I get many requests from people who had family that were members of the crew of a Union-Castle ship or who came out to South Africa on one. Most ask me how can they go about tracing this relative of theirs and I do not have a hard and fast answer. Much of what I have gleaned over the years has been hearsay and I can only guess as to whether I am right or wrong when it comes to things like this.
The best and first place to start on any genealogical research is without a doubt
The pages relating to South Africa on Cyndi's List are found at
South Africa
Of particular interest in your maritime research is the following page: Ships & Passenger Lists. Unfortunately the majority of research which seems to have been done has been on the ships which plied the North Atlantic between Europe and the United States and very little on the ships which carried immigrants to South Africa. There are a number of pointers on how to research one's seagoing relatives at the National Maritime Museum in Britain.
However, it is best to first see what research guides are available at:
The National Maritime Museum Research Guides
Research guide A3: Tracing family history from maritime records
Research guide C2: The Merchant Navy: Tracing People: Master mariners, mates and engineers
Research guide B1: The Royal Navy: Tracing People
To the best of my knowledge the crew of a ship were issued what used to be called a "Seaman's Discharge Book" which held a record of the service of that particular crewman on board ship. These documents are a good way to narrow the search down to a specific date and ship. I do not know who holds the crewing lists for ships, especially those of the Union-Castle Line, I do expect that they would be held by those who took over from the original owners of the line or they would have been given over to archives or to the NMM. However, I have often wondered of the old Board of Trade could hold records of crew as they were partly responsible for signing on crews and may have issued the original discharge book.
You can also try the Union-Castle Line Staff Register for information on crew members, and naturally, if you have any crew information please pass this on.
A good reference of ships can be found at: The Ships List which has a fleet list of the Union-Castle Line on: Union-Castle Mail S.S. Company
If your ancestor had been lost at sea while serving in a commonwealth flagged ship they may be listed with the: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Unfortunately, getting assistance from the South African Department of Home Affairs is very difficult and their records are not searchable through the internet and getting any sort of telephonic help is almost non-existent. I expect the British equivalent is much better and I believe that many of the records are now available online. A quick and easy (and cheap way) to find birth/marriage and death certificates in the UK is at Free BMD and there are a number of passenger lists in the process of transcription at Find My Past. The British National Archives is a good place to start and they even have a guide on the
Merchant Navy
As well as a guide on migration
It is also worth visiting The Family Records Centre
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a huge genealogical reference library which may be of help in Researching your ancestors
I am afraid that genealogy often is a subject that requires patience and much digging as well as lateral thinking, trying to trace a relative who served at sea could be even more difficult. However, somedays you will just get lucky! Remember that ships often served under different names and the same name often was used by different ships in different shipping companies. Wartime affected the service of many ships and often the information which you have may have been censored or incomplete. Do not rely on heresay and gather as much info as you can. And, best of luck too. If you do manage to find any handy sources of information to add to these pages, please contact me via the Contact page.
DRW. 2005/2006/2007
|
