Was my Gr.Grandad in Merchant navy in WW2 ?

[agoryliver]

  I'm trying to research my Great Grandad called Henry George Hull. Family legend has it that he died in 1942/43 in Australia while serving in the Merchant Navy. I haven't been able to prove this so far.
  The latest record that I have of him is in 1940 when he entered New York aboard the S.S. Britannic on which he was a "greaser".
  The problem that I have is that I do not know the name of the Merchant Navy ship on which he served. Can anyone help? Thank you.

[Billyblue]

Haven't you just identified the ship as the s.s. Brittanic?
Why do you think he died in Australia?
Dawn M

[Billyblue]

Hi again
What were his parents' names?
There's a 1945 death in NSW,
7872/1945  HULL  HENRY GEORGE  parents HARRY & MARY registered at BULLI    (which is about 100km south of Sydney)
Could be him?
Dawn M

[agoryliver]

Thank you Dawn for your information. I have a tad more information about Henry George Hull....
1.   Henry was born 15 Aug 1890 at Itchen, St. Mary's extra parish near Southampton, and he married in 1911/12 to Rose Edith Blundell.
2.   Henry's parents are indeed Henry & Mary Catherine Hull (Jones). Henry was from Donhead St. Mary in Wiltshire and Mary Catherine from Porthmadog in Caernarvonshire.
3.   My Mum is the only source of oral history of him. The trouble is that as she wasn't born until 1942, she has no memory of him. He apparently knew that my Mum had been born-she would have been his only grandchild at the time.She's said that what she knows of him was told to her by Henry George's wife (my great grandma). She said that Henry George was living in Liverpool (presumably the ships aboard which he served were based there) instead of with her in Southampton, and that he was "carrying on" with another woman in Liverpool.
4.  I cannot be sure that he was aboard the S.S Britannic in 1942-45, it was a complete surprise to my mum when I told her that he was aboard it in 1940, although she knew he'd worked on the liners. I'm going to google the Britannic in a minute.
5.  Apparently when he died,  the ship had left port 1 or 2 days previously and went back to port so he could be buried. Mum said that was buried in the "blue mountains" in Australia.

Thank you again for your time in trying to resolve this family mystery.

[Billyblue]

Hi again
"Mum said that he was buried in the "blue mountains" in Australia"
The Blue Mountains is west of Sydney, a well known tourist spot.  My parents had their honeymoon there   
Bulli is south of Sydney on the way to Wollongong.
There's a Henry Hull death 1970 on the Ryerson Index, at Woy Woy which is about 60km north of Sydney . Age 74.  But you think he died in the 1940s so the Bulli one looks promising.
Might be worth getting a transcript or a partial transcript of the Bulli one?
Dawn M

[seaweed]

There are no primary on line Merchant Navy records for your G/G. That does not mean there are none.
Where did you get your information that he entered the port of New York in 1940 aboard BRITANNIC?

There were two vessels with that name around in 1940, But the most likely candidate was the Motor Vessel M/V BRITANNIC  official number 162316, owned by Cunard and registered in Liverpool.
She made several trips to New York returning to Liverpool from January until August 1940 before being used as a Troopship. I can find no evidence that she ever visited an Australian port 1940-1946 but more likely he arrived aboard a different vessel.
There are ways to find out about his  possible MN career but its a long voyage.
I can find no records for him in the Deaths at Sea index's 1941-1944. A Greaser was an engine room operative who oiled and greased the ships moving parts.

[agoryliver]

Hi Dawn,
 I agree with you that the 1945 possibility is very promising. So promising in fact that I've taken the plunge and ordered the certificate. Should arrive in 3-4 weeks. Fingers crossed.
 I'm extremely grateful for your help.
 Gary.

[Billyblue]

No worries.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you   

Dawn M

[agoryliver]

Hi,
 I found out about Henry Hull being aboard the Britannic by searching on Ancestry. I can't remember exactly how as it was several months ago. I found him in a "List or Manifest of Alien passengers for the United States". I printed one off (there were several) for the Britannic, sailing from Liverpool, arriving in New York 21 July 1940. I can remember that some went back as far as 1937, some were for sailings from South Africa and the Caribbean and some were for another ship, but I can't remember which one. I will print these tomorrow (hopefully).

 My Mum's also mentioned that she thinks he served aboard the Mauretania. As I live in Southampton, I'm hoping that there may be lots of information in the library there. I know there are many shelves of books about the Titanic as I've already proven that one of my relatives went down with the Titanic.

 Thank you for your help.
 Gary.