Transcript of crew list: SURPRISE, 55387, 1/7/1874 to 31/12/1874, List D

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Crew lists and agreements for British registered ships show details of the ship, the owners and the master with a list of the crew.

This is a transcript of the details shown on a crew list which CLIP has transcribed from the records held at local archives.

More details of crew lists are here: Crew lists

Reading the transcript

This page is linked from other pages, such as our indexes of seafarers.

If there are more documents for the ship for that year, links to them will be displayed at the top of the page so that you can search for other records for the seafarer or the ship.

The Ship details section of the transcript shows the details taken from the front page of the document, or the header for half-yearly returns.

It also shows the name of the archive holding the document and the archive reference.

The Crew names section shows a transcript of the entries for the crew, in the order in which they appear in the original document. If the link to this page comes from the index of seafarers, that person's record will be highlighted. Crew members occasionally signed off and then signed on again, so it is a good idea to scan all through the list.

The original crew list will show more detail than our transcript so it is well worth obtaining a copy of the document. For example, it will show the person's wages and when they signed on and off. There may also be details of the voyages, records of any disciplinary matters and accidents to the ship.

Data sources

This data is taken from the crew lists and agreements which are held at:

The documents cover the period 1863 to 1913.

Other transcripts of crew lists for this ship for 1874:   1/1/1874 to 30/6/1874  

Ship details

Vessel  SURPRISE Dates  1/7/1874  to 31/12/1874
Official number  55387 List type  List D
Ownership  AYLESFORD, EARL OF Registered  PORTSMOUTH, 9/1866
  PACKINGTON HALL
  COVENTRY Tonnage  161 net
Master  JOHN CAWS Archives Portsmouth History Centre
  SEAVIEW, IOW Archives reference

Crew names

Forename Surname Age/DOB Birthplace Capacity Previous vessel
JOHN GEORGE CAWS 30 BEMBRIDGE, IOW MASTER
GURNEY DAVIS 25 SEAVIEW, IOW MATE NERIED, 1874
WILLIAM GUBBEY 27 PORTSMOUTH BOATSWAIN ALINE, 1874
JOHN FARROW 57 CROMER AB GLEAM, 1873
THOMAS BENHAM 33 GOSPORT AB JAMES, PORTSMOUTH, 1874
JOSEPH BIDDLECOMBE 50 PORTSMOUTH AB GLEAM, PORTSMOUTH, 1874
GEORGE FLEET 32 HAYLING ISLAND AB VEGA, 1872
WALTER CORNEY 40 PRESTON, SUSSEX AB J C, 1874
WILLIAM SUMMERS 40 PORTSMOUTH AB MAGICIAN, 1874
WILLIAM MATTHEWS 20 BEMBRIDGE AB HERON, 1874
JOHN GEORGE KNIGHT 31 GOSPORT AB ISLANDER, 1874
WILLIAM DAWKINS 22 EMSWORTH AB OLIVIA, 1874
THOMAS LEWIS 42 LYMINGTON AB EXCAVATOR, 1874
HENRY CAWS 23 BEMBRIDGE AB MAIA, 1874
FRANK KELLAWAY 23 FRESHWATER AB OLYMPIA, 1874
HEDLEY HEWETT 16 PORTSMOUTH 2ND STEWARD MAGICIAN, 1874
SAMUEL H WRIGHT 21 LONDON COOK FIRST SHIP
JAMES BENNETT 35 COWES ENGINEER CHRISTABEL, 1872
WILLIAM OSBORNE 44 PENEAZE AB HEBE, 1872
WILLIAM HOUNSELL 30 PORTSMOUTH AB BRUNETTE, 1872