maritime Museum or the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[Neptune]

Hi all

I'm not sure if this helps at all but The National Archives Documents on Line has an index of medals issued to merchant sailors during World War 1. The cost to download each medal card is £3.50 which should then tell you what medals were awarded.

Lilylaces - there's an entry for a James Carpenter born in Southampton in 1872 - a possibility for your ggrandfather but I don't know if you could be sure it's him.

Marionq - there's an entry for a John Robertson Kyle born in Glasgow in 1888.

I downloaded the medal index card for my gggrandfather which showed that he was awarded two medals during WW1 and also gives
a couple of numbers. 'Cert or Dis A' and RS2.
I don't know what these numbers mean but somebody with more knowledge than me might know. If these are the right entries for your relatives then maybe the numbers might help in your search for information.


Regards


Neptune

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/browse-refine.asp?CatID=45&searchType=browserefine&pagenumber=1&query=*&queryType=1

[lilylaces]

Thank you so much Neptune!

There's an address on the card so it's definitely my ggrandfather.   I don't know what the numbers stand for either. There are numbers for Cert and Dis A but RS2 is blank. 
I can spend some time investigating at the weekend, thanks again, it's so nice to have some more information to work on, I seem to have reached brick walls with so many lines now.

[HMac]

Hello,
Dis A will be his Discharge A. number - a unique number assigned to a seaman and is his pivotal reference. This number should always be quoted when carrying out research. The other number, RS2 is used on the seaman's identity and service certificate book.

Regards
Hugh

[Neptune]

Hi again Lilylaces

You're welcome - every bit of information helps - now you know your grandad received some WW1 medals and you have some reference numbers.

Good luck with your research.

Hugh - thank you for the information - it's very useful to know what the reference numbers mean.

Regards

Neptune