The data on the Welsh mariners' website, designed by Nigel Callaghan of
Taliesin, Ceredigion, has been updated by us. Users may like to know of
powerful searches which can be made by using the "Details contain...?"
column. E.g. the names of ships or terms such as shipwrecked, drowned,
torpedoed etc can be used as search items in this column.
An interesting case is a story provided by Vivien Boyes. Her ancestors
travelled down from the Preseli Mountain, near Dinas, Pembrokeshire in a
pony and trap to pick up her great grandfather, Benjamin Laugharne in
the early 1870's when he and his uncle returned from being shipwrecked
on a remote island. The uncle was said to be master of the vessel and
Benjamin the cabin boy. The cousins from the mountain complained
bitterly that they'd already held the memorial service for the pair of
them and that it had been wasted.
By combining Dinas in the "Place of birth" column with shipwrecked or
wrecked in the "Details contain...?" column she could get a list of all
shipwrecks involving Dinas born men. Although the vessel in the above
story has not yet been identified, she can now investigate various
candidate wrecks.
Wales' researchers are blessed with several websites which can be used
to track down its maritime heritage. Two expanding excellent websites
include Barry Johnson's Milford Trawlers and Bryan Richards' Swansea
Mariners website and I thank him for some interesting stories for
inclusion onto my website.
The Carmarthen Journal of 3rd October 1817 contains an excellent report
on the wreck of the Norwegian brig Bergetta on Cefn Sidan Sands,
Carmarthenshire, and concluded: "Of 206 pipes and casks of wine etc not
above 100 have been saved. Hundreds of men and women were reduced to
nearly a state of insensibility, through intoxication. Acts of plunder
were committed to a considerable extent".
Reg Davies
An index of 22,000 Welsh born or Wales resident merchant mariners plus
3300 men in the Royal Navy at
www.welshmariners.org.uk