One of the great things about visiting an archive is you never know just what will turn up. We have more than 6 linear miles of material here at Woodhorn and getting to know the collection is a lifetimes work, perhaps even two!
One of the more interesting things I came across the other day was the Agreements and Accounts of Crew of Foreign-Going Ships 1863-1905.
The documents give details of ships registered locally and the crew aboard them, the documents themselves are often ornately stamped and sealed with the details of the ports they called at. The first one I saw detailed the travels of a Barque ship registered at Blyth in 1874 called the “Lucy” owned by Robert Gray and captained by Carnaby Gray it was sailing from Ipswich in Suffolk to Riga, then part of the Russian Empire, now the capital of The Republic of Latvia.
It goes on to say that “thence to any port or ports in the Baltic, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Spain, Portugal or the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Sea of Azof [Azov] or continent of Europe and back to a final port of discharge in the United Kingdom. Probable length of voyage about twelve months. Ship fully manned with eight hands all told.”
They set sail on the 31st of July 1874 and reached Riga, which, in fact, was their only port of call, on the 22nd of August 1874. On board with the captain were actually nine crew, rather than the “eight hands all told” as previously stated. The nine consisted of the captain, a ship’s mate, cook and steward, four able bodied seamen and two ordinary seamen. There is also someone with their job recorded as “BS” so this might have been boatswain, i.e., second mate.
We also get to find out a little of what their life on board was like because listed upon the crew list is their rations for the week, which were:
| Bread lb | Beef lb | Pork lb | Flour lb | Peas Pint | Rice lb | Tea oz | Coffee oz | Sugar oz | Water qts | |
| Sunday | 1 | 1 ½ | – | ½ | – | – | ½ | ½ | 2 | 3 |
| Monday | 1 | – | 1 ¼ | – | ⅓ | – | ½ | ½ | 2 | 3 |
| Tuesday | 1 | 1 ½ | – | ½ | – | – | ½ | ½ | 2 | 3 |
| Wednesday | 1 | – | 1 ¼ | – | ⅓ | – | ½ | ½ | 2 | 3 |
| Thursday | 1 | 1 ½ | – | ½ | – | – | ½ | ½ | 2 | 3 |
| Friday | 1 | – | 1 ¼ | – | ⅓ | – | ½ | ½ | 2 | 3 |
| Saturday | 1 | 1 ½ | – | – | – | ½ | ½ | ½ | 2 | 3 |
Also written alongside was “No spirits allowed, when 2 oz of butter is issued daily per man ½ lb of meat less per man per day”, so this begs the question would you accept these terms and conditions?
Ahh what of pay I hear you cry… well that depended upon your role on board. The captains pay is not stated. The mate was to receive £5 10s. The cook and steward £5, the second mate £4, the able seamen £3 10s. First ordinary seaman £1 and the second ordinary seaman £1 7s. 6d.
Sound like a good deal? Well all contracts have two sides to them and the last page of the agreement lists offences and punishments, as sanctioned by the “Board of Trade in pursuance of the Merchant Shipping Act s. 149.”
So, if you were caught swearing or using improper language you could be docked a day’s pay, sleeping or gross negligence while on the look-out would cost you two days’ pay and secreting contraband goods on board with intent to smuggle, well that could cost you a month’s pay.
The thing I found most interesting though was the record for the cook/steward, who is recorded as being, a James Black of Jamaica aged 32, now whilst we cannot assume that James was a person of colour, people who had either been enslaved themselves, or were descendants of enslaved people were often given ‘English’ names and often the colour of their skin became their surname. Slavery was abolished in Britain in 1833 but continued in the U.S until 1865 James would have been born in 1842 and Jamaica at that time was a British Colony and had shipped thousands of enslaved African people to work on the sugar plantations. A James Black also appears on the ancestry website on a crew list for a vessel named the “Semantha”
It may well be the same person as the Semantha was also a Barque, the ship sailed three years after the “Lucy” and James Black is the cook/steward, born in Jamaica and was able to sign his name, just as he did on the crew list of the “Lucy”. Unfortunately, as ancestry only have a transcription of the record, we are unable to compare the signature. If it is the same person, then happily his wage has increased to £6 10s and this time he got a cash advance of £3 0s. 5d.
As for the “Lucy” she returned to Dover on the 21st Oct 1874, with all men discharged the following day. So now you know that the Ship returned three months after leaving with all hands on board safe perhaps the Ts and Cs listed above sound quite good?
Happy searching, or should that be sailing!?
N.B. The crew list documents have not been item listed so are not yet available to the public in the study centre, but we are able to carry out postal research using the records, should you be looking for a relative for example.
N.B. More information about crew lists can be found on the excellent crew list website https://www.crewlist.org.uk/ where you can search for ships or crew, they cover the period 1863 to 1913. The National Maritime Museum also have a searchable database on their website if you are looking for later ships or crew https://1915crewlists.rmg.co.uk/#home they cover the period from 1915 onwards.
Thank you for posting this piece about crew lists that you hold. I enjoyed reading about the crew of the barque LUCY and her voyage. Riga and other Baltic ports were very familiar to North East ships and their crews.
Thank you very much for your lovely comment.