RNR (T) Records

[mmm45]

Hi

I have a casualty from HM Trawler Viola who drowned off Lerwick Nov 1914 DH Tom Craven 1386 DA on my local Roll of Honour.

I have lots of info reference the ship(shes still afloat and was off Grytvyken in South Atlantic) but what records am i likely to find out about the man from BT 377/7 at the NA. Will they be similar to the online RN ones??

Thank you

Ady

[horatio2]

RNR ratings' service records were kept on large cards (nearly A3 size). They are not in the same format as the RN on-line records but contain similar information. The original cards are held at the Fleet Air Am Museum; films of them are at Kew but these do not always give good copies as some entries are in red ink. The choice is yours.

[per ardua per mare per terram]

You will get more information than from the online RN service registers, such as his address and the Christian names of his parents. The cards usually act as a medal card too, but the medal roll in ADM 171 will tell you who the medals were sent to eg F = father.

[mmm45]

Thanks guys for your replies gonna get in touch with Yeovilton tomorrow.

Ady

[historydavid]

Ady, this is the Admiralty death record for your man:

CRAVEN, THOMAS, DECK HAND, RNR, 1386 DA, VIOLA H.M. Trawler (hired), 07-Nov-14, UK DROWNING.

Best wishes

David

[Robb Robinson]

Ady,

I now have more information regarding Tom Craven's death which I opbtained from the Lerwick police records thanks to the help of the Museum there. The Viola was in Lerwick harbour during a great storm. A number of the crew took the opportunity to row ashore for a night out in Lerwick. After visiting local bars they rowed out in the harbour but were unable to get back to their own vessel according to the records and went to another ship. Craven later returned to Lerwick with others. All other crew members were reunited with the Viola when the skipper brought the ship alongside the quay but Craven was missing. The following morning his body was found on the beach in the harbour. It was considered at the time that he had missed his footing returning to the ship at some point during the night and had drowned in the harbour.

Incidentally, last year I relocated the Viola's original bell on a farm in Norway and we negotiated its return to Hull where we arranged for it to be mounted in the City's Fishgate Fishmarket. However, we have just lent the bell to the museum in Grytviken for the season there and its is currently on the journey south. If you would like to see a little more on this Google South Georgia Newsletter. I am currently writing a book about the ship but really want to find more information on the skipper Charles Allum. I have a photograph and know he died in Liverpool in 1953 and believe he still has relatives in the London area and that he served for a while again at the beginning of the Second World War.

Regards

Robb Robinson