Trying to Trace my Father's Time in the Merchant Navy

[Kevin Hughes]

Hello All

I was 9 years old when my father died in 1970. I am the second youngest of 8 children and believe that my father was in the Merchant Navy. No one in my family has any record which shows where my father was, what ship he was on, or what he did on ship. We always received presents when he came back from a trip.

My father was Joseph Patrick Hughes, born in 1922 in Glasgow and died in Glasgow in 1970. I have tried to find him online but nothing is showing up. I do not believe he was involved in the second world war but he may have been. I have no idea how long he served or why he left the service. I do recall hearing that just before he died he was looking into returning to the Merchant Navy. He would have been about 47 at the time so given his age, this may not have been possible.

If any forum members have any suggestions on where is the best place for me to look for information, I would be very grateful. I would also be very interested in hearing about the types of jobs a Merchant Seaman would have carried out.

Best regards

Kevin

[Doc Vernon]

Hello Kevin
Just to start here is a Link to his Seamans Pouch, later i will look into his CRS10.

https://discovery.nationalarchives.g...ils/r/C8457253

Reference:	BT 372/2003/50
Description:	R662462 HUGHES J P 05/08/1922 GLASGOW
Date:	1913-1972
Held by:	The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department:	R662462
Legal status:	Public Record(s)
Closure status:	Open Document, Open Description

Added

This is a Link to his CRS10 which will hold all his Sea time Service plus names of Ships etc. Any other info you may get stuck with just ask.

Hughes John Barrie to Hughes Reginald Sylvester | The National Archives

Reference:	BT 382/2484
Description:	Hughes John Barrie to Hughes Reginald Sylvester
Date:	1941 Jan 01 - 1972 Dec 31
Held by:	The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department:	462
Legal status:	Public Record(s)
Closure status:	Open Document, Open Description

[Kevin Hughes]

Thank you so much for finding this information. I was really stuck as nothing was coming up in any of my searches and I was starting to wonder if my dad had really been in the Merchant Navy.

I appreciate you taking the time to reply.

Kevin

[Red Lead Ted]

Hi Kev, You should really get his seaman's pouch there is a lot of information his ships the ports he visited on the ships,
You will be glad once you have it, Do you know what his rating was, Deck, Catering, Engine room, Officer, Every Department had different duties in them days. Good luck Terry.

[DeepSea]

Hi Kev, You should really get his seaman's pouch there is a lot of information his ships the ports he visited on the ships,.

Seaman's Pouches are very hit and miss and don't hold any information on his service, but you may get lucky with an ID photo. You need his CRS-10 file for this as Doc mentioned in BT382 for his service. These hold the following information:

Name of seaman, Date and place of birth, Discharge (Seaman’s) book number, Rank, Details of the ships on which he served. These include: Name of ship and official number, date of engagement. Date of discharge whether ship was a foreign going of home trade vessel, and records in some cases National Insurance contributions. Details shown in these records are similar to those contained in an individual seaman's discharge book.