SS Rother & Merchant Navy

[Doc Vernon]

Sorry Scott
In that case i am not aware of Crew Lists for that Years Period. I did just take a quick look at the Canadian Archives, but there are no Crew Lists for then>
Will leave it there , and see if when Hugh comes back on site, if he may know more on this !
Cheers

[Scott McIntosh]

I have found the story of Louis Hiram Carpenter for everyones interest. It appears to have been written by a relative. I found it online a number of years ago and by luck I still had a copy. It makes for interesting reading. Please see below.

Robert Martin Carpenter related this story of Louis Hiram Carpenter.
A Hero. As a young man, he was a brawler who would fight for money on the weekends, picking on larger but less accomplished fighters and letting his smaller size influence the betting. He lied about his age to join the Merchant Marine during WWII and he served as a gunner. He made three crossings of the Atlantic in convoys. His ship was sunk on his first crossing and he was rescued from the open sea. On his second crossing, his ship was again torpedoed and he was again rescued from the open sea. His third crossing was completed without a sinking. After his third crossing, he was stationed in Edinburgh awaiting return to the U.S. While at this base, he was required to participate in gunnery practice. On the way to practice, an allied airplane crashed into the bus carrying Louis and 15 of his comrades. All 16 men on board the bus, including Louis, were killed. While highly unusual for men serving overseas during the war, his body was returned to Michigan and he is buried at Wahjamega. His stone reads:

Louis Hiram Carpenter, Son of William and Luella, Sailor of U.S. Merchant Marine, Killed in Action, in Edinburgh Scotland, 1923 – 1943

[Hugh]

It will be the 1959 MELROSE ABBEY.
Ships that came along later in the 20c were reported with an Internatinal Maritime Organization number (IMO) rather than the Official Number. It makes a big difference because it is not always easy to find the ON from the IMO by online searching.
The IMO will stay with the ship for life whereas the Official Number will stay with the flag state even if it was sold out and then later sold back into the UK Registry.

For UK records such as crew agreements and logbooks they are recorded under the official number not the IMO.

MELROSE ABBEY launched at Brooke Marine, Lowestoft. IMO 5231862. Official No. 300415.
Date: 16 October 1958.

If you wish to see the logbooks/crew listings for this ship you should contact the MHA in Canada and quote the ship, the year and the official number as well as the information you want. Documents for this era are held there but they are not indexed - so wont show up in online searches. I believe they are quite helpful as I am sure Vernon will testify as he has been in touch with them previously. The information will be held off-site so they would go look for you but if you wanted copies of documents they would charge you for it.
Hope that helps.

Regards
Hugh

[Scott McIntosh]

Hugh,

Why is it the Canadians that keep the records? just curious. I'm pretty green when it comes to all this.

I am used to dealing with records and archives just not finding ship information.

Could you provide a link to the MHA just so I don't go contacting the wrong people. Thanks

Thanks for the tip.

[Hugh]

Why is it the Canadians that keep the records? just curious. I'm pretty green when it comes to all this.

Could you provide a link to the MHA

Hi Scott,

The records were transferred to Newfoundland in 1971 - we very nearly lost this resource. The archive space requirements were huge given the sheer volume of records accumulated over years and years. The British Merchant Navy was the biggest in the world at one time with ships operating all over. All of those shipping records cost a lot of money in floor space and decisions were made to keep some in the UK and transport almost 70% to Canada. So now, as a result, when looking for MN records we have to think not just in the UK but Canada. The Canadians do a great job of looking after those records - thankfully they came to the rescue.

Their site is here:https://mha.mun.ca/mha/index.php

Contact us

Maritime History Archive
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NL
A1B 1T5

709-864-8428

If you have a research question, contact us at: mhares@mun.ca

For general enquiries: mha@mun.ca

Regards
Hugh

[Scott McIntosh]

Thanks for that Hugh,

That was the link I found but because it was through a University I wasn't sure of it.

Thanks again.

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Scott
Just a small help here , is that if and when you contact the University, address the Email care of a Mrs Tanya MacDonald , who is the Head Archivist, she is good and i have dealt with her on all occasions! You can tell her that i (Vernon) suggested this!
Good Hunting and great advice again from Hugh!
Cheers

[Scott McIntosh]

Thank Doc,

I've already sent an email away so we shall see what happens.

If nothing for a while I will certainly try the route you suggest.

Scott

[Scott McIntosh]

Hi Guys,

Here is the new webpage for the incident that all this research has been for.

https://scottishaircraftwrecks.uk/20...sapeake-al938/

On a side note. It was indeed Tanya that I was in contact with and she was most helpful in searching the archives for information on the MV Melrose Abbey. We concluded that there was no body by the name I W Laverack onboard the MV Melrose Abbey for most of 1967 and some of 1968. I feel happy to call it that there was no body by that name aboard at this time and that it was some kind of hoax. While more information is probably out there I think I personally have gone far enough to prove this.

I am still waiting on other records as we speak and I will update the page as and when it requires doing.

I hope to get in contact with the Royal British Legion who put up the memorial in the first case and get the names of the 16 added to the memorial. I hope to do this but of course Im not the one who would ultimately decide.

Thank you once again for all your help.

Regards Scott

[Hugh]

Thanks for putting up the link, well done.

If you were really determined to find out if Laverack or Laverick [MELROSE ABBEY] was a merchant seaman you could check for a CRS 10 which would be held at TNA Kew in piece BT 382/2571 file is up to 60 names would be best with a visit or via a researcher

From your site:

SS Rother (Goole) 128883
George Alan Osborn aged 37 Able Seaman Merchant Navy SS Rother (Goole) number not known buried Goole Cemetery [number = R19497]
Stephen Thacker aged 23 Greaser Merchant Navy SS Rother (Goole) number not known buried Sutton in Ashfield Cemetery [number = R268092]


Regards
Hugh