2021 #AtoZChallenge W is for ...The White Star Line

 I've been researching my family history for over thirty years. Along this genealogy journey I have been supported by hundreds of books, many of which I have listed on my Librarything page. 

During the 2021 #AtoZChallenge I will be writing about two of my passions, books and family history. I'll be taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of those books that have enriched my genealogy experience.

I came across, The White Star Line : an illustrated history 1870-1934 by Paul Louden-Brown, on a visit to The Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool England where, after looking at the excellent displays, I spent some time doing research in their Archives Centre.  

The Archives Centre at the Merseyside Maritime Museum

The book contained many images of postcards of ships of the White Star Line accompanied by detailed  explanatory text, in addition there were several colour illustrations. It wasn't hard to flip through the book to find illustrations relevant to ships on which Mr GeniAus' ancestors travelled to Australia. 

As well as consulting The White Star Line : an illustrated history 1870-1934  while at the Museum I was able to grab some photos of relevant immigrant ships and dip into a few other books.

One of the other books I perused at the Merseyside Museum

I am so grateful that Mr GeniAus is happy to join me in visits to local archives and libraries when we travel around. Although he says he doesn't do family history I think he may be a closet genealogist.

SS Great Britain

Between 1852 and 1875 Brunel's SS Great Britain often carried more than 600 passengers and crew between Liverpool and Melbourne, Australia. The ship made this journey 32 times. Many Australians have ancestors who arrived on this vessel, perhaps someone in your family was a passenger.


On our recent holiday Mr GeniAus and I traveled to Briston to visit the restored ship and associated exhibits in its dry dock at The Great Western Dockyard.  As seasoned travellers we have visited many tourist sites, we found this to be a highlight of our recent 7 week journey.

Although we visited in the high season in British school holidays there was plenty of space to walk around the museum and ship. We may have been lucky but we found a parking spot in the adjacent car park and after our visit we had a tasty sandwich in a cafe on the site. The less said about Bristol's peak hour traffic as we left the city on a Friday afternoon the better!

We learnt so much about ships, immigration and the difficult journeys our ancestors made to move to their new homes in the southern hemisphere. We both found this visit utterly fascinating and would recommend to highly to anyone visiting the UK. If your ancestors travelled on the ship it is a must.

Of course we took a few photos.

The horses came too

Livestock on deck

A visit to the doctor

The Head

One of the more spacious cabins!

Kitchen

Little Bourke Street - Immigrant accomodation in steerage

View from below

GeniAus at the helm

The SS Great Britain website has a wealth of information about the ship and Brunel. 

A Surprise Find

I've been playing tourist ofr the past few weeks and taking a sabbatical from family history. Being in Liverpool this week I have been thinking of our ancestors who left this port on the River Mersey to make new lives in Australia.

Today I visited the Merseyside Maritiime Museum in Liverpool to have a look at their exhibitions which included one on emigration from Liverpool and one on the Titanic.

The Mueum at Albert Dock

I didn't spend as much time looking at the exhibitions as I had intended because I saw the sign below and I just couldn't go past. I packed Mr Geniaus off to see some of the other exhibitions and wandered into the library.

An invitation

The friendly librarian told me that the library held in its collection of books, documents, maps and images materials relating to emigration from Liverpool As it happens quite a few of our ancestors set off on their journeys to Australia from Liverpool. I couldn't remember the names of the ships our ancestors had travelled on from Liverpool and was frustrated that I didn't have my laptop in my bag.  Luckily the Museum has free wifi so I was able to access my online tree and identify the ancestors and their ships.

The Library

I stumbled across the library at 4:00pm, just 30 minutes before closing time.  In that 30 minutes with the help of the librarian I was able to find information on four of our ancestor's vessels (3 of which were of The White Star Line).

The best find was a photo of  SS Ayrshire on which Mr Geniaus' Grandmother, Harriet Parkinson, travelled to Austalia in 1910.

Photo from collection of Merseyside Maritime Museum Library

 I was thrilled with my finds but, as I have quite a few more ships to research, I am frustrated that the library is not open again until next Tuesday after I have left Liverpool.

I may just have to return to this city and institution on a future journey.

Trove Tuesday - Cruise Ship in Hobart

Today finds me in Hobart on board a a modern cruise ship, The Voyager of the Seas, learning about genealogy with over 240 other family history enthusiasts from the Unlock the Past crew .

Wondering what Trove could tell me about cruising on modern ships I entered the search term "modern cruise ship" into the newspapers search there and selected the following items to share. What a coincidence that the ship in these articles was also in Hobart.

1927 'BOWLING.', The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), 28 February, p. 5, viewed 7 February, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29664661

As the text from 1927 is a bit fuzzy here is what it says:

LIKE AN HOTEL.                

This photograph shows portion of the writing-room of the Cunard- line s.s. Franconia, which is due at Honart on a world cruise today.

The Franconia is one of the most modern cruising ships in the world, and, is employed almost exclusively in that service.     

1927 'BOWLING.', The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), 28 February, p. 5, viewed 7 February, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29664661

The Cunard . 20,000-ton R.M.S. Franconia, which with nearly 400 British and American tourists aboard, is due at Hobart early this, morning ; The Franconia, which is a sister ship to the Carinthia, is chartered to Thomas Cook and Son for this cruise. 

Trove Tuesday - Modern Cruise Ship

This week finds me on the high seas on board a modern cruise ship, The Voyager of the Seas, learning about genealogy with over 140 other family history enthusiasts from the Unlock the Past crew .

Wondering what Trove could tell me about cruising on modern ships I entered the search term "modern cruise ship" into the newspapers search there and selected the following items to share.

1927 'BOWLING.', The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), 28 February, p. 5, viewed 7 February, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29664661

As the text from 1927 is a bit fuzzy here is what it says:

LIKE AN HOTEL.                

Fix this text

This photograph shows portion of the writing-room of the Cunard- line s.s. Franconia, which is due at Honart on a world cruise today.

The Franconia is one of the most modern cruising ships in the world, and, is employed almost exclusively

in that service.     

1927 'BOWLING.', The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), 28 February, p. 5, viewed 7 February, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29664661

The Cunard . 20,000-ton R.M.S. Franconia, which with nearly 400 British and American tourists aboard, is due at Hobart

Fix this text

early this, morning ; The Franconia, which is a sister ship to the Carinthia, is chartered to Thomas Cook and Sonearly this morning. The Franconia, which ls a sister ship to the Carinthia, is chartered to Thomas Cook, and Son for

this cruise.