Family Tree Frog

S is for Ships My father and I often have this exchange: Me:  That's a nice boat Him: That's not a boat.  It's a ship. Me: What's the difference? Him: It's too big to be a boat. Me: So how can you tell it's too big. Him: ..... I can't remember what he says next (if it floats, it's a boat is my logic and I tend to tune out to specifics).  I would probably have known the difference between a boat and a ship if I'd listened to him. But I didn't, so I was forced to google it the other day in preparation for this post. (Gasp of shock from fellow librarians)   Google told me that if you can put a boat on another boat, then it's a boat and the other one is a ship.  Or something like that. If you wish to investigate further then you can go here or here. Here's a ship for you. HMAS Choules RAN Can you see all the sailors lined up neatly on the deck? Here is a boat.  And my dear father. These p...

M is for Malta (and Musters) Image taken from page 237 of 'John Cassell's Illustrated History of England. The text, to the Reign of Edward I., by J. F. Smith; and from that period by W. Howitt' from the British Library on Flickr My great-great-grandfather Edward Conner served in Malta - or at least I'm pretty sure he did because the eldest of his children was born there - Edward G Conner in about 1856/7. According to The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea,  (borrowed from my father's library this week during a visit to Sydney), Malta is: a strategically placed island in the central Mediterranean Sea commanding the relatively narrow channel between the southern extremity of Europe and the northern extremity of Africa...i t was the main base of the British Mediterranean Fleet.      (pp. 514-515) ADM 338/51 and ADM 338/52 have records of Baptisms 1845-1959 (Malta, dockyard) and 1924-77 (Malta (Bighi), Royal Naval Hosptial and ...