Hello, can you or anyone help me find a passenger Margaret Skinner and her two children who travelled by ship from Tasmania to San Francisco in 1850. Sadly she arrived with her husband, a Master Mariner named Peter Paterson and sadly for whatever reason, we don’t know, he returned to Tasmania without her or their two children. He later married and I am a descendant of his from his second wife.
Peter Paterson died in 1856, his son Alfred Paterson, was born at sea in 1854. I believe Peter deserted his first wife and the children.
|
You might find of interest Peter Paterson was first mate to a Captain Fotheringham who died aboard his ship The Betsey & Sophia, a whaling ship. Peter then skippered the ship continued the voyage for hunting elephant seals but the ship ran onto rocks on Desolation Island, known to the French discover of this island as Iles Kergueren.
Paterson and the crew including his brother John Paterson built a 20 ton sloop over a six month period and sailed over 3000 miles in the southern Indian Ocean to Tasmania, Australia. Five crew remained on the island fearing the sloop would sink, they were picked up by an English sealing ship and taken to Saint Helena. Paterson skippered another ship to rescue the five men but met another ship near the island captained by the same man who rescued them a year before.
Cheers!
P.S. Check out the story “The Wreck of the Betsey & Sophia on the Iles Kergueren, 1831.” written by Ann Savours in 1961, online an epic story.
You have my permission to post this message.
Question posted on the web site: http://maritimeheritage.org/ShipsStore/2014/06/margaret-skinner-1850/
After searching San Francisco newspapers of the day, I find no information about Margaret Skinner or Captain Paterson. Both surnames are quite common, so the search becomes that much more difficult. Additionall, if they travelled other than first class, i.e. in steerage, passengers were not noted in the papers. They would, however, be in ship’s logs. Logs for U.S. ships are housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Most countries have their own records divisions, and many have maritime museums that may be able to provide assistance. Contact information is here: http://www.maritimeheritage.org/resources.htm. Hope that helps.