Lost a male ancestor near Geelong between 1856 and 1889?

You might just find them in VPRS 22 Unit 21 at the Public Record Office Victoria!

This is a wonderful register dating from 7 August 1856 through to 1889 – Register of Seamen engaged Geelong and is the latest project being indexed by our Geelong & District volunteers.

So far, entries for 1856 have been added to the Geelong & District Database – 308 in total.

Details in the database for each entry: 

• NAME: Name of seaman
• DATE: of Engagement
• PLACE: [of engagement] Geelong
• COMMENT: Name of ship
• REFERENCE: VPRS number and UNIT number (entries are generally in chronological order)

Additional columns of information in the register:

• Capacity = rank i.e. AB [Able Seaman], Mate, Cook etc.
• Nature of Voyage – Coasting, Foreign etc.
• Reference [if Foreign] to Duplicate Agreement
• Name of Master
• Name of Licensed Agent
• Last Vessel – on which engaged
• Last Certificate of Character
• Remarks

You can obtain this additional information and copies of the entries by visiting the Public Record Office Victoria at North Melbourne or submitting a (paid) Research Request to the Geelong Family History Group.

As the first part of the index was uploaded to the Geelong & District Database on Christmas Eve, it’s appropriate to select the seamen engaged on 24 December 1856.

All three of these ships were coastal traders which had arrived from Newcastle [NSW] laden with coal.  They returned to Newcastle carrying ballast and no passengers.  The Ann & Maria, a brig, departed 28/29 December, the Mary Ann, a brigantine, departed on 29 December, and the Vibilia, a schooner, departed on 24 December.

This is an ongoing indexing project – we’ll probably add entries a year at a time – I hope you enjoy this terrific index and register.

Merry Christmas to all from the volunteers in Geelong & District.