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Thomas Scarrow, Master Mariner: Voyage Record

This section presents all the information discovered about Thomas's voyages during his time in the Merchant Service, which started in 1857 and ended with his death at sea in 1871.

At the time that Thomas first went to sea (in 1857) the Register of Seaman's Tickets series III had just stopped, and version IV was not to start until 1917. However, the Certificates of Competency for Masters and Mates did continue, so the record for Thomas from 1864, the year in which he qualified as 2nd Mate is well documented. For the earlier years, reference is made to the claims and testimonials for his officers certificates (Mate and Master). Taken together, we get good picture of his voyages.

BT122/29 Certificates of Competency Masters and Mates Foreign

This volume gives a very complete summary of Thomas's voyages between 1861 and 1871. The first page covers 1861 to 1868:

Thomas Scarrow BT122/29 1861-68There are fewer abbreviations in BT122 than in some of the other series, however those that are used can be decoded as follows: 1M=1st Mate; 2M=2nd Mate; C=Master; 62=Liverpool; 64=London; 98=Waterford; The second page of BT122 covers the period 1869-1871, and also records Thomas's death by drowning on the 21st September 1871.

Thomas Scarrow BT122/29 1869-71

Again, the abbreviations used are as follows: C=Master; 62=Liverpool; 64=London;

The information from the various tickets, as well as data derived from crew lists, newspapers and Lloyds List have been combined to produce a voyage history shown below. The rank has been abbreviated to A, S, 1M, 2M and C which correspond to Apprentice, Seaman, 2nd Mate, 1st Mate and Master respectively. The passage is the length of the voyage in days.

