This is my first request for help - but it probably won't be the last. I am researching a man called Malcolm McCallum. He was a marine engineer from Dunbarton, Scotland who later emigrated to New Zealand, reportedly around 1890. He was definately still in Scotland in 1887 and definately in New Zealand by 1894.
I found some references which could be him, as an engineer on the SS Monowai (1) and SS Wairuna (1) (both Union Steam Ship Co of NZ) in 1905 and 1908 respectively, plus an entry on an alien registration form for the crew of the Wairuna in San Francisco in 1915 where he is shown as Chief Engineer.
I can't find either Malcolm or his wife on any emmigrant passenger list but I have a theory that Malcolm worked for the Denny Shipyard on the River Leven at Dumbarton (he lived just yards away from it) where the SS Monowai was built in 1889/90 and that he and his wife sailed with her to NZ on her delivery run. Who better to look after a Denny ship than a Denny trained engineer?
So Question 1 - Does anyone know of any way I could prove this theory?
I know about the career of the Monowai 1890 to 1897 on the San Francisco run, but nothing thereafter apart from her use as a troopship for the Boer War and WW1 then her removal from service in 1920 and scuttling in 1926. So Question 2 - Any info on the missing years 1897 to 1920 to be found anywhere?
I can find almost nothing about the Wairuna - as far as I can tell she was a cargo ship and the only real detail I have is that she was sunk in 1917 by a German raider somewhere in the Pacific. And so finally, Question 3 - Does anyone know about her career from 1905 when USSC bought her and 1917 when she sank?
Sorry to ask for so much in my very first post! Any help greatly appreciated.
Glendaveny
I found some references which could be him, as an engineer on the SS Monowai (1) and SS Wairuna (1) (both Union Steam Ship Co of NZ) in 1905 and 1908 respectively, plus an entry on an alien registration form for the crew of the Wairuna in San Francisco in 1915 where he is shown as Chief Engineer.
I can't find either Malcolm or his wife on any emmigrant passenger list but I have a theory that Malcolm worked for the Denny Shipyard on the River Leven at Dumbarton (he lived just yards away from it) where the SS Monowai was built in 1889/90 and that he and his wife sailed with her to NZ on her delivery run. Who better to look after a Denny ship than a Denny trained engineer?