Hello. I hope someone can help here.
My great great grandfather George Robb Fisher born in Whitehaven in 1842. In 1861 cencus he is listed as an Apprentice Seaman working on the ship 'Elter Water'
In 1871 his son's birth record says he was a Mariner-Merchant Services.

I am wondering, would the Merchant Services be a military navy in 1871?
And does anyone know of any ship accidents, wars etc in 1873?
I am trying to find his cause of death. It is registered in Whitehaven Jul/Aug/Sept 1873.
I have done hours of searching on ships etc and have found nothing.
Thank you to anyone that might know something!

Laura

Hi Laura

The Merchant Navy and Royal Navy were separate. Merchant seaman worked for the ship owners, the others worked for the Crown.

There was a separate death index for people lost at sea but if someone died aboard ship the death would be registered in the normal manner when the ship hit port. An ancestor or mine was lost off the Cumbrian coast, but doesn't appear in either index.

If your man's death was registered in Whitehaven, it need not have been related to his job. If the story didn't make the newspapers, I'm afraid the death cert would be the only way to find his cause of death.