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Collection of 63 items relating to Captain Spring-Brown and John Brown

Date1888 - 1939

Object numberANMS1382

NameArchive series

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from David Spring-Brown

Terms

DescriptionThis collection of 63 items relates to the career of Captain John Frederick Spring-Brown as a Master Mariner and documents relating to Captain John Brown, a relative of Captain Spring-Brown's and mid-19th century sea captain. These consist of one birth certificate for Master-Mariner John Spring-Brown; two In memoriam booklets for Mrs Spring-Brown and John Frederick Spring-Brown (1942); one Orient line passenger ticket for Mrs Spring-Brown; three envelopes addressed to Captain Spring-Brown; one radiogram; one photograph of the QUEEN OF SCOTS; one telegram; one set of Coastal Pilot Licensing Regulations; two passenger lists of the RMMS AORANGI; 3 lunch menus for RMMS AORANGI; one newsletter; one set of parish notes; one newspaper clipping; one gazette extract; one receipt; two service records for Captain Spring-Brown; two photocopy extracts from books; 27 letters; one certificate of discharge for John Brown; one apprentice's indenture for John Brown; two documents, one relating to the death of Captain John Brown; one Elector's Right Residential Qualification for John Brown; and six references relating to service records for John Brown.HistoryThis collection gives a detailed picture of the life and career of a foreign-going master mariner at the turn of the century and into the 1930s. It has particular interest in the accounts of World War I activities, carrying troops in 1916 and carrying German prisoners and internees from Australia and New Zealand to Germany, then transporting Russian refugees around the coasts of northern Europe in 1919. The collection, and in particular the two journals recounting these voyages, also provides an insight into the importance of family relationships to seafarers like Spring-Brown, who missed his wife and family, and waited eagerly for correspondence on the long voyages away, and who described the impact of visiting his mother and siblings in England after 21 years absence. The collection contains documents relating to Spring Brown's father, also a master mariner, showing the strands of seafaring families who made their way to Australia through foreign voyaging.