View Thread

 Print Thread
JAMES MURTON HISTORY
mennyk
Hi All

I am researching my great grandfather for his service in the coast guard from Australia. (Please see my post in the Genealogy forum)

I have the details of all of his postings apart from his service at Greystones and this is not apparently available through ADM 175 for Ireland in that period. Do these records exist anywhere?

I just received ADM 175/33 from National Archives and have his final posting records for Stonehouse Point, Plymouth. His name is James Murton on Ledger page 425, but page 363 in the ADM.

Could someone possibly clarify some of the detail written into this record?

In the 'Names' column, what does the reference to '3 badges' mean?
In the 'Ranks and Ratings' column, what rank is 'Comm Boat', if that is what it says. I have been trying to find a listing of non-commissioned ranks within the Coast Guard for that time period without success.
In the 'Last Coast Guard Station' column, it refers to 'R.. George'. Is that the name of a vessel at Greystones?
In the 'Date of Entry' column, there is some text above the transfer date of '7 Sept 1868' which I cannot decipher. Any clues?

Any assistance with these queries would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Ken Murton
 
crimea1854
Ken

I'll try and answer your questions in the order you have raised them.

Badges: These were in fact good conduct stripes worn on the sleeve. A max of 3 'badges' could be awarded and each earned the man a penny a day extra in pay, paid as a lump sum. The loss of a 'badge' would mean the loss of the lump sum - a carrot and stick approach to discipline.

Rates: Boatman was equivalent to an able seamen with continuous service; Commissioned Boatman - Leading seaman with CS & Chief Boatman a 1st Class Petty Officer.

'Last Station': This is the last CG Station a man served at, in your case Greystones. The R(oyal)George refers to the Ship's Establishment Book to which the land based station was accounted under. Each of the CG Districts were allocated a warship with a small standing crew and the CG men within that district were shown on that ships establishment. This was not only for accounting purposes, but the men would also have to do training cruises on them. In the event of a national crisis these ships, with their CG crews, would provide an inshore squadron for the defence of home water. Most of these vessels were reaching the end of their service lives, hence the reason for the frequent change of ships.

The Date: This is 1 Jan 1869 when this particular Ship's Establishment Book was opened.

One final point, I saw the initials 'TM' on the record. This refers to a Trained Man qualification, and attracted additional pay, but had to be renewed periodically.

Hope the above helps
Martin

Merged on 01/02/2018 09:17:47:
A little detail about Royal George: Originally launched as a three decker in 1827 and converted to steam screw, she sailed so badly that she was cut down to two decks with 89 guns. In 1861 the number of guns was reduced to 86; 75 in 1862 then 72 in 1866, finally being sold and broken up in 1875.
Edited by crimea1854 on 01/02/2018 09:17
 
mennyk
Thank you Martin

I have researched a fair bit of that information since my initial posting. including all of his Royal Navy service.

My next goal is to obtain some reference to his birth in Tregony, Cornwall and hopefully find a photo of him somewhere.

Regards

Ken
 
Jump to Forum: