Hello Romilly, I couldn't see a relevant marine forum,so didn't post much of help I'm afraid...
I have been researching an ancestor,William Hindley,b12/04/1865 in Woolton, Lancs. He was placed 'by order' on the merchant marine training ship 'Indefatigible' in 1878,and after just over 3 yrs, ended his time as a cadet there.
He left the 'Indie' on 01/11/1881 for Garston,Lancs to join ship as ordinary seaman.
From the transcript of the records, the nearest I and the library staff could arrive at for the name of this ship was 'Manna? Lea? Lou? looked for certain like 2 words, (5 syllables, and 2 syllables).
I tried looking in the library archives for info re the man/ship,but was unsuccessful,and given my lack of any experience in this field of research, I'd be grateful of any help whatsoever...