Employment reference for Frederick Heggen aboard the SS ASHLEY

Date20 February 1899

Object numberANMS1099[003]

NameReference

MediumInk on paper

DimensionsOverall: 165 x 200 mm

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Robyn Heggen

Terms

DescriptionA collection of papers relating to the merchant seaman service of Frederick Heggen.HistoryFrederick Heggen was a merchant seaman, ferry driver and Cockatoo Island painter and docker, born in Castletown, Islandmagee, County Antrim, Ireland in 1873. He emigrated to Brisbane, Australia in 1885 and died in Sydney in 1964, living in the Sydney suburbs of Balmain and Lilyfield. Heggen worked at Cockatoo Island until 1948 when he was 75 years old. According to family history, Heggen went to sea in 1891 as an Able Seaman on the barque KOSCIUSKO from Sydney to Gothenberg, Sweden. He mainly sailed on cargo ships around the world and coastal coal ships. Heggen had a varied, maritime related career, also working on river dredges on the north New South Wales coast, a Wollongong lighthouse and a master on the Balmain ferry. He then worked on Cockatoo Island as a rigger and took vessels on sea trials. His last employment on Cockatoo Island was as a nightwatchman. Discharge certificates and references were important in gaining employment as a merchant seaman. SignificanceThis is an excellent, well preserved collection of the record of a merchant seaman from the 1880s to the 1910s.