The travels of merchant seamen

In those days Kate, how would they received it if he was away? Would the company pay it to the spouse?

[Merry]

Originally Posted by Janet

Really riveting reading, Merry!

Originally Posted by Mary from Italy

I'd quite forgotten that story, Merry, it's brilliant

Coming to a screen near you soon!! lol

Originally Posted by tenterfieldjulie

In those days Kate, how would they received it if he was away? Would the company pay it to the spouse?

That's what I was wondering.....

[Shona]

Not the same, but distant water trawlermen were paid when they returned to port. The wives and mothers would race down to the dock to intercept the men before the thirsty sailors reached their favourite boozer.

Merry - loved teading about Mai. An amazing story.

I was thinking something along those lines Shona and with Merry's Mr. Hamilton's itinerary, (for want of word) how would he get money to his family if he got home so infrequently? Julie.

[Merry]

Merry - loved teading about Mai. An amazing story.

Thanks Shona. Strange to think we knew almost nothing about it until after she died when I was 20.

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David Hutton senr and Margaret Scannell married 30th July 1891 in Dundee. We know that almost immediately after he sailed on the Glenclova in September 1893 Margaret was caught with another man and her life quickly started to unravel.

I've been looking at David's navy papers for before 1893:

He was at sea for a couple of voyages in the late 1880s, but that's probably before he knew Margaret.

Then:

Glenlyon 30th June 1890 until 15th June 1891. So he married about six weeks after getting back to Dundee, presumably via Cork.

Glenlyon 20th Aug 1891 until 1st July 1892. Was it during this period that Margaret went to live with her parents-in-law?

Glenlyon 13th July 1892 until 19th July 1892 - just a short trip

Glenlyon 24th July 1892 until 4th Aug 1893. So until five weeks before he sailed on the Glenclova.

I can look in the newspapers to see where the Glenlyon sailed to etc.

I would definitely like to know what happened about paying men when they went on very long voyages.

[Merry]

I've not been able to find very helpful reports on the right ship called Glenlyon (there are at least two by that name!) so haven't been able to show that the ship could have brought Margaret from Queenstown on the voyage back from wherever in June 1891.

A different scenario, but our drovers would be away for up to six months with big mobs ... same outcome for the family, who could starve unless other family helped. One of the few options for mothers were to take in washing/ironing. In Somerset my ancestor Betty Callard was a washerwoman, as he was a seasonal ag lab, but they didn't have to travel that far, but I suppose could be away for months. Life was a hard graft for so many. Julie

[Merry]

One of the few options for mothers were to take in washing/ironing.

Margaret took a different option!

Yes but maybe there wasn't enough washing to go around ...

[Shona]

Interesting snippet from www.plimsoll.org.

They [wives] usually stayed at home waiting for meagre wages that were often extremely late. The majority of these women did not possess much in the way of money or skills with which to earn a wage and they had to find other means to support themselves and their children. Some wives took unskilled work if they could find it; others resorted to begging or prostitution. Without the protection and support of their husbands who were absent, away on the high seas for months even years at a time, wives had a hard time getting credit.

There was a very complicated system whereby seamen could send home some of their pay, but the complexity discouraged the majority from trying. When the sailors finally did get paid, after they had paid their debts to the purser for their clothes and tobacco and any other money they owed, there was rarely any left for their wives.

The women would walk to whichever port the ship had put in at, some covering great distances on foot. Whilst the ship was in port, the wives could share their husband's berth. The journey was made as it was often the only chance they had of getting some money to keep themselves and their children.