Canada 150 - The Canadian Navy

During our country's 150th anniversary celebration of confederation I will write posts titled Canada 150 with a link to a publication or website I find that may help you tell the story of your Canadian ancestors.
Click on the Canada 150 label on the right or at the bottom to see all the posts.

Today I have for you...

The Canadian Navy

From Brochure, Canada's Navy, 1911

The last link below is for Royal Canadian Navy History - it is a website with tons of photos sent in by sailors or their families. Most are WWII but some are from WWI or before, and some more recent. Make sure to click the various History Section links as there are sortable crew lists of some ships. Fabulous if you have navy ancestors! Take some time and look around.

Relevant Links

Canadian Navy List 1918 (PDF, Search Ctrl+f)

Canadians in the Imperial Naval and Military Service, 1891

Canada's Navy, 1911

Nominal Roll of Medical Officers, Royal Canadian Naval Service, 1942

Canadian Nay Honour Roll, Newfoundland

Crew Lists of the British Merchant Navy (type in Canada as birthplace)

Royal Canadian Navy history 

Crew and Civilians on Ships Hit by U-boats in WWII

I came across this website this past week - uboat is a site where you will find all the German u-boats of both wars with their officers and other information.

German U-boat UB14 with crew

What is interesting for us also is that it has a list of the crew of all the ships that were hit by a u-boat during WWII. You can do a name search, or browse by name, ship or country.

The above is only a partial list of services and countries. It is not just navy on the list. There are army personnel that were passengers on a ship, as well as nurses and civilian passengers.

A lot of work has gone into developing this site and it is well worth a look. Check out the tabs at the top and links on the left side... try the On this Day link. At the bottom of the page hit the Glossary button for a list of abbreviations and definitions.

Clicking on the person's name will give you more information...

For some military personnel there is also the link to where they are buried.

Update: 
The British ship City of Benares was carrying 90 children evacuated from Great Britian and being sent to safety in Canada when it was torpedoed. Here is the story and near the end is a link to all the names of those lost. Click on the names to find out more about them. 




Relevant Links

Crew lists from Ships hit by U-boats in WWII

City of Benares

Ancestors in the British Navy

I recently started delving into my Frost ancestors from Moretonhampstead. According to Silvester Treleaven's Diary for the year 1800 -  Monday July 7th...

"An account was recv’d of the Death of Gilbert Frost, son of Mr. Gilbert Frost of this place, he died on board the Edgar 74 Guns off the coast of France."

I was trying to find out if he died during a battle, or from sickness, or what.  I don't know how long it took at that time to get the news.  According to the Medicina Nautica of 1803, in February and March of 1800 there was sickness aboard the Edgar.

In 1800 the Edgar was part of the Channel Fleet, blockading the French port of Brest.

I still haven't found any mention of Gilbert Frost.

Relevant Links

Navy Lists - 1800's

Navy Lists - 1900's 

Naval Chronicle

Medicina Nautica Vol 1, 1797

Medicina Nautica Vol 2, 1799

Medicina Nautica Vol 3, 1803

Naval chronology; or, An historical summary of naval & maritime events, from the time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace, 1802

Publications of the Naval Record Society

Navy Estimates and notes on ships of the Channel Fleet

Related Posts:  Navy

Serendipity Sunday - Remarkable Shipwrecks and Naval Disasters

This week I have been taking a new direction in my research. I am looking into the descendants of my 9th great grandfather, Ambrose Frost born 1610 in Moretonhampstead (sometimes written Moreton Hampstead), Devon, England.

In so doing I came across a Gilbert Frost in this publication...

Remarkable shipwrecks; collection of interesting accounts of naval disasters, 1813

Fortunately Gilbert was not shipwrecked, but rather a name on the subscribers list for New York.  This gives me another avenue to follow.  Gilbert is a common name in the Frost Family and it looks like one of them immigrated to America. 

I do have a 5th great uncle Gilbert Frost that was in the Royal Navy.  According to Silvester Treleavens Diary, word was received in Moretonhampstead on July 7th 1800 that Gilbert died aboard the HMS Edgar (74 Guns) off the coast of France.

HMS Edgar took part in the Battle of Cap-St-Vincent 1780

Shipbuilders

We know that building a ship takes shipwrights or ship carpenters.  They build the bare bones of the ship. It takes many other specialists such as boilermakers, sailmakers, riggers, ropemakers, blacksmiths, etc. and general labourers in building a ship.

These tradesmen can be found in naval forces, big shipbuilding companies or small independent boat builders. Our Trintella sailboat, the Volante, was built by the renowned Tyler Boat Company in Tonbridge, UK.

The young man that bought our sailboat last year was a shipwright in BC.  He had suffered a serious head injury while working that took him years to recover from.  He bought our boat to live on and occasionally sail around the islands. We knew our beloved sail boat was in good hands.

You may find your Canadian Shipwright on the United States Navy List under "Navy Yards and Docks". There are also listed workers from countries such as Ireland, England, Scotland, Sweden and Austria to name a few.

You will find names of Shipwrights of the Naval Forces of the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India in the Navy Lists, such as this one from 1945. Also check Sessional Papers.

The Navy List, Vol II 1945

Some local and University libraries have registers of shipwrights and shipbuilders, like these publications in Warwick. 

Also look for "annual [monthly, quarterly, etc] reports" and "transactions" of shipbuilding federations or societies, such as this one...

Here is a short video of shipbuilders building the St Rosalie in Essex, Massachusetts, 1940's

Do you have a shipbuilding ancestor?

Relevant Links

Navy-yards and Naval Stations - Official Register of the US Dept of Interior

The Navy List (various years)

List of Shipwrights at Harland & Wolff who signed a petition in Belfast 1912

List of Shipwrights at Harland & Wolff who signed a petition in Belfast 1915

Federated Shipwrights of Australia - info

The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights - info

List of Shipbuilders and Shipwrights in New York 1844

List of Shipbuilders and Shipwrights in New York 1845

Shipbulding Tools in the Age of Sail

Quarterly report/ National Union of Shipwrights Joiners and Caulkers of Amer. 1903

Shipwrights - Working Class Movement Library

An Index of Shipwrights in the UK

Transactions of the North-east coast institution of engineers and shipbuilders, Newcastle-upon-Tyne - with lists of members, various years

United Society of Boilermakers & Iron Shipbuilders' monthly report - 1852

Transactions of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, various

History of shipbuilding on North River, Plymouth county, Mass, with genealogies of shipbuilders, and accounts of the industries upon its tributaries: 1640=1872

Housing the Shipbuilders: housing constructed during the war, 1920

The Shipbuilders of Essex, Mass (short video)

British Royal Navy

If you have an ancestor who was a flag-officer or captain in the British Royal Navy up to 1823, you may find him in one of these volumes:

Royal naval biography, or, Memoirs of the services of all the flag-officers, superannuated rear-admirals, retired-captains, post-captains and commanders: whose names appeared on the admiralty list of sea-officers at the commencement of the year 1823, or who have since been promoted : illustrated by a series of historical and explanatory notes, which will be found to contain an account of all the naval actions, and other important events, from the commencement of the late reign, in 1760 to the present period : with copious addenda…

There is an index at the beginning of Part 1 of the volumes.

Relevant links

Vol 1 Part I, 1823

Vol 1, Part II, 1823

Vol 2, Part I, 1824

Vol 2, Part II, 1825

Supplement, Part I, 1827

Supplement, Part II, 1828

Supplement, Part III, 1829

Supplement, Part IV, 1830

Vol 3, Part I, 1831

Vol 3, Part II, 1832

Vol 4, Part I, 1833

Vol 4, Part II, 1835