Tracing Mercantile Marine Officers

This post highlights the records I was able to use to discover more about Joseph William COPPIN, the third officer aboard the SS Dwinsk. When the ship was torpedoed on 18 June 1918, he took charge of lifeboat seven. As mentioned in an earlier post, the ship’s master, Henry NELSON, told the enquiry that COPPIN was taken aboard the submarine for questioning then returned to the boat, however no other crew member of the SS Dwinsk mentioned this in in their reports[1]. No doubt COPPIN would have told my grandfather and the other men in his lifeboat what transpired although because those men all perished it is a story we can never hear.

Joseph William COPPIN was born in St Neots, Liskeard, Cornwall on 14 August 1882[2]. He had three elder sisters[3] and a younger brother, John Edward Pearce COPPIN[4]. The children’s father, John M. COPPIN, died 1887[5]. In 1891 his widow Jane PEARCE was living at Draynes, St Cleer, Liskeard with four of her children including her two sons, Joseph and John[6].

The family home, Draynes House, is now a grade two listed building[7]. The house is described as a two-storey mid-19th century dwelling with a central entrance. It built of slatestone and granite rubble. An area of woodland and the Golitha Falls which are close to Draynes House are now popular beauty spots managed by the National Nature Reserve. My father-in-law was from Liskeard and I have visited the woodland several several times. Next time I am in Cornwall I must search out the house.

 In an earlier post, Tracing Merchant Seafarers, I suggested websites and records that could help trace all ranks of seafarers. While crew lists, log books and enquiries into the loss of ships will give information about ships’ officers as well as the non-officer crew members there are also other records which pertain particularly to merchant marine officers.

The record set UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927 is available at Ancestry and is the first place to try looking for merchant seaman officers. It is very important to view the original when searching this record set and to look at the images either side of the record you have found. There may be a number of images relating to your officer and much more information than what is transcribed. In their information about the record set Ancestry actually suggest searching the entire roll as sometimes the records were filed in the wrong order[8]. A search for Joseph William COPPIN within the record set returned three entries, but there were actually seventeen separate scanned documents.

As well as addresses, dates and birthplace, the certificates give a personal description presumably to avoid fraudulent use of the document. Joseph William was 5’ 8½’’ tall with a fair complexion, brown hair and blue eyes[9]. On taking a competency test the officer had to list all the ships he had worked on since taking his last examination. Therefore, when Joseph took his first certificate as a second mate in December 1902 the ship on which he had served his apprentice was recorded[10].  Ancestry’s UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927 record set also helped me discover that Joseph’s younger brother, John Edward Pearce COPPIN, also became a merchant seaman[11].

The brothers joined the same ship, the Whitlieburn, as apprentices on 26 October 1898. Joseph William was sixteen years of age; John was two years younger. They completed their apprenticeships on 18 September 1902 then remained aboard as able seamen for a further month[12] [13].

The Whitlieburn, a square-rigged sailing ship, was built in Scotland in 1894 and registered at Glasgow[14]. CLIP indicates that the logbook from 1901-2 is at the British National Archives in Kew (BT165/16). It is possible that the brothers are mentioned within the log and examining the log is definitely a means to discover where William and John COPPIN travelled during their apprenticeships. This is certainly something I need to check out at the archive when I am next at Kew.

After gaining his certificate as a second mate COPPIN joined the Dalrymple[15]. Again, the log books for the barque are at the NA at Kew (BT165/120) and would give more details of his life at sea. Even if he was not mentioned by name, details of where he travelled, conditions on board and information about problems encountered by the crew in general could be recorded and would give an interesting insight into his life at sea. He passed his next examination as first mate in April 1904[16] and by 1907[17] he was qualified as a master. In 1907 he was recorded as working on a further six ships, of which the relevant logs for five are preserved at Kew[18]. I was able to find the references by searching by the ships’ names within BT165 in the National Archive’s online catalogue, Discovery. The final ship I am having difficulty identifying; the handwriting may be a little unclear, to me at any rate. One final record appears on Ancestry: COPPIN applied for a new copy of his master’s certificate which had been lost when the War Baron sank on 5th January 1918[19]. Not all the ships he sailed on between 1907 and 1918 are mentioned, but a few are recorded. Apart from the War Baron COPPIN also worked aboard the Laconia and the Andania.  The Laconia sank in February 1917 while Joseph William was serving as a third officer so the Dwinsk was COPPIN’S third experience of being torpedoed at the very least. Both the War Baron and the Laconia deserve a post of their own.

