Crew of HMS Serpent

[PENLEE]

Please could someone point me in the right direction. I need to find the names of the crew of HMS Serpent , a torpedo cruiser which was built in Devonport 1885 and was launched in 1887. On 9 November 1890 it was wrecked at Cape Villano off the coast of Spain. There were three survivors. It is the names of the lost crew that I am trying to find.

Thank you,
Penlee.

[gene-genie]

Best place to look for this would be National Archives, Kew.  They hold most Naval records and Ships Lists.  See this link:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/default.htm.
There is also the National Maritime Museum:  http://www.nmm.ac.uk/explore/collections/

If you put in HMS Serpent in 'search the archives' box at the National Archives there are a few hits.  I found this one which may help you:

Copyright Office: Entry Forms, etc. COPY 1/404/37/34
Photograph of 3 seamen, 'The Survivors of HMS Serpent'." Copyright owner and author of work: Charles Long, 103 Union Street, Plymouth. Form Completed: 31 March 1891. Registration stamp: 3 April 1891. . "Photograph of 3 seamen, 'The Survivors of
Date: 1891

Finally there is CLIP   Crew List Index Project   http://www.crewlist.org.uk/

There is a photo of the memorial on Flickr:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyinsouthend/2615335623/

[gene-genie]

There is CLIP   Crew List Index Project   http://www.crewlist.org.uk/ & FindMyPast website which hold crew lists

Maritime History Archive:  http://www.mun.ca/mha/

[PENLEE]

Hello,

Thank you very much for all this information. It is a great help.

Mary.

[gene-genie]

A bit more information you might be interested in

Earlier this year  Juan Campos Calvo-Sotelo, attended  the annual Shipwreck Conference at the University of Plymouth, see:  http://www.shipwreckconference.org/
Mr Campos gave a talk on the loss of HMS Serpent.   He has written a book on the maritime losses along the Gailcian coast:

"Náufragos de Antaño" by Juan Campos (translation of sub-title "The Great Shipwrecks on the Coast of Death").

This book, written in Spanish, is about 19th century shipwrecks on the Galician coast, mostly British.
Some of Juan Campos's information has been included in this website, and duly credited."  [this was extracted from the following website: http://www.hmscaptain.co.uk/default.html]

Mr Campos can be contacted on juanserpent@yahoo.es and the publishers of the book (in 2002) were Editorial Juventud, Provença, 101-08029, Barcelona.

I think you should try emailing Mr Campos - he seems to have a particular interest in HMS Serpent.

[PENLEE]

Thank you so much for all the information that you have given me. I have now found the crew list of HMS Serpent.

Our  village Methodist Chapel, about 8 miles from Looe and 12 from Plymouth,  as the crow flies, is being renovated and recently on the reverse of a piece of panelling was found written in pencil
 
                                    J (or I) Angear   HMS Serpent   Lost  9 Nov 90

Among the Angear family from Looe were carpenters and a builder and the Chapel was built in 1890
No Angear appears on the crew list so we remain puzzled.

Mary.

[slheys]

My parents were asking me about the crew of the HMS Serpent yesterday. 

They visited the cemetery in the 1980s when it was somewhat run down and they were very pleased to see how tidy it looked on the website pages I found for them.

I couldn’t find the ship on the CLIP pages on Find my Past as they appear to be all merchant ships not Royal Navy.   Have you still got the link to the Navy crew list ??

Many Thanks
Sue

[crimea1854]

Hi

If you register with the 'World Naval Ships Forum' this will give access to an extract from The Times, November 14th 1890, which includes a full crew list - search 'HMS Serpent'.

Martin

[slheys]

Many Thanks
I've registered and am currently in the moderation queue !
Sue