Shep's Place Family Tree

The Mercantile Navy list perused by Lloyds of London on behalf of EMS did not reveal a certificate of competency for Walter between 1857 and 1860, but they sent a leaflet setting out a number of explanations of how a master mariner last century could command a ship and still not hold a certificate. These were required from 1851. It was in that year that the Lloyds Registers first showed a Captain W. Stevenson, the only "W" from 1845 onward, all of which EMS scanned page by page for his name as they have no indexes. There was one exception, a W. Stevenson who was the master-owner of various very small coastal vessels which operated out of Cornish ports, and obviously not relevant.

In 1851 Captain W. Stevenson took command of the newly built WRKTN "Duchess of Lancaster" - 395 tons ‎(a sailing vessel of course)‎ for the owner, Rathbone, Liverpool, for the China run and did the same for 1852 and 1853. After that from Liverpool to London and "ports various" until 1857/58. The shipping year was from June until the July of the following year. In 1858/9 a Captain Watts took this ship to South America and no further reference could be found of a W. Stevenson. There is no guarantee that this particular one was Walter as only the initial showed. A ship called the "Maidstone" was lost in the 1860/61 year, Captain Stevenson, no initial, but he and his crew were rescued and sent back to Engand. Details were supplied by Lloyds.