With our panel of experts Jayne Shrimpton, Katherine Cobb, David Frost, Simon Wills and Beryl Evans

YOUR FAMILY MYSTERIES SOLVED

Shipwrecked as a baby

Q My ancestor was born in October 1813, probably at sea, in the vicinity of Lisbon, and probably aboard SS Queen (Transporter). This was a ship commissioned by the UK Government to move troops, prisoners and injured, from the Peninsular War of that time, back to the UK. Towards the end of the voyage home, the ship was wrecked in Falmouth on 13/14 January 1814; and of the 400 persons aboard, 300 perished. However, of the 100 survivors, it is my surmise that my ancestor, as a four-month-old baby, was saved. It is thought that his parents were lost with the ship and maybe now lie in an unnamed mass grave near Falmouth. The family name was da Silva.

I have a document of marriage of an Emanuel da Silva, mariner, who married an Ann Wedge, in 1796, in St George in the East, and I am of the belief (unsubstantiated) that this couple could have been the parents of my ancestor, also named Emanuel (but there were many da Silvas named Emanuel!). Neither possible parent gets another mention; which is why I suggest that they were lost in the tragedy.

What I am hoping to find is a crew list of the SS Queen; possibly from when it set sail originally from London. If you can suggest some of the more obscure possibilities for information, or more details of the older da Silvas, I should be grateful.

Frank Symons

A Tracing ancestors involved in shipwrecks before about 1850 is often frustrating, either because records were not kept at the time or have since been lost. Having said that, you do have a number of options.

Please note that this ship cannot have been called the SS Queen. ‘SS’ stands for steamship and oceangoing steamships did not exist in 1814; the transport Queen was a sailing ship.

Assess the evidence

Start by examining critically why you think you had ancestors who died and/or were born on this ship. Where is your evidence, and how reliable is it? If it’s simply that they may have died around the time that the ship was lost, then reconsider because shipwrecks were extremely common and your ancestors could have been on any one of hundreds of other ships lost in 1814.

Gaining background knowledge

Assuming that they might have been on the Queen, then it’s unlikely that your great-great-grandfather was a mariner. Generally, only the captain (in this case Joseph Carr) might take his wife and family to sea. Contemporary accounts also state that most of the crew survived except for the bosun and a cabin boy. Transport ships were crewed by merchant seamen not the Royal Navy, so naval service records won’t help you and merchant seamen employment records, including crew lists, don’t survive from this period.

• The National Maritime Museum of Cornwall (NMMC) has published an analysis of the wreck of the Queen: https://familytr.ee/queen

• Historic England also has a detailed report of events: https://familytr.ee/queenhe Both of these identify numerous contemporary references you could check out. Historic England suggests that a passenger list may have been published in The Times, so you could pursue this. A rigorous trawl of local and national newspapers for names is essential.

What can we deduce?

All accounts agree that there were wives and children aboard, but they were the families of the soldiers carried as passengers. So it’s more likely that your ancestor was a soldier, probably an injured one, being evacuated from the Peninsular War.

A quick read of the NMMC report reveals that the soldiers were from the 30th Regiment of Foot, the Royal Artillery, and the Royal Miners and Sappers. The names of 30th Regiment soldiers who died seem to be all accounted for, so your search could focus on service records for artillerymen, and miners and sappers. Note that the NMMC report also states that the Queen left Lisbon at Christmas, so your ancestor being born on board in October seems unlikely.