Hannah Cunliffe - Historical Researcher
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Hannah Cunliffe - Historical Researcher |
              
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Making History: Radio 4
The latest query from 'Making History' involved the hanging of Valeri Giovanni, an Italian, who signed on as a British merchant seaman onboard the Lorton and stabbed a fellow seaman to death. Using Lloyd's List, I was able to find out more about the voyage of the Lorton which left Hamburg in April 1899 and sailed to Oregon, Port Natal, New South Wales, Valparaiso, Caleta Buena and thence to Falmouth, arriving April 1901, carrying nitrates. The Merchant Shipping Acts told me more about the role of the Master, enforcing the law during a voyage of this kind. Upon discovering the murder, he ordered that Giovanni be put under arrest until he could be delivered to the constables in a British port. A description of the incident was written in the ship's official log book and signed by Giovanni. This was then used as evidence in the subsequent trial.
The 'Making History' team got in touch again recently with an interesting enquiry. One of their listeners had submitted a letter, dated 30 October 1805 and written on the ship Britannia, which they had found inside an old book about shipping - purchased at a charity sale. The big question was whether this letter was genuine... I had my doubts as, despite old-fashioned handwriting, the paper did not feel like it originated in the early nineteenth century. To help authenticate the letter, I did some background research using the following sources: Published
Sources Roger Knight, The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson (London, 2005) Robert Holden Mackenzie, Trafalgar
Roll: the Officers, the Men, the Ships (1913) N.A.M. Rodger, The
Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Peter
Warwick, Voices from the Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817 (London, 2005) The
National Archives The Trafalgar Database - www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/trafalgarancestors/ Letter by an officer of the Britannia
describing the Battle of Trafalgar 1805 Copy of a letter of James West,
Britannia, off The
Royal Naval Museum Two files of papers covering the career of Lieutenant John Wells (1784-1840) from Ordinary Seaman to Lieutenant. The collection includes; certificates, letters of appointment, and commissions for his career 1803-1816. Also a letter and sketch written as Quarter Master in HMS Britannia describing the Battle of Trafalgar, and a signal book and codes from HMS Excellent c.1808.
The 'Making History' team had received a maritime enquiry from listener Annette Kelly, whose great uncle, Joe Kelly, was believed to have been a crew member on the passenger liner SS Waratah, which went missing in 1909. The brief for the programme was to prove his presence on the ship, look at his role onboard and find any information that might help Annette to trace her family tree in more depth. There was also great interest in the ship itself, the circumstances of its loss and subsequent efforts to find what happened to it. I met Annette and the 'Making History' producer in central London and spent a day guiding them around the following record offices, where we located these fascinating documents: The
Principal Registry: High Holborn Administration for the death of Joseph Kelly – Indexes 1910. The
National Maritime Museum: Caird Library Lloyd’s Weekly Shipping Index Volume 2 1909, entries July 29 – Sept 30, Dec 16. Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 1909 – specification of vessel P&O Company: Ships: Individual Ships, miscellaneous material: Waratah 1908 Sea Breezes XLIV Vol 44 Jan-Dec 1970 & 1997 Edition Dossier on the Waratah The
National Archives: BT 369/16-30 Board of Trade and successors:
Marine Department and successors: Shipping Casualty Investigation Papers
1910-1988: Passenger Steam Vessel Waratah Lost Between BT 100/244 Admiralty
and Board of Trade: Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen and predecessor:
Agreements and Crew Lists, Series III: Ship’s Name: Waratah 1908-1909 HO 45/10632/201093
Inquiry into loss of S.S. Waratah 1910-1911 BT 334/46 Register of Deceased Seamen January 1910 A few days later, I visited the BBC studios at GB Western House to have a chat about our findings with presenter Nick Baker. The resulting programme was broadcast on 31 October 2006. Television Research:
I worked as the maritime researcher for Century Aspect Films who produced the series 'Boat Yard', filmed in the summer of 2005 and shown weekly on Discovery Home & Leisure in November/December 2005. My brief was to locate five boat restoration projects to feature. The ten part series followed these projects and aimed to capture the imagination of the nation by combining the hunt for a rusty old shell of a boat with the journey of how it was lovingly restored to its former splendour; ready to set sail by the end of each episode. The producers wanted contributors for the series who already owned an old boat they were planning to restore, or people who had aspirations to buy an old boat that needed doing up. The final projects had the tough deadline of completing the work within 4 months. The series covered boats of all sizes and type, from any era, and made from any material, needing work of various levels to get them on the water again. The programme became a joint project with my father, Tom Cunliffe, who was the presenter. Each project was allotted two 30 minute episodes of film time and the resulting programme was entertaining viewing. If you would like to discuss any similar radio or television research projects with me, then please email: cunlifferesearch@aol.com. |
Tuesday 15 April 2008