By using the records recommended when searching non-officer seamen, I discovered he was aboard the Cauca as second mate in 1915[20] and that his previous ship to the Cauca was the Milwaukee. Liverpool crew records indicate that the Oriana, upon which he was 2nd mate, sailed to Valparaiso in Chile in 1908[21]. This was another occasion when I needed to scroll through a number of images to find the details about the ship’s voyage. Once again, more information was found by browsing through the digitalised images rather than looking at the transcription.

There is no evidence to suggest Joseph William COPPIN ever married.

I am sure I will be writing more about Joseph William COPPIN after a visit to the National Archives when I will access logbooks and reports into the sinking of the War Baron and the Laconia. As well as telling some of Joseph COPPIN’s story this post has highlighted the variety of documents and information available within the record set UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927 on Ancestry. It also serves to remind us not to forget to use the records available for all merchant seamen which were discussed in a previous blog about tracing merchant seafarers.

References

[1] Board of Navy and Admiralty (Great Britain) 1918. North America: German submarines, Volume I. Inquiry into sinking of SS Dwinsk 18 June 1918.  Historical Section: Records used for the official First World War. Ref: ADM137/1617. Kew, London: The National Archives.

[2] Birth Index (CR) England and Wales RD: Liskeard 3rd Q 1881 COPPIN. Joseph, William.  Vol .5c p.59 https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ : accessed 3 May 2021.

[3] Census returns. England. St Neots, Liskeard, Cornwall. 313 April 1881 COPPIN, Joseph B (Head). piece: 2286, folio: 90 p.3. Collection: 1881 census collection. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021

[4] Birth Index (CR) England and Wales RD: Liskeard 2nd Q 1884. COPPIN. John Edward P.  Vol. 5c p.55 https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ : accessed 3 May 2021.

[5] Death Index (CR) England and Wales RD: Liskeard 1st Q 1887. COPPIN. John Marsena.  Vol. 5c p.54 https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ : accessed 3 May 2021.

[6] Census returns. England. St Neots, Liskeard, Cornwall. 5 April 1891 COPPIN, Jane (Head). piece: 1811 folio: 73 Collection: 1881 census collection. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021

[7] British Listed Buildings. Draynes House St Neots Liskeard  https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101140453-draynes-house-st-neot#.YHWTVehKhPY accessed 1 June 2021.

[8] Ancestry.co.uk. Card Search. UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927 https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021

[9]  National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. Examiner’s Authority, Delivery of a Certificate of Competency. 3 Dec 1902 COPPIN, Joseph William. Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[10] National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, List of Testimonials and full Statement of Service from first going to sea or from date of present Certificate. Dec 1902. Second Mate. COPPIN, Joseph William. Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[11] National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, List of Testimonials and full Statement of Service from first going to sea or from date of present Certificate. Dec 1902 COPPIN, John Edward Pearce. Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[12] National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, List of Testimonials and full Statement of Service from first going to sea or from date of present Certificate. Dec 1902 COPPIN, Joseph William. Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[13] National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, List of Testimonials and full Statement of Service from first going to sea or from date of present Certificate. Dec 1902 COPPIN, John Edward Pearce. Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[14] Crewlist.org.uk Search by ship’s name. Whitlieburn. https://crewlist.org.uk accessed 7 Jun 2021.

[15] . National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, List of Testimonials and full Statement of Service from first going to sea or from date of present Certificate. May 1904. COPPIN, Joseph William. Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[16] National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. Examiner’s Authority, Delivery of a Certificate of Competency. 3 Dec 1902. First Mate. COPPIN, Joseph William. Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[17] National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. Examiner’s Authority, Delivery of a Certificate of Competency. 2 May 1907. master. COPPIN, Joseph William. Certificate No. 037327 Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[18] National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, List of Testimonials and full Statement of Service from first going to sea or from date of present Certificate. May 1907 COPPIN, Joseph William. Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[19] National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. Declaration of loss of certificate. 2 May 1907. master. COPPIN, Joseph William. Certificate No. 037327 Collection: Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. https://ancestry.co.uk : accessed 3 May 2021.

[20] National Maritime Museum. 1915 crew lists. Advanced Search COPPIN, J.W  https://1915crewlists.rmg.co.uk : accessed: 23 Jun 2021.

[21] Crew Lists (Merchant Navy) England 1908 SS Oriana 5 May -5 Aug 1908 COPPIN JW 4th Mate. Collection: Liverpool crew lists 1861-1919 https://www.ancestry.com  : accessed: 23 Jan 2021.