New Member needing advice.

[Ray Buck]

This may be his death
Harry Derrick age 62 could this be his Death record 3rd quarter 1967 registered in Leicester DoB about 1905 volume 3a page 510
Ray

[Jayne Williams]

What a wonderful site this is! You have all been working so hard to help. I'm sorry I haven't responded to some of your questions but I've been away.

The information that I have on Harry Derrick is as follows;

Born in 1906 in Newport Monmouthshire. The seamans record that I have confirms this. He was registered as Harry Derrick. I have a photo of him in naval uniform and elderly relatives (his nieces and nephews) believe he died during WW2. However as mentioned previously, one said they thought he died in 1936 on HMS Hood.

A street directory for Newport 1937 gives a Harry Derrick, seaman, living in Albany Street Newport. This was later the home of his youngest sister and mother.

The records that I have suggest that he became a seaman in 1925 and the last date on any of these records is the 13th June 1939 relating to the Loch Ranza 164035. This is why I think his career may have spanned the years 1925-39. I also suspect that he continued to serve after 1939 given that he was only 33 at this time but cannot find any evidence to back this up.

Do you know if the deaths of sailors at sea were recorded in the usual BMD registers or were special records created for this purpose.

Once again thanks for all the hard work that you have all put in to help me

jayne

[Jayne Williams]

Your kind responses have given rise to some questions that I should like to ask.

Firstly can I ask Ray why does he think that he "jumped ship" in Shanghai? Please excuse my lack of knowledge what did Jumping ship entail exactly?

Also does anyone know how I can get access to the Fifth Register of Seamen to try to establish if he did stay at sea after the outbreak of WW2.

Finally, one of the CR1 cards that I obtained from Find My Past is date stamped 13th April 1938 and has a declaration on the back to the effect that Harry was "not now in possession of an unfilled Continuous Certificate of Discharge......for the following reason

original lost during bombing of ship"

As this is dated pre - outbreak of WW2 why would merchant ships be bombed?

Jayne

[Ivan Cloherty]

Your kind responses have given rise to some questions that I should like to ask.

Firstly can I ask Ray why does he think that he "jumped ship" in Shanghai? Please excuse my lack of knowledge what did Jumping ship entail exactly?

Also does anyone know how I can get access to the Fifth Register of Seamen to try to establish if he did stay at sea after the outbreak of WW2.

Finally, one of the CR1 cards that I obtained from Find My Past is date stamped 13th April 1938 and has a declaration on the back to the effect that Harry was "not now in possession of an unfilled Continuous Certificate of Discharge......for the following reason

original lost during bombing of ship"

As this is dated pre - outbreak of WW2 why would merchant ships be bombed?

Jayne

Jayne a lot of British Merchant Ships were bombed during the Spanish Civil War in 1937-1939, so it could have happened then when they were running the blockade in the Bay of Biscay

As there appear to be many on this site who have "jumped ship" I will let them answer that one, but I wish I had when I had the opportunity down in Oz

Regards

Ivan

[Ray Buck]

Jayne
As to why he could have jump ship, the actual wording on the ships manifest for Harry Derrick A. B. dis A No 1133856 the name is struck through and an noted “Deserted Shanghai” the “Rio Dorado” had sailed from Shanghai to Oregan arriving 13th May 1935 without him and a few otheres
The ships official No is 147726, the ships log for the year should have a record

Ray

[Hugh]

Jayne,

The file that you need to check in the Fifth Register of Seamen is held at Kew in piece BT 382/469 - Detecting your browser settings

This file is best viewed/obtained by vist to the archives as it can be quite expensive to obtain online.

Regards
Hugh

[Jayne Williams]

Once again the list members have come up trumps for me! Many Thanks to you all.

Ray, can I ask where would I be able to view ship's manifests and ship's logs? Can this be done online?

Jayne

[Ray Buck]

Jayne
I have sent a private message
Ray

[Jayne Williams]

hello all

Could I please ask if sailors in the merchant navy wore a uniform during the 1920's and 1930's. I have a picture of my great uncle in uniform from this period and it looks just like a Royal Navy uniform with a slashed neck and white undershirt and having a bib style collar hanging over thr back.

Jayne