John Durkan: Royal Navy Service Record

[Tbolt]

Hi Folks. My first post.

I am trying to find out about my great uncle who was buried at sea in 1917.

So far I have established that he was a stoker in the Royal Navy from 1895 to 1907. I understand that finding any further information of his time at sea will be difficult as I do not know if he was called up as a reservist for the war or if he worked on merchant ships.

National Archives show that after training on HMS Victory I & II he was on HMS Centurion from 1897 and from 1901 HMS Dofwell? (I am not sure if this is the correct name or spelling). All my web searching has failed to find any ship with this or similar name.

Any advice or further information would be greatly appreciated.

Gerry

[harry.gibbon]

Hello there Terry welcome to the Forum.

I suspect that our illustrious gang of members will from somewhere come to your aid with some possibilities to help you along.

Little h

[astraltrader]

Hi Gerry - unfortunately there was no ship called Dofwell as far as I can tell.

[tomsam]

Hi jerry and welcome. It may be useful to the investigation if you can give us some names and dates of birth etc,etc. Also the date of his burial. Good Luck.
Tomsam

[Tbolt]

Thanks every one for your replies and encouragement.

I will try and upload the pdf record I downloaded from the National Archives.

This shows his record and ships he served on.

Regards
Gerry

[alanbenn]

Gerry, I think you'll find Hms Dofwell, is a short version for Hms Duke of Wellington, she was a recieving ship at Portsmouth in 1904, when the crews then moved into the RN Barracks, she was a very old ship but is very much photographed, usually found on numerous postcards.


Here's a link to her history....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Duke_of_Wellington

Regards
Alan

[harry.gibbon]

Well done Alan ... Dofwell ... had become a real head scratcher for me I'm afraid!!!

Little h

[astraltrader]

Well solved Alan!

[Tbolt]

Thanks Alan, This makes sense now. Duke of Wellington is mentioned at the bottom of the page under the heading 'Remarks'.

I have tried to attach the PDF doc.

I am slowly learning to understand this record but further info would be most welcome.

Best wishes
Gerry

[Bee]

Gerry, I think you'll find Hms Dofwell, is a short version for Hms Duke of Wellington, she was a recieving ship at Portsmouth in 1904, when the crews then moved into the RN Barracks, she was a very old ship but is very much photographed, usually found on numerous postcards.


Here's a link to her history....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Duke_of_Wellington

Regards
Alan

Brilliant detective work, Alan! I bet you're good at cryptic crosswords as well. :)

Regards,
Bee

p.s. Welcome Gerry and all the best with your quest for futher information.

[alanbenn]

Bee, fraid I don't do crosswords.....too busy with everything else.

It sort of stuck out to me as we often see Duke of York as DofY OR DoY,
and the same for Duke of Edinburgh as DoE.

So it wasn't any real detective work I'm afraid, but I'm pleased it answered someones query into their family history, it's great to see little bits of the jigsaw coming together so to speak...

Regards
Alan

[jbryce1437]

Had a belated look at this record, transcribed as follows:-

John Durkan: Royal Navy Service Record
Date of Birth: 11th June 1872
Place of birth: Foxford, Mayo
Occupation: Labourer
Service Number: 280833
Base Port: Portsmouth

Date and period Engagement: 23rd October 1895 for 12 years

Ship/Rating/Date

Victory II – Stoker 2nd Class – from 23rd October 1895 until 21st August 1896 then promoted
Victory II – Stoker – from 22nd August 1896 until 24th October 1896
Victory I – Stoker – from 25th October 1896 until 21st November 1896
Victory II – Stoker – from 22nd November 1896 until 10th February 1897
Centurion – Stoker – from 11th February 1897 until 19th September 1901
Duke of Wellington – Stoker – from 20th September 1901 until 31st December 1901 then Run

Remarks
He absconded from the navy on 31st December 1901, do you have any further information regarding his burial at sea in 1917? I can't find his name on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site, so I assume he wasn't in the Forces.

Jim

HMS Centurion movements (from WNSF Directory):
1897 - China Station
10th April 1898 - At Chefoo
23rd May 1898 - Arrived Wei Hai Wei
1899 - China Station
31st January 1899 - At Manila
1st February 1899 - Sailed Manila
1900 - China Station
1900 - Took part in the Boxer Revolt
11th September 1900 - At Wusung
1901 - China Station
19th August 1901 - Arrived Portland
19th August 1901 - Arrived Portsmouth
19th August 1901 - Capt J.R. Jellicoe in Command
19th August 1901 - Flagship of Admiral Sir E.H. Seymour

[davidrn]

Hello,
This is rather a shame as on HMS Centurion he was awarded the China 1900 medal but as he could not be found due to th fact that he had Run (deserted), the medal was returned to the mint and melted down.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Dave

[jbryce1437]

Hello,
This is rather a shame as on HMS Centurion he was awarded the China 1900 medal but as he could not be found due to th fact that he had Run (deserted), the medal was returned to the mint and melted down.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Dave

A great shame as you say Dave, I just wonder if he went on the run whilst on leave, having returned to the UK after being on the China Station for over 3 years. Possibly being listed on Duke of Wellington until it could be ascertained that he wouldn't be coming back?

Jim

[davidrn]

I would not like to say Jim, looking at his service record I would think that he ran around Christmas/New Year time, when conditions may have been a little more lax.
Just a thought.

Dave