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Any Irish born individual detailed on a CR10 index card. So far I have found one woman: Jemima Friars from Lisburn, Co Antrim. Individuals can be described as officers, mates, engineers, boatswains, seamen of any rating, wireless operators, apprentices, boys, cooks, stewards, stewardesses, pantrymen, carpenters, firemen, trimmers.
If the seaman lost his RS2 identity book then his CR10 card was cancelled and he was issued with a new identity book with a new RS2 No. A matching renewal CR10 card was produced for the index.
Canadian seamen The database now also includes details of a small number of non-Irish mariners, Canadians in particular. In time these will be moved to a separate database.
(24,393 on 13 January 2010)
Approximate Breakdown:
• Irish 23,300
• Canadian 1060
Search of surnames generally complete.
Information on the CR10 card
The vast majority of cards are handwritten and deciphering them can be difficult.
The basic personal details include identity number, surname, forename, rating, date of birth, place of birth, next of kin, continuous discharge number, and certificate numbers for officers and cooks. The RS2 No should be unique and I have found no duplicates yet.
Feedback has indicated that the date of birth can be inaccurate.
Birthplaces can be hard to read and where I have made an assumption then my assumption is shown with the first letter in lower case and sometimes a question mark.
Eg Yoho, Co Cork becomes youghal, Co Cork
Or Kingcastle, Co Donegal becomes kincasslagh?, Co Donegal
Birthplaces can also be vague, especially when it is given as say 'Donegal' with no distinction between the county and the town.
Only 40% of the cards include the Discharge A number which became the seaman numerical identifier after 1921 when the RS2 No was dropped. The next of kin detail is given on less than 15% of the cards.
I estimate that perhaps 10% of the men on these cards had difficulty with reading and writing so they relied on a clerk's version of the information he was given. The clerk's handwriting can be difficult to decipher and can result in strange looking surnames. Nalan instead of Nolan, or Langal instead of Langan.
Seaman voyages and ship details
These give an idea of the seaman's movements and the shipping lines he worked for. Men from the same community may have tended to go to the same lines.
To date 5000 ships have been identified by their official number (ON). 2500 of these have also been identified by name so far. Priority has been given to identifying those ships and lines which have a high seaman voyage count.
So far 48,000 individual voyages have been identified of which 42,000 can be linked to an identified ship name. The top three ships with their voyage counts are:
| Mauretania | ON 124093 | Cunard | 563 individual voyages
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| Aquitania | ON 135583 | Cunard | 523
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| Rathlin Head | ON 110510 | Heyn, G | 327
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Some seaman counts by area
| Glenarm, Co Antrim | 200
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| Kilkeel, Co Down | 70
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| Arklow, Co Wicklow | 670
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| Dungarvan, Co Waterford | 140
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| Kinsale, Co Cork | 380
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There were several instances where no CR10 cards were found for individuals although I was sure I had a correct id no from other sources.
I have looked at a number of the crew lists and agreements for individual merchant ships registered in Irish ports in the 1918-21 period. Most of the crew lists have the id no written over the crewman's personal details. As a check I selected crew lists for the eight Joseph Fisher owned colliers registered in Newry, Co Down in January 1919. Each ship had a nine-man crew and they were operating in the Home Trade across the Irish Sea.
On January 1 1919 there were 67 Irish seamen with id nos detailed on the 8 crew lists.
I checked the details against my database and found 47 (70%) there and 20 (30%) missing.
3 of the seamen had substituted the town where they were living for their birthplace.
The seamen may be 'missing' because we missed the cards going through the boxes, or the birthplace was indefinite, or an English home address was substituted for an Irish birthplace.
I planned the local exhibitions because it's an excellent way to involve the local community. Errors can be corrected and information added on men who may be still remembered. The 1911 census of Ireland is a tremendous tool for locating individuals and families and all counties are now on line (Sept 2009). Each community has particular interests.
Newry people wanted more on Joseph Fisher colliers and home trade service, which meant looking at crew lists to add voyage details.
Maree Baker from Skerries checked the Skerries seamen against the parish register of births and the 1911 census. This highlighted the family relationships and date of birth errors. She was able to find 10 more Skerries born seamen whose birthplace was only listed as County Dublin on the CR10 cards.
Rush, Skerries and Clogherhead communities have a common interest in the Ruhleben internment camp in Berlin, as twenty or so of their seamen were trapped in Hamburg at the outbreak of war in August 1914. Some of these men were back at sea by 1919 and have CR10 cards.
I have begun to add this Extra information field to the database while trying to make it clear that it is not sourced from the CR10 card.
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