M is for Master Mariner

When researching my husband’s family tree the occupation “Master Mariner” caught my eye.  James Burns, husband of Isabella Muirhead, was reported by John’s family to be a Master Mariner and a ship’s captain.  He was said to come from Dundee, Scotland and married Isabella in Sydney in 1861.

Isabella came out to Australia with her parents on the ship “John Bunyan” in October 1857.

That gave her four years to meet James and marry him.  The first record of James I can find is his birth and later baptism in Dundee, Angus, Scotland on 21st September, 1839.  His parents are listed as James Burns and Jean Anderson.  This is important because James Burns is not exactly an uncommon name and I had great difficulty differentiating him from other mariners with the same name.

In 1866, five years after his marriage, he is listed as an AB on the steamer “Auckland” on the Auckland to Sydney run.  An AB or Able Seaman is a naval rating indicating more than two year’s experience at sea and considered “well acquainted with his duty”.

In 1868 he is a “trimmer” on the ship “Black Swan” travelling between Maryborough in Queensland and Sydney.

A coal trimmer or trimmer is a position within the engineering department of a coal-fired ship which involves all coal handling tasks starting with the loading of coal into the ship and ending with the delivery of the coal to the stoker.

The trimmers worked inside the coal bunkers located on top of and between the boilers. Trimmers used shovels and wheelbarrows to move coal around the bunkers in order to keep the coal level, and to shovel the coal down the coal chute to the firemen below, who shoveled it into the furnaces. If too much coal built up on one side of a coal bunker, the ship would actually list to that side.

Trimmers were also involved in extinguishing fires in the coal bunkers. Fires occurred frequently due to spontaneous combustion of the coal. The fires had to be extinguished with fire hoses and by removing the burning coal by feeding it into the furnace. Wikipedia

The Black Swan State Library of Queensland

The Black Swan was an Iron steamship with two cylinders of 60 horsepower and  two masts, schooner rigged. She was a regular on the Bass Strait run when she collided with the Paddle steamer Luna in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria and sank. However she was raised, repaired and purchased in July 1868 by ASN Co. As a matter of interest she was broken up November 1880.

The following certificates could be those of our James Burns but I do not have enough information to be absolutely sure.

 An “ONLY MATE” must be nineteen years of age, and have been five years at sea.  In addition to the qualifications required for a Second Mate, an Only Mate must be able to find longitude using a chronometer, use a sextant, understand tides, know how to moor the boat, keep a log, know how to use mortar and rocket lines etc.      

If family lore is correct James received his Certificate of Competency as Master.  In the year 1874 he worked on the “Rebecca and Jane” on the McKay to Sydney route as an Able Seaman.

Meanwhile he and Isabella had four children, all born in Newcastle.  James was born in 1862, Robert in 1863, Elizabeth in 1866 and Hugh in 1868.

Elizabeth is my husband John’s ancestor.  She married Robert Muirhead.  Her mother’s maiden name was Muirhead so I’m still trying to get my head around that how they are related. Their son Hugh was John’s grandfather so there are quite a few generations descending from James and Isabella.

There are so many unanswered questions.  I have searched but can’t find a record of the deaths of James Burns or his wife Isabella.  Nor can I find any shipping records after 1874 so I still don’t know if James ever became captain of his own ship.