Muggins in Sussex
15-08-10, 17:32
Some time ago, on FMP I found John Arthur Dowsett travelling to Curacoa (under the name J Arthur Dowsett) in 1927. (He was probably my maternal grandfather)
When I was at Kew last week, I looked at the record again - and discovered that on pages 2 & 3 of the ship's records are "Contract Tickets" for both John Arthur Dowsett and Joseph Brown. Both men's occupations are given as "engineer". John Arthur Dowsett was a car mechanic, and the address he gives is the address of his workshop.
The "contract tickets" say
" I engage that the person mentioned below shall be provided with a Steerage Passage to, and be landed at the port of Willemstad in Curacoa in the steamship "Stuyvesant" of 4285 Tons with not less than Ten Cubic Feet for luggage for each Statute Adult, and shall be victualled during the voyage according to the dietary scale provided by law......
Passage money...£20.5.00"
It sounds as though some else was paying his fare :confused:
The "contract ticket" was signed by agents for the Royal Netherlands West India Mail on behalf of Phs Van Ommeran (London) Ltd - who seem to be shippng agents
At first I had assumed that John Arthur Dowsett was going to Curacoa to work (oil was found there in 1920) - but if a company was engaging him to go there, would they have sent him steerage class?
Also, I have never managed to find a return journey for him - less than a year after he went to Curacoa, he instituted divorce proceedings in the UK against my grandmother, and a few years later he seems to have been involved in partnership with HW Wicks (in the insurance business) in Malta.
Hope this makes sense - It's making my dizzy!
When I was at Kew last week, I looked at the record again - and discovered that on pages 2 & 3 of the ship's records are "Contract Tickets" for both John Arthur Dowsett and Joseph Brown. Both men's occupations are given as "engineer". John Arthur Dowsett was a car mechanic, and the address he gives is the address of his workshop.
The "contract tickets" say
" I engage that the person mentioned below shall be provided with a Steerage Passage to, and be landed at the port of Willemstad in Curacoa in the steamship "Stuyvesant" of 4285 Tons with not less than Ten Cubic Feet for luggage for each Statute Adult, and shall be victualled during the voyage according to the dietary scale provided by law......
Passage money...£20.5.00"
It sounds as though some else was paying his fare :confused:
The "contract ticket" was signed by agents for the Royal Netherlands West India Mail on behalf of Phs Van Ommeran (London) Ltd - who seem to be shippng agents
At first I had assumed that John Arthur Dowsett was going to Curacoa to work (oil was found there in 1920) - but if a company was engaging him to go there, would they have sent him steerage class?
Also, I have never managed to find a return journey for him - less than a year after he went to Curacoa, he instituted divorce proceedings in the UK against my grandmother, and a few years later he seems to have been involved in partnership with HW Wicks (in the insurance business) in Malta.
Hope this makes sense - It's making my dizzy!