Queen Louise WW1 records

[Phil Lamey]

I know WW1 merchant crew records are not very good. However I have inherited a torn painting of the Queen Louise a merchant ship in wartime grey which appears to be from the first world war. We also have in our possession a picture of SS Orchis built by Cock's shipyard in Appledore North Devon with my ancestor John Evely named as captain. Our educated guess is that John Evely served on the Queen Louise before taking over the Orchis, but we only have circumstantial evidence to support it (Evely has a medal card & was buried with military honours). Is there any way we can find out if John Evely or his brother William served on the Queen Louise?

Fascinatingly I have been able to find a registration card with both their pictures on (attached) from the national archive. The Evely family were not well-served by the occupation of merchant seaman with William dying in his 20's, John dying in 1933 after a long illness that prevented him from working and their father being killed in an accident in 1906 at Gloucester docks. Even the Orchis appears to have sunk in the 1930's

Any help or information is appreciated

[DeepSea]

If you had a year to work on, the ships Crew Agreements could be traced using the ships official number for the Queen Louise and Orchis to find if he served on both ships. Looking at both CR-10 cards indicate John served on the Eastern City (St.Just SS Co Ltd) in 1919 and William served on the Tainui (Shaw, Savill & Albion Co Ltd) in 1919.

[Phil Lamey]

Thanks for your help it is much appreciated. What is the best way to track down Ships Crew agreements?

[DeepSea]

As I mentioned in post #2 Crew Agreements are held under the ships Official No. and depending on what year you are looking for would determine where, if the agreements have survived they are held. They would either be at The National Archives at Kew or the Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland or if the year ending in 5 they would be held at at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.