29 September 2011

Ancestry British ship journals

Two new UK databases have been added to Ancestry.co.uk that will be of particular interest to Australia royalty.

UK Royal Navy Medical Journals, 1817-1857 is 28133 records, indexed images of medical journals from British ships, which include names of patients and other passengers and crew aboard.
The journals in this database were kept by ships’ medical officers, who were required to keep a record of patients, treatments, and outcomes during a voyage. This collection includes 671 volumes, each from a single ship and covering a particular time period. The majority are convict ships bound for Australia or Van Diemen’s Land.

UK Surgeon Superintendents' Journals of Convict Ships, 1858-1867 is 2352 records from journals kept by surgeons aboard convict ships sailing from England to Australia created after the Royal Navy turned the transport of convicts over to merchant shipping.
Information found in the entries varies by journal but can include details such as name, age, crime convicted of, length of sentence, point of embarkation, native country, education, death date, cause of death, sick lists, lists of ship’s stores, and day-to-day happenings aboard ship. You may also find lists of convicts, punishments, and prisoners who exhibited good conduct during the voyage. Crew members may also be included.

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