The travels of merchant seamen
 

Just thought I'd post this as passing interest for those who (like me) don't know much about the life of merchant seamen!

Researching OH's mysterious grandfather, David Hutton, has led me to study the movements of the man who was married to DH's mother - David Hutton senr - merchant seaman.

Though we have a lot of merchant navy men on our joint tree we have never had the opportunity to follow any of their travels until now. It was quite an eye opener for me, as though I realised places like Australia were many weeks away from Britain, I suppose I'd never really thought about how long a person might be gone (how on earth did they manage to have a family with their wives! lol), imagining ships would go to place X and then come back home, then off somewhere else, but of course reality turns out to be nothing like that!

David Hutton's was First mate on the sailing ship Glenclova which was launched in Sept 1893 at Glasgow. Here's an abbreviated list of it's movements:

Sailed from Glasgow Sept 1893
Arrived New York Oct 1893
Sailed for Yokohama Japan Nov 1893
Arrived Yokohama May 1894*
Sailed for Takoma Washington DC July 1894**
Sailed from Tacoma for Hull Oct 1894
Arrived Hull March 1895
Arrived Newport (Monm) April 1895
Sailed for Rio de Janeiro May 1895
Arrived Rio June 1895
Sailed for Tacoma Sept 1895
Arrived Tacoma Jan 1896
Sailed for Sydney Mar 1896
Arrived Sydney May 1896
Sailed for Tacoma Aug 1896
Arrived Tacoma Oct 1896
Sailed for Cardiff Nov 1896
Arrived Cardiff Mar 1897
Sailed for Cape Town May 1897
Arrived Cape Town July 1897
Sailed for Tacoma Sept 1897
Arrived Tacoma in 81 days - a record - Dec 1897
Sailed for Queenstown Cork Jan 1898
Sailed from Queenstown for Le Havre June 1898

The ship then went on to South Africa and Australia but arrivals didn't show in the paper and then I reached the end of the database!

* From where DH instigated divorce proceedings

** Conception of DH jr happened at this point so DH senr definitely can't be his father!

So, if you were part of the crew of this ship and from Dundee as DH senr was, then unless you made a quick trip back home from Hull or from Cardiff then you could very well spend a really massive time away from home (goodness knows if this ship ever returned to Scotland!!)!!

I was also quite surprised at how long the ship was in port abroad - commonly two or three months.

The ship's captain retired in March 1897 after 30 years with the company and it was noted he had spent "his whole life" at sea - I can well believe it!

Merry, it's fascinating. I suspect you have more details about this branch of your OH's family than some of us do after many years of collecting information.

It's al rather overwhelming Elizabeth! We still have nearly 70 pages of prison records to examine!! lol

We are researching Margaret Hutton's husband and his parents because it would seem they all had an influence on what happened to Margaret, but won't be going any further back in Scotland I don't think.

OH said he wished his mum was still alive so he could ask if Hutton was the surname her father had mentioned to her, but which she couldn't remember.

I don't think she would have been at all surprised to know about DH's antics in the army, but might have been shocked to know about his mother and the absence of the hard-headed Scot who apparently wasn't living with them in Cork at all!!

I just found DH's Master and Mates certificates on Ancestry which tell me he was on the Glenclova from the day she sailed out of Glasgow until the day she arrived back in Huill in March 1895. He then set sail again on another sip in May 1895 which I think was when the divorce went through.

Even in the 1960s and 1970s, they went away for a very long time, Merry. I have vivid memories of going with Mum to meet my dad's ship when it docked and being really scared that I wouldn't remember what he looked like. More than once did I run up to some sailor saying: 'Daddy!' to find out I'd gone for the wrong chap! :o:o:o

The story of David Hutton has been better than most of the dramas on TV and it's lovely of you to share what you have uncovered.

I think it was mostly what you and Kate and Mary uncovered! (apologies if I've forgotten anyone!) lol


Glad you like the Hutton story, Shona - perhaps you need to read about my gran :D:


One day I will sell the screenplay and be able to afford all the certificates I want!!

I'd quite forgotten that story, Merry, it's brilliant :)

Really riveting reading, Merry! I followed the other links and enjoyed all those too. Thanks! :)

You would wonder that unless a wife of a merchant seaman had a strong extended family support system, that any marriage survived, if you had children to feed and support. It meant, unless you were getting money somehow from your spouse, you had to go out and work to feed your family. Women were very vulnerable and there were lots of men who took advantage. I've been studying a family here and the friend's mother was an unmarried mum at 16 and so was her mother .. I don't think either had many opportunities and one survived as best you could.

Their husband's income would support the family.