Vickers and Voyages - AJCP

Vickers

If you had an ancestor who worked on Cockatoo Island, Sydney dockyards the Records of the Vickers PLC contain not only illustrated works like the one below but also details of some of the company's transactions  and payments to agents and employees 1915 - 1965.  

For those interested in military and aviation history much is to be gained from browsing the letters in this collection about the company's involvement in Australia.

https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1115899783/view
Cover of 73pp. illustrated brochure covering the wartime achievements of Cockatoo Island dockyard, with photos of  the works and of ships built or repaired during that time

Voyages

The voyage to the Colonies was variously recorded by passengers, ships surgeons, captains of ships, pursers and clergy accompanying emigrants. Crew lists often accompanied these accounts along with ephemera such as menus, tickets and posters.

One of the best collections of accounts of voyages is found in the Records of the SS Great Britain. While much of this material is accessible at the Brunel Institute in Bristol, UK, we can now access diaries from 1852 - 1896 through the AJCP digitised microfilms.

Many of these diaries contain details of illness on board, food, deaths, ceremonies of crossing the line, weather, the sighting of other ships, concerts, along with details of ship's company and the livestock carried.

If your emigrant ancestor travelled on the SS Great Britain, these comprehensive records can provide background for your family story. There is also a series containing the Crew lists, August 1852 - August 1875, from voyage 9 to voyage 44. Perhaps your mariner predecessor manned the ship.

This ticket  issued in 1862 details what appears to be two generations of the Tully family travelling together.

1862 ticket for the SS Great Britain
 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1414387132

Searching for records of voyages 

Some suggested search terms

• "voyage of (insert name of ship)"
• "voyage to (insert destination, place or country)"
• "diary of voyage"
• "journal of voyage"
• "account of voyage"
• "emigrant voyage"

This voyage of HMS Herald from 1852 -1860 has provided  Paintings, drawings, maps and photographs.

V - view some voyages across the vast oceans

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Previous posts in this series

A - About the AJCP | B -Browsing the Board of Trade | C - County Record Offices | D - Downloading Documents |  E - Emigration everywhere | F - Finding Aids | G - Genealogical Gems | H - Hulks and the Home Office | I - Irish Records | J - Journals and Jottings | K - Kent Archives | L - Love those Libraries | M - Mining the Records of the Missions | N - Near Neighbour New Zealand | O - Opportunities out there | P - Photographs | Q - Queensland | R -Records of the Royal Societies | S - Searching for females | T - Tracks and Turning pages | U - Upon reflection

This post first appeared on https://carmelgalvin.info