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Thread: Hello - Dad's memorial

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    Default Hello - Dad's memorial

    Hello all,

    I am researching the service history of my father, Alfred Trevithick of Wellington NZ.

    Dad passed away many years ago now, but we are having a memorial gathering in the new year and I am researching his early life and time in the merchant navy before and during WW2. We have no log books etc, so I am going largely by oral history. He would have served from about 1934 till at least 1943. He was out of the service by the 1950s.

    I recently found a clue in A merchant navy man's story: an engineer officer's wartime experiences in the New Zealand Shipping Company, 1939-1945. The author David Lionel Hodgson had served on the Rangitiki in the early 1940s, and repeated a story told to him by other officers of how the ship survived an attack by Admiral Scheer in 1940. His version was very close to a story Dad told, so I did some digging around the incident.

    This lead me to this old newsreel clip on youtube taken in Liverpool in November 1940. The clip shows a group of officers on board the ship Erodona, and I recognised Dad in the group, aged 22. He has four stripes on his sleeve, which makes him an (engineering) first officer, I believe.

    It is a long shot, but I'm trying to track which ships he sailed on (I am fairly sure it was the Rangitiki in 1940, and later the Josiah Parker in December 1943.) Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    I haven't searched this forum yet. Will do that now I have introduced myself.
    I hope others will find the linked footage insightful.

    Kind regards,
    John Trevithick

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    Default Re: Hello - Dad's memorial

    Hello John T
    Welcome to the site,and I hope that with time you will be able to get a lot of info on what you are looking for.
    I will also try and see what I can find and will post whatever I can later!
    Thanks for joining
    Cheers
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    Default Re: Hello - Dad's memorial

    To start John is this him! I am sure it must be
    Reference: BT 372/308/84
    Description: R220877 TREVITHICK A L 25/07/1918 WELLINGTON
    Date: 1913-1972
    Held by: The National Archives, Kew
    Former reference in its original department: R220877

    Above is his Seamans Pouch with limited info
    Below his CRS10 which will hold a lot more like Ships Pic etc

    Triggs R C to Trotman W | The National Archives


    Erodona
    Last edited by Doc Vernon; 12th December 2017 at 07:37 PM.
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    Default Re: Hello - Dad's memorial

    Hi Doc,

    Yes, thank you! I'm browsing the links now.
    That was very navy-efficient of you.

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    Default Re: Hello - Dad's memorial

    Let us know how you go and what you find.
    Any other info I get will post!
    Crew lists are also available at the Archives of the university OF Canada on many ships,thousands of Documentations were transferred there over the past Years!

    https://www.mun.ca/mha/about/orderagreements.php
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    Default Re: Hello - Dad's memorial


    This info kindly supplied by Ex Member Marian in Email to me Today (As she says Old Habits die Hard)
    Thank you for this Marian

    Name: Alfred Trevithick
    Arrival Date: 2 Nov 1943
    Birth Date: abt 1917
    Age: 26
    Ethnicity/ Nationality: British (English)
    Port of Arrival: New York, New York
    Ship Name: Vacport


    Name: Alfred Trevithick
    Arrival Date: 3 Jan 1944
    Birth Date: abt 1920
    Age: 24
    Ethnicity/ Nationality: British (English)
    Port of Departure: Augusta, Italy
    Port of Arrival: New York, New York
    Ship Name: Athelviking
    Signed on Wellington 25th July 1942
    Rank:Sen 4th [Engineer?]
    Height 5' 8 ''
    Weight 167lbs







    New Zealand, World War II Ballot Lists, 1940-1945



    VIEW




    Name: alfred Leslie Trevithick Engineer
    Gender: Male
    Residence Place: 86, Rolleston St,Wellington, New Zealand
    Inferred Residence Year: 1941
    Publication Date: 6 Aug 1941



    New Zealand Army WWII Nominal Rolls, 1939-1948


    1. Name: Alfred Leslie Trevithick Marine Engineer
      Embarkation: 1945
      Army Number: 454083 Pte Inf Reinfs
      Last Residence: Wellington, New Zealand
      Relative Name: Mr G D Rogers
      Relationship: Uncle
      Nominal Roll: 1 Jan 1945 - 31 Dec 1945
      Place of Enlistment: Wellington





      Married, 1945, Paddington, NSW Australia
      Passenger Lists leaving UK 1944

      Stayed in Stork Hotel, Queen Sq Liverpool due to travel on ship below but did not, no reason given

      First name(s) Alfred
      Last name Trivithick
      Gender Male
      Age 25
      Birth year 1919
      Occupation 3RD ENG M N
      Departure year 1944
      Departure day 6
      Departure month 4
      Departure port Liverpool
      Destination port New Zealand
      Destination NEW ZEALAND
      Country New Zealand
      Destination country New Zealand
      Ship name Brisbane Star
      Ship official number 165365
      Ship master's first name F N
      Ship master's last name RILEY
      Shipping line BLUE STAR
      City LIVERPOOL
      Ship destination port NEW ZEALAND
      Ship registered tonnage 7948.38
      Number of passengers 13












    Last edited by Doc Vernon; 14th December 2017 at 06:54 AM.
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    Default Re: Hello - Dad's memorial

    Wow, brilliant!
    That helps fill in some gaps. I'd been looking on the Canadian site for the ships, but HMS Rangitiki (#1149561) and SS Josiah Parker (#242368) aren't listed there, and I can't find Erodona's official #.
    But the journey in 1943/44 from Augusta, Italy to New York on the Athelviking is interesting. Family story has it that his ship was due in to Bari, Italy on Dec 3 1943, and had to divert to Taranto due to the big bombing raid there on Dec 2nd. Maybe the ship wasn't Josiah Parker as I first thought.

    Thanks heaps, Marian. I'll cross-reference convoys and see what that produces.

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