Interesting history needs help!

[kicksfour]

Hi, I'm searching for a crew list which would be the missing link in a great story. It's regarding "Tragedy of the Kitty" - a shipwreck in 1859 near the Hudson Bay, Canada. The Kitty was a Barque with 15 crew (one of which was my wifes 4x grt grandad William Scott) only one person survived and returned home (William Armstrong) we think he was Irish, we also know the Captain was Alexander Ellis. We know William Scott was involved in wreck as its stated on his sons orphanage record. What we would love is the actual crew list, I've searched high and low on the net to no avail. Lots of news clippings about the incident are available online. The story is very interesting as it seems more than half the crew were murdered by eskimos for they're blankets (again stated on orphan record & clippings. What we would love is the actual record of the whole crew. Does anybody have any ideas? Tried things like CLIP & Nat Arch but nothing! I even have the ships number 1127. Any shove in certain directions would be of great help! We think its also a very interesting story worth reading about!

Many Thanks, Iain

[kicksfour]

Also, any info on Alexander Ellis too, he seems hard to track down. I think William Armstrong was born c1823 in Ireland, he turns up on census living in northumberland (my best guess!)

[angelfish58]

Have you seen "Life Among the Esquimaux" by Capt. Charles Francis Hall on Google books? The account of the Kitty is probably the same as you already have but the book, being contemporary with the incident, looks like a fascinating read.

[angelfish58]

Have you tried Lloyds of London? There was a bark/que called "Kitty" registered with them in 1850 (Google Books again) so there might be some info on the crew in their archives especially if an insurance claim was made.

[kicksfour]

Thanks for the reference, not seen this version. Found it interesting that Capt Ellis' wife wrote first.

Much appreciated

[angelfish58]

You're very welcome, and I hope that you do find a crew list as it round the story out. It's so sad that those poor men are anonymous at the moment. By the way, welcome to RootsChat 

[kicksfour]

Many thanks for the welcome, its been goal of mine for a while to name all the crew!

[Amy K]

Hi Iain,

There are various websites that locate crew lists; a search for 1127 KITTY confirm the ship existence and that it was registered in Newcastle, but none know of where the crew list would be located.

See the following:

http://www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/viewcombinedcrews.php?Official_No=1127

http://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/vesselsnumview.php?OfficialNumber=1127

Good luck with your search.

Amy

[toni*]

have you tried the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich ?