Discharge Books and Ports Visited

[Duncan Ritchie]

Hi,
I have my fathers Seamans Discharge Books from the 50s to the 80s. these show the ports he joined and left particular ships. what i wondered if there was any way i can find out which ports he visited while on each ship. are there online logs that i can search through to find out?

Regards

Duncan

[Captain Kong]

If you can name the ships then on some of them you can tell which ports they visited if the were liner s etc.

for example. :... EMPRESS OF FRANCE, Always sailed from Liverpool to Quebec and Montreal in the season and in winter when St Laurence River was closed due to ice sailed from Liverpool to St John New Brunswick.,

Example..... Queen Mary always sailed Southampton to New York and back.

[Red Lead Ted]

Hi Duncan, As Cap Kong says, A lot of the lads would have been in the same ships and different companies had different areas of the world where they mostly traded with, List his ships you will be surprised Regards Terry.

[Doc Vernon]

Sure the Voyage Record Cards will hold that nfo ,but again need the names and dates f each Ship
Cheers

[Bill Morrison]

Hi,
I have my fathers Seamans Discharge Books from the 50s to the 80s. these show the ports he joined and left particular ships. what i wondered if there was any way i can find out which ports he visited while on each ship. are there online logs that i can search through to find out?

Regards

Duncan

Hi Duncan. I knew your father and sailed on one vessel with him. His sister May and brother in law Alex Hobbs were neighbours of my parents. The Ritchie Family were well known in the Torry district where we were brought up.
Regards Bill

[j.sabourn]

No relation to John Ritchie of Seaforth maritime I assume Bill ? JS

[Bill Morrison]

Post #6. He was with Seaforth in the 1970's.

This for Duncan. If my memory is correct. I am almost sure Frankie was with Court Line Tankers till they went bust. If his discharge book has Halcyon ?????? that will be right.
The sea and the Ritchie family had strong connections. As your aunt May's husband Alex Hobbs was a master on World Wide Tankers and another aunt "Dosie"? married to Ivor "Bobby" Ansell a master in the Ben Line.
Regards Bill

[Ronald Stringer]

Hi,
I have my fathers Seamans Discharge Books from the 50s to the 80s. these show the ports he joined and left particular ships. what i wondered if there was any way i can find out which ports he visited while on each ship. are there online logs that i can search through to find out?

Regards

Duncan

Records of incidents involving ships (including port arrival and departure dates) were published in a daily newspaper called "Lloyd's List". To help people in the shipping and insurance industries to locate such information, brief notes were kept for every ship by Lloyd's List administrators and recorded on cards (similar to Roladex cards). These are referred to as Voyage Record Cards (VRCs) and initially the records were handwritten, later they were typed. Depending on how long the ship was in service and the number of ports that it visitied, there may be several cards for each vessel. They started making notes after the ship was launched and when the first card was filled, started on another. The records prior to about 1972 were donated to the London Guildhall Museum Library where they are available for viewing by the public on request. You can visit the Library (Central London) or ask for copies of the cards in which you are interested and the dates between which you need information. Either way, they need to know in advance (the cards are stored off site so they need to be brought to the Library for your visit) the name of the ship, its Official Number and the dates that you require. All that information is in your father's Discharge Book. There is no charge for viewing the VRCs but there is a small charge of a few pounds to copy them and provide you with copies by post or email as you may request. See here. Good luck

ps The information is not available on line.

[Bruce Eames]

This is very helpful thank you. The London Guildhall Museum Library is closed now alas. I have been trying to use online full text newspapers to flesh out my late father's ports on the basis of his discharge book but it is proving difficult. For example I know he went to Pitcairn Island sometime in the 1950s but I don't know what ship this was on or exactly when

[John Nicholson]

This is very helpful thank you. The London Guildhall Museum Library is closed now alas. I have been trying to use online full text newspapers to flesh out my late father's ports on the basis of his discharge book but it is proving difficult. For example I know he went to Pitcairn Island sometime in the 1950s but I don't know what ship this was on or exactly when

Try checking the Shaw Saville ships the Corinthic etc they called there in the 1950s

Regards