I am trying to trace numerous ships that my brother has worked on in the last 30 years. How do I do this?

Question

My brother is very poorley at the minute and I am trying to compile a history of his sailing career including a picture of all the ships.

Answer 1

oh, im sorry about your brother :-( er, i think the easiest thing to do would be to ask him? I am not sure what you mean by worked on- as in worked as a sailor or physically worked on the structure?

Answer 2

See if you can get hold of his "discharge book" - this should list all the ships he worked on. Some companies had booklets of all the ships they owned (type -tonnage -routes etc.) and if he was any length of time with a company, they would be happy to oblige with a copy,if available, if you explained the situation to them.   Lloyds list is another good source of information on ships and their owners. All this is on the assumption that you are in the U.K.   I wish you good luck on your seach,and if I can be of any further help,please let me know.

Answer 3

Don't suggest to them that you are doing it because your brother is ill incase they suspect your brother wants to sue them for his illhealth!

Answer 4

Cover the ships with a massive piece of paper and then use a huge pencil to draw around the edge of them.

Voila, each ship traced.

Answer 5

Sorry to hear about bro., hope he's getting better.

Start with what you know about the ships, e.g. which shipping line(s) he worked for. Then search the web with those as keywords.

Here's a web site with extensive ship pictures arranged by shipping company: www.simplonpc.co.uk

Also, if you know where ships were built, try searching the web for local sites, e.g. this is the site for Clyde-built ships:

www.clydesite.co.uk

or for Aberdeen: www.aberdeenships.com

Happy searching

Answer 6

Find his file system, go to a book store and look for a book covering ships.  I'm sure he'll just enjoy looking at the book of ships and telling you about each one.