Family Tree Frog

V is for HMS Vernon James Cook's register of service (ADM 196/31) shows him serving on the Ship Vernon during the following dates: 10 May 1880 - 30 September 1880 1 October 1880 - 20 November 1882 18 August 1886 - 28 January 1887 18 April 1890 - 19 July 1890 10 Sept 1890 - 29 January 1891 30 November 1896 - 2 March 1898 10 March 1901 - 20 May 1901 21 March 1902-15 Sept 1902 Comments on his service 1880-1882 report: Sobriety and to my entire satisfaction - Mr Cook has had considerable experience in the instruction of Cransus (?) torpedo classes, and is a steady and fully qualified Torpedo Gunner.  J.O. Hopkins And again in 1886-87: With sobriety and to my entire satisfaction a trustworthy officer & a good instructor. S. Long Bruno Pappalardo in Tracing Your Naval Ancestors advises that:  Torpedo training was provided from 1872 in HMS Vernon, in Portsmouth. ..(p, 9) When I look at the register of service, I notice that there ...

O is for HMS Orontes My 2nd great-grandfather James Cook (no, not the James Cook) was a Gunner on the HMS Orontes from 15 June 1879 to 19 July 1879. (ADM 196/31 Warrant Officers Register of Service Image 351). He was 31 years old and had been married for nearly eight years to Caroline (nee Jefferies). His daughter Eleanor (my great-grandmother) was just four years old.   According to this site he would have been paid about  £2 6 per annum.   In the remarks column on his register of service, it says " Naval Brigade 8 Mch 79 to VO (perhaps this is WO??) Orontes 6 to 9 June 79, Hosp.(???) to Cape of Good Hope from 10 June to 11 June 79 ".  Before serving on the Orontes , my great-great-grandfather was serving on the Shah .  His service record lists the period 19 April 78 to 14 June 79. Conrad Dixon's Ships of the Victorian Navy advises us that on the way back from her first commission: Shah was diverted to Natal to land 400 officers, seam...