Death at Sea

Helen G · Post by **Helen G** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 11:34 pm

Greetings all,

I found the birth certificate for William Murray who’s parents are listed as Thomas Murray and Mary Burns. According to William’s birth certificate William was born on 18th January 1874 at the time of birth his address is listed as being 26 Dalrymple Street, Greenock.

I have William along with his family in the 1881 and 1891 census records aged 7 and 17 respectively.

He must have decided to join the sailing ships and on the 23 of August 1895, the ship he was sailing on namely the Barque of Basques was sunk off the coast of Australia there were no survivors, I do not have a death date for William, there was a plaque erected at the family plot, sadly it has taken me over 100 years to become interested in my family history the stone has been destroyed and disposed of. I do have a photograph of the family plot which has Williams stone placed at the bottom of the Gravestone which has been passed on to me from my father Thomas Burrows who very suddenly sadly passed away on the 10th May 2006 at the age of 79 years young.

I have searched the Greenock Telegraph's roundabout this era in an attempt to find out what kind of ship it was, how it sank but to date my findings have been negative.

I would be very interested and grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction to answering my questions.

Many thanks in advance
Helen

Hugh Stevely · Post by **Hugh Stevely** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 8:23 am

Hi Helen,

Here is a link for you to start with i have had a look for the BARQUE OF BASQUES but have not found her yet some one will get back to you i am sure- i will keep looking for any info--see also on the link Barquentine.

Good luck with your search.

Hugh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barque

Kathy · Post by **Kathy** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 9:21 am

Here is a link to ships lost in Australian waters,

www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/heritage/nsd/nsd_list.pl

No Barque of Basques listed.

Kathy

Thrall · Post by **Thrall** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:30 pm

Hi Helen; in 1895, if one assumes that your ship is a barque, she would not be a passenger ship as by then they were all more or less steamers. She would likely have been engaged in carrying slow heavy cargo, coal, timber, nitrates or wheat. British barques traded with the west and east coast of the Americas, and crossed the Pacific to Australia, New Zealand etc., with a round trip to San Francisco or Sydney from the UK taking nearly a year.

You could try on Ancestry.com to see if there is a crew list if she stopped of at an American port some time, as I have found some info. on a sailing ship I was interested in by simply inserting the ship´s name.

Guid hunting,

Thrall

Helen G · Post by **Helen G** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 9:13 pm

Hugh, Kathy and Thrall,

Thanks your replies, I will keep digging in an effort to trace anything. I have tried Ancestry Thrall but I have not come across a crew list for this particular Basrque.

I will keep you posted on my findings and thanks again.

Helen

Hugh Stevely · Post by **Hugh Stevely** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 9:09 am

Hi Helen,
not much luck at the moment i was thinking did this Vessel change its name then on one of the sites i use i saw a ten year Gap between 1788-1900 this could be why we do not find her but we keep on looking.

http://www.blaxland.com/ozships/

Hugh.

Helen G · Post by **Helen G** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 6:00 pm

Hi Hugh,
Thanks for the link, sorry but I don't know if the ship changed names, I can't help you there.

My Aunty Mary is the only one left on my dad's side of the family and she did not know any her mother's side of the family.

From my notes that my dad gave me he just says that William was either 22 or 23 years of age when he died off the coast of Austraila.

Sorry I can not provide anymore info at this time.

Thanks for trying
Helen

Hugh Stevely · Post by **Hugh Stevely** » Fri Jun 08, 2007 7:36 pm

Hi Helen,

This ship is not listed on the National Shipwrecks site in Australia, where did you get the name of the Vessel and date from originally? we may still find her.

Hugh.

Helen G · Post by **Helen G** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 2:10 am

Hi Hugh,
I have looked through all of my paperwork and where I found the Barque of Basques was the memorium that my gg-grandmother published in the Greenock Telegraph on the 23rd August 1895 for her son William who drowned at sea.

It was my father who provided the information that William's vessel sank off the coast of Australia, (I do not know how old the Barque was and as I have previously stated if she was re-named) at the age of 22 years and there were no survivors. I do not know where my father gleaned this information from but William may have started my father on his journey towards the sea even before he was born.

My ggrandfather on my fathers side was also a sailing man. Sadly I am at a dead end with that part of my family as my gg-grandfather came from Rigenwald near Stettein in Germany

This is what my father composed about his grandfather..... (Carl Heinrich Wilheim Burow)

He was born in a small hamlet called Rigenwald near Stettein in Germany and grew up in a farming community.

Eventually,he became eligible for military service which was compulsory at that time but for which he had no desire. He made his way, a boy of eighteen, into the port of Stettein and somehow managed to secure a berth as a deckhand on a sailing ship, having no experience whatsoever of ships and the sea.

He sailed for the next six years over the world as a seaman "before the mast" in the days of sails. It was a very hard life and I remember well, the many stories he told me of his experiences going "Round the Horn." That fearsome Cape of South America. But he loved the Sea. It was obvious. I have no doubt that his tales affected me as a small boy to follow the sea in later life. He met and eventually married my grandmother, Agnes Morgan and settled down to a life ashore in Greenock, where he worked as a dock labourer for the rest of his working life, and raised his family.

When the Great War broke out, at sometime between 1914 - 1918 he was interned as a German national in an internment camp whilst his son Patrick (my father) was serving in the British army in Flanders.

I remember my grandfather with affection. He loved music and used to dance round the room of the music of Strauss's Waltz on the radio. He was a simple and humble man, who worked hard all his life. He was a very fit man. I can never remember him being ill and was active right up to his death, the result of an accident........

This was my father's epitaph to the gg-grandfather that I never knew.

Sadly during the war when the borders were moved all of the homeland records were destroyed and I can go back no further than Carl Heinrich Wilheim Burow (namely Henry Burrows, he changed his name 4 times).

My father studied for his chief engineers ticket and was very successful he moved my mother and their 10 children to Vancouver, Canada for a better life for 9 years only to return with 11 children.

Sorry Hugh I have gotten off the beaten track (big time) but thought you would be interested in a wee bit of seafaring history I am more than interested if anyone can enlighten me on my quest. (Trying the Irish rellies for my mum, total nightmare).

If I can help in any way please feel free to ask.

Cheers
Helen

Hugh Stevely · Post by **Hugh Stevely** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:39 am

Hi Helen,

Yes good reading i am very interested in the seafaring history part of your post--

I also went to sea with no experience as a young deck- boy 15 years old up the Gulf and on to Australia a great life and went up the ranks to the top.

Round the Horn is bad at times but in the days of sail they had it bad real seamen-- ok on the Irish rellies total nightmare for me to, we will keep looking and see if we get any more info.Have a look at the links.

http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/search.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/de/BobSanders/CENDETH.html

Cheers Hugh.