Rank Ship From Dep To Arr Passage Remarks
A Kamehameher IV Liverpool 17 Apr 1857 Honolulu 22 Aug 1857 127 Master: John Garry. Wilton Glover went AWOL on 21-22 Apr, again on 22 Aug and 26 Aug; Arrested at 6pm on 26 Aug and sent to prison; Released from prison on 31 Aug.
A Kamehameher IV Honolulu 19 Sep 1857 Valparaiso Oct 1857 [30] On 12 Oct it was blowing a heavy gale and high seas - Nicholas Pardiff fell overboard and drowned.
A Kamehameher IV Valparaiso 15 Nov 1857 Caldera 29 Dec 1857 44 Ennis Bridgeman, John Dittman and Charles Smith deserted on 11 Jan, taking the ship's boat with them which was later found on the rocks.
A Kamehameher IV Caldera 19 Jan 1858 Swansea 15 Apr 1858 86 James Lennox was ill with stricture caused by venereal disease and in doctors hands from 15 Dec until 19 Jan.
A Kamehameher IV Liverpool 12 Jun 1858 Shanghai 28 Nov 1858 169 On 26 Nov, Peter Gess burst a blood vessel and died - he had had a bad cough since 20 Jun.
A Kamehameher IV Shanghai Jan 1859 Foo Chow 7 Feb 1859 [15] Dennis William Saunders, alias James William Graudison caused continual problems from 26 Aug 1858, until his final discharge on Feb 11th 1859. See account here.
A Kamehameher IV Foo Chow 28 Feb 1859 London 30 Jun 1859 122 Master: John Garry
A Corea Liverpool 30 Sep 1859 Hong Kong (Whampoa) 22 Jan 1860 114 Master: John Garry
A Corea Macao 28 Mar 1860 Liverpool 30 Jul 1860 124 Cargo from China was 748,300lbs of tea.
S Corea Liverpool 19 Sep 1860 Hong Kong (Whampoa) 18 Jan 1861 121  
S Corea Macao 12 Mar 1861 Gravesend 8 Jul 1861 118 Cargo from China was 759,000lbs of tea.
2M Eastern Chief Liverpool 28 Aug 1861 Mazatlan Feb 1862    
2M Eastern Chief Mazatlan Mar 1862 Guaymas Apr 1862    
2M Eastern Chief Guaymas May 1862 Liverpool 2 Oct 1862    
1M Athelston Liverpool 22 Nov 1862 Valparaiso 24 Mar 1863 122 Master: James Blaxter. 5 Feb 1863: James McGowan lost overboard. 12 Mar 1863: William Wilson lost overboard.
1M Athelston Valparaiso 2 Apr 1863 Liverpool 29 Sep 1863 180 27 Apr 1863: Joseph Kelly went AWOL and returned at 8am on the 28th.
1M Athelston Liverpool 11 Nov 1863 Singapore 10 Apr 1864 150 Master: William Russell
1M Athelston Singapore 11 May 1864 Liverpool 16 Oct 1864 158  
1M Braganza Liverpool 17 Dec 1864 Bahia 21 Jan 1865 35 Master: Patrick McClidie
1M Braganza Bahia 28 Feb 1865 Paraiba 16 Mar 1865 16  
1M Braganza Paraiba 30 Mar 1865 Liverpool 5 May 1865 36  
C Teesdale London 5 Jul 1865 Simons Town 30 Sep 1865 87  
C Teesdale Simons Town 23 Oct 1865 Cape Town 30 Oct 1865 7  
C Teesdale Cape Town 22 Dec 1865 London 4 Mar 1866 76  
C Teesdale London 30 Apr 1866 Penang 20 Oct 1866 173 The wages of James Wallace and John Johnston were reduced from those of AB to OS due lack of competence.
C Teesdale Penang   New York 19 Feb 1867   James Wallace, C. Brinn and George Smith sent to house of correction in Penang for 8-12 weeks of hard labour for refusing duties. Oct 31: Edward Bess, Peter Budham and John Johnstone were put on board by the police. Edward Bess and John Johnstone in irons for committing an assault on me at the police station. I asked them if they were going to return to their duty they did.
C Teesdale New York 13 Mar 1867 Waterford 19 Apr 1867 36 Peter Budham, John Wilson (apprentice) and Samuel Leah Sutton deserted in New York.
C Teesdale Liverpool 12 Jul 1867 Rio de Janeiro 14 Sep 1867 64 John Slater deserted in Rio.
C Teesdale Rio de Janeiro 16 Nov 1867 New Orleans 25 Jan 1868 70 Phillip Beer, John Slater and Henry Pike deserted in New Orleans
C Teesdale New Orleans   London 7 Apr 1868    
C Teesdale Liverpool 10 Jun 1868 Montevideo 24 Aug 1868 75 John Wilson re-engaged as an apprentice.
C Teesdale Montevideo 10 Oct 1868 Buenos Aires 14 Oct 1868 4  
C Teesdale Buenos Aires 10 Dec 1868 Antwerp 15 Feb 1868 67  
C Teesdale Antwerp 2 Mar 1868 London 8 Mar 1868 6  
C Teesdale London 17 May 1869 Singapore 11 Sep 1869 117 John Wilson promoted from Apprentice to 2nd Mate.
C Teesdale Singapore 7 Oct 1869 Bangkok 13 Dec 1869 67  
C Teesdale Bangkok 7 Jan 1870 Bombay 14 Mar 1870 66  
C Teesdale Bombay 28 Mar 1870 Colombo 12 Apr 1870 15  
C Teesdale Colombo 29 Apr 1870 London 9 Sep 1870 133  
C Invincible London 11 Mar 1871 Adelaide 18 Jun 1871 99 May 20: George Wallace found drunk and unfit to work. It was ascertained that he took two cases of liquor from the cargo hold. Jun 26 to Jul 14: Seven members of the crew deserted in Adelaide, four of them on the same day, Jul 4th.
C Invincible Adelaide 15 Jul 1871 Portland 17 Aug 1871 33 Aug 17: William Henry Raines refused his duties by not working after 6 O'clock. Aug 18: He was taken before magistrate and sentenced to 3 days imprisonment and forfeited 2 days pay.
C Invincible Portland 22 Aug 1871 Liverpool 25 Nov 1871 95 Liverpool, Nov 25, arrived: Invincible, Adelaide. Aug 25: Richard Walker refused to work, citing an injured leg but this was believed to be spurious. All crew looked at his leg and concurred. Was given only bread and water until his return to duty. 21 Sep: Master Thomas Scarrow washed overboard in heavy seas 35W off Cape Horn. A more detailed account can be seen here. 22 Sep until Oct 14: Peter Alston suffered from swollen right leg and dislocated knee and was unable to carry out his duties.

 

A more detailed description of Thomas's voyages, which includes the names of all the other crew members transcribed from crew lists can be found here.

To view the next page about Thomas Scarrow which deals with his last voyage aboard Invincible, click here.