James Vernon Cook - my 2nd great-grandfather
As promised, I thought I would present a digest or summary of all my Blogging from A-Z posts as a kind of cheat-sheet for anyone wanting some hints for researching ancestors with a naval background. As previously stated, this is from a very Anglo/Australian point of view, so apologies to researchers with heritage from other countries. Finally, this is not meant to be a definitive digest to all the resources available....just a digest of where my research took me and what I found.
ACRONYMS/JARGON
As with any new topic of knowledge, you will encounter unfamiliar words or jargon...here is just a sample of what you may encounter...
ADM - the acronym for Admiralty and the call sign as it were for The National Archives collection of records from Admiralty.
Fathom - equals 6 feet or 1.8 metres.
Flagship - a ship carrying an Admiral
HMS Pembroke - the Royal Naval Barracks at Chatham
Jackspeak - a sailor's dictionary
Lean's Navy Lists - 1878 - 1916 - short biographies of Officers in the Royal Navy
Protected cruiser
Ratings
Rigs
Remittance Registers
Wavy Navy - the Naval Reserve
X-Craft - miniature subs
Yardarm - the outer quarters of a yard, that part which lies outboard of the lifts, on eitehr side of the ship, i.e. the port and starboard yardarms. They were the positions in a square-rigged ship where most of the flag signals were hoisted, and in the older days of sail, when the disciplinary code on board included punishments of death by hanging, were the traditional points from which men were hanged on board.(from The Oxford Dictionary of Ships and the Sea)
BOOKS
The web is a wonderful thing to be sure but books/libraries are really where it's at. Here is a selection that should get you on the right path, answer queries you might have or build a picture for you....in order of author's surname....
J.J. Colledge's Ships of the Royal Navy
Justin Corfield's The Australian Illustrated Encyclopaedia of the Boxer Uprising 1899-1901
Conrad Dixon's Ships of the Victorian Navy
Simon Fowler's Tracing your Naval Ancestors - a guide for Family Historians
Angus Konstam's Yangtze River Gunboats 1900-1949
Ian Nicholson's Log of Logs
Bruno Pappalardo's Tracing Your Naval Ancestors
N.A.M. Rodger's Naval Records for Genealogists
Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
And don't forget leisure reading or reading fiction. Historic Naval Fiction will guide you. Joseph Conrad's Youth is a good read too.
PLACES
Part of the fun of family history is exploring...that means getting off your bottom and getting out and about. Is there a naval or maritime museum near you? Go and check it out. Perhaps it is time to book a flight and visit old Blighty.....
Admiralty Library National Maritime Museum
Australian National Maritime Museum
British Library
Caird Library and Archive
Haslar Heritage Group
Kew or The National Archives
Keyham where Engineering Officers were trained.
London Metropolitan Archives
Malta Family History
The National Maritime Museum
R.A.N. Heritage Centre
Royal Geographical Society
Royal Greenwich Hospital
Royal Greenwich Hospital School
Royal Naval Asylum
Royal Naval College
Trinity House
Zeebrugge Churchyard and Cemetery
Dockyards (ones in bold are Royal Navy)
Cadiz (or Mediterranean)
Chatham
Cork or Haulbowline
Deptford
Gibraltar
Halifax
Harwich
Jamaica or Kingston
Malta
Minorca (or Port Mahon)
Nelson's at Antigua
Pembroke
Penang (or Prince of Wales Island)
Plymouth or Devonport
Portsmouth
Sheerness
Woolwich
York (or Lake Ontario)
Resources/Websites/Help
Australian War Memorial
Bodleian Library
CLIP or the Crew List Index Project
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Cyndislist
50 researchers
Genuki's Military Records page
Gun Plot
Mariners
Gilbert Provost's Register of Ships
Internet Archive
National Archives of Australia
National Library of Scotland
Navy Records Society
Paul Benyon's Late 18th, 19th and early 20th Century Naval and Naval Social History
Paul's Index of 19th Century Naval
Project Gutenberg
Rum Ration
Royal Navy and Marine Customs and Traditions
Royal Marines Band Service
San Francisco National Maritime National Historical park.
Trove
UK Mariners
UKMFH
Vaughan Evans Library at the Australian National Maritime Museum
WorldCat
You Tube
TNA Guides
Royal Naval Dockyards
Royal Navy Ratings' Service Records 1853-1928
TNA Records
Hospital musters from 1740-1860 ADM 102
Prize Money Lists ADM 238
Ships Logs are located in ADM 53
Ships' musters can be found from 1667-1878 in ADM 36, ADM 37, ADM 38, ADM 39 and ADM 41.
Yard Pay Books for dockyard workers can be found in ADM 42. They cover the years 1660-1857.
Thank you/Shout Out!
Last but not least, a big shout out and thank you to everyone who commented on my blog. I blog because I want to record my research but I also blog because I love interaction...people encouraging me or enlightening me ..or finding new cousins....thank you all for your support along the way. Check out their blogs won't you...what an amazing bunch of people from all over the world. I call them my Mates given the nautical theme and my Strine (Australian) background. Mate meaning friend.
Old Bloggy Mates
Adventure before dementia - Diane B
Bob's Home for Writing - Bob Scotney
Family History Across the Seas - Pauleen Cass
Family History Fun - ScotSue
Finding Eliza - Kristin
Geniaus - Jill Ball
GenieQ - Helen Connor
Jollett etc - Wendy
Library currants Carmel R Galvin
Strong Foundations - Sharon
That Moment in Time - Crissouli
Travel Genee - Fran Kitto
Twigs of Yore - Shelley Crawford
New Bloggy Mates
A Bit to read - I.L. Wolf
A Postcard A Day - Sheila
Ancestor Chasing - Kerryn Taylor
Confessions of a Part-time working Mum - J Lenni Dorner
Family Reunion Keepsake Book - Sue
History RoundAbout - Kathrynf
How to Tell A Great Story - Aneeta Sundararaj
Kathleen Valentine's Blog - Kathleen Valentine
Life as a Potpourri - Sneha Sasi Kumar
Life Spoken Through Fingers - Renee
Lori Henriksen - Lori
Molly's Canopy - Molly Charbonneau
My Genealogy Challenges - Dianne Nolin
Other Worlds - Liz
P.S. Annie - Suzanne McClendon
Ragtag giggagon - Richard Gibney
The Squirrel Nutwork - Nutmeg
The Nimble Mime - Manisha Awasthi
The Old Shelter - Sarah Zama
Zulu Delta 45