Can you help me find a ship's name?

[Karen Alford]

I'm researching my grandfather's service in the merchant navy. I have found 2 cards. One (CR1) has the ship Rangiatata no. 149564, dated 15 Feb 1932. the other (CR2) has ship no. 161289 and the date of engagement is 28 Feb 1931. I've tried various indexes and searches but I can't find the name of the 161289 ship - can anyone help me find the name?

Also I'm still struggling to understand the cards I have. The CR1 is date stamped 15th Feb 1932, how then is the Rangiatata listed on the back of the CR2 which according to the engagement date is a year earlier? Did they keep the CR2 and add all subsequent voyages to it?

Thank you in anticipation

Karen

[Doc Vernon]

That Ship is the Cressington Court Built 1929

Cressington Court 1929 (tynebuiltships.co.uk)

He could have been on the same Ship on more than one occasion! ??

BT 349 Register of Seamen, Central Index, Alphabetical Series (CR 1 cards) 1921-1941
Look first in the central alphabetical index, the CR 1 cards, in the fiche drawers marked BT 349.

Nominal Index, organised by the seaman's surname, each card typically gives the following information. On the front of the card:

• surname, christian name (forename),
• birth year and place of birth,
• discharge 'A' number;
• rating,
• RV2 number (origin unknown),
• certificate grade and number (if owned),
• PR number (origin unknown),
• health insurance number,
• unemployment insurance number,
• height, colour of eyes and hair, complexion, distinguishing marks.

On reverse of the card:

• the seaman's signature.
• the date of issue.
• There is a small supplementary series of cards, also alphabetically organised covering surnames beginning with the letters BLA to PR

BT 348 Register of Seamen, Central Index, Numerical Series (CR 2 cards) 1921-1941
Look next at the numeric index, the CR 2 cards, arranged by discharge number, (ignore any prefix letter before it), in the fiche drawers marked BT 348 . The prefix letter is significant as it signifies the country of origin of the seaman but the cards are arranged numerically irrespective of the prefix. These CR 2 cards should show a list of the ships on which the seaman served. However, the clerks do not seem to have entered every change of ship and you therefore may find that the record is incomplete - that some additional ship details may be recorded on the CR1 and CR10 card.
Numeric Index, organised by the seaman's discharge 'A' number each card typically gives the following information. On the front:

• discharge 'A' number;
• certificate of competancy number;
• name of seaman;
• year and place of birth;
• rank or rating;
• name and official number of ship and
• date of engagement.

On the reverse of the card:

• a list of the vessels on which the crewman served with date of signing on.

A small quantity of cards, which did not have a discharge A number, have been arranged alphabetically by surname
Combined Index 1918-1941

BT 364 Register of Seamen, Combined Index (CR1, CR2 and CR10 cards) 1918-1941.
Organised by the seaman's discharge 'A' number this index was compiled using extracted cards from the other three indexes. The reasons for doing this are unknown. For details of what you will find on each type of card please see the descriptions above.
The majority of these cards refer to seamen who went on to serve after 1941 and thus their Discharge 'A' number may be found from the docket book in the Central Register of Seamen (BT 382 ).

Crew List Link in case

Crew List Index Search Results (mun.ca)

[Karen Alford]

Thank you very much for the ship name and all the information you have given.

[Hugh]

Also I'm still struggling to understand the cards I have. The CR1 is date stamped 15th Feb 1932, how then is the Rangiatata listed on the back of the CR2 which according to the engagement date is a year earlier? Did they keep the CR2 and add all subsequent voyages to it?

Hi Karen and welcome,
Those cards often contain mistakes and omissions so may not be a true reflection on a seaman's career. A separate CR2 card would be filled in after every foreign voyage and they would accumulate so all but one were destroyed - the previous voyage information was then copied across to the last card. As I said, many have been lost so you may have to use other methods to find out more. He no doubt did more voyages on RANGITATA.

Regards
Hugh

[Karen Alford]

Thank you Hugh. I've since got some more information.

I have been in touch with the Maritime Archive in canada and I have received information on three voyages! Thank you Doc for the info to contact them.

The first one on the Cressington Court has a previous ships name that no one so far can decipher. I'll post separately to see if anyone here can regcognise it, along with another hard to read place name.

[John Richardson]

I'm researching my grandfather's service in the merchant navy. I have found 2 cards. One (CR1) has the ship Rangiatata no. 149564, dated 15 Feb 1932. the other (CR2) has ship no. 161289 and the date of engagement is 28 Feb 1931. I've tried various indexes and searches but I can't find the name of the 161289 ship - can anyone help me find the name?

Also I'm still struggling to understand the cards I have. The CR1 is date stamped 15th Feb 1932, how then is the Rangiatata listed on the back of the CR2 which according to the engagement date is a year earlier? Did they keep the CR2 and add all subsequent voyages to it?

Thank you in anticipation

Karen

Hello Karen, The Rangitata of the NZSC and sister to the Rangitoto can be found with scores of other ships if you visit redensignships.co.uk.Regards John Richardson R589359