Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request TS Indefatigable

TS Indefatigable , of which there were two. They were training ship on the Mersey off New Ferry. The first was used from 1864 to 1901.
Training ships for the sons and orphans of sailors.

I am interested to know if anybody can help with regard to the boys who trained there and if there is a list or register of those who joined it.

Reason is, my gr.gt grandfather went to sea from this area and spent his 13th birthday as a young sailor on a brig rigged ship, off the coast of Quebec. He was born is August 1852, so the dates could coincide if he was trained on it.

I have not been able to locate anything but that doesn't mean the records are not there to be found.

It is another way of maybe finding out what happened to his father, who disappeared off the map between 1857 and 1861 and that could possibly point to the father's death at sea, rather than a mystery disappearance.

Thanks for any help.

info here,

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/sheet/9

Thank you Bert. Always got your eye on the ball ! Brilliant.

And the TS Indefatigable Old Boys site

http://ts-indefatigable-oba.org/

Thanks DD. I did see that site and looking at it again, it does suggest to contact the Maritime Museum, which I might do too.

Making an earlier search of Bert's link has not shown up anything of interest so far.

All channels must be scrutinised if I;m going to get to the bottom of this.(if ever),so thank you very much.

Birkenhead history Society had a talk on the training ships a few days ago (16th).

Missed that then and how very odd. Must have a telepathic mind.

I think there's a post on wiki about a boys industrial school where young lads were trained up to do service in the navy.
May be a connection to this topic

Thanks Derek, I shall trawl the history sections, it might well have something to offer, but how far back to go is the mystery.

Project for tonight.

Found it, Derek.

It wasn't built until a bit later than the dates I'm looking for. Thanks anyway, and his brother may have gone to it though.

For anyone else who might be interested :

https://www.wikiwirral.co.uk/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/341036/1.html

There was another training ship on the Mersey called the HMS Conway,this ship was used to prepare young boys to be officers, and also two reformatory ships called Akbar and Clarence, the Akbar being for protestant boys and the Clarence for Catholics boys. Maybe he trained on one of these ships.

I never cottoned on to the significance of the initial letters of Akbar and Clarence, excellent.

I was hoping that he hadn't been a naughty boy, so tried to avoid the Akbar and Clarence.
So far, nothing has shown up but the Conway could be a possibility. Dates fit so I will try to find out if there are any records to be found. Thanks futurepast.

What is the significance of the initial letters, DD ?

Second thoughts, wasn't Conway for Royal Naval cadets, rather than Merchant Navy ?

A = Anglican = Akbar
C = Catholic = Clarence

Silly me. Thank you. Time for bed said Zeb Zzzz...