Collection of 20 items relating to Captain Spring-Brown
Date1894 - 1938
Object numberANMS1383
NameArchive series
MediumPaper
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from David Spring-Brown
DescriptionThis collection of 20 items relates to the career of Captain John Frederick Spring-Brown as a Master Mariner. These consist of 12 certificates including a number of Pilotage Exemption Certificates and six certificates of discharge; two declarations from the Wellington Harbour Board; three envelopes addressed to Captain Spring-Brown; one permit from the Wellington Harbour Board; one receipt and license from the NZ Government Marine Department and one handwritten note.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 which made their way to Australia through foreign voyaging.