Mystery seafaring gg grandad

[bainin]

G granny's birth cert says her father was a sailor who drowned some months before her birth in 1864.
His name was Peter Rooney who married Mary Sarsfield in 1860 at Drogheda, a port town in Ireland. His death is not registered in Ireland that year which was the first year of registration. Has anyone come across any incidents in 1864 where a sailor called Rooney drowned?

[TCDrog]

Hi

Terry from Drogheda writes.....

Have you any details of the name of the ship or the location of the sinking .... or any other details that might broaden the search.

His death may have been mentioned in the local newspaper.

Kind Regards

Terry

[seaweed]

There is a Peter Rooney lost by drowning on 11/July/1864 from the Sunderland registered sailing vessel COQUIMBO official number 16841. This information comes from BT153 - Registers of Wages and Effects of Deceased Seamen available on FindMyPast. He was owed wages of £5/4/10 unfortunately the document is difficult to read and I cannot give a name to the place these wages were picked up from.
I don't know if this is your "Peter Rooney" but the ships logbook and crew agreement should give you more information. Unfortunately these are stored in Newfoundland. Search via ships O/N
http://www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/searchcombinedcrews.php
They have an efficient research service. They charge a minimum of $40 CAN.

[bainin]

Thanks everyone-yes I did find Peter in the crew agreement from Canada.They also kindly sent me the pages of the ship Coquimbo's log book which describe how he was knocked off the rigging by a flapping sail in the middle of the night and how the crew tried to save him to no avail.The latitude/longitude at sea off the coast of Chile was given too.A sad story.It also lists his personal belongings which was just some spare clothes and tobacco and his wages due.Thanks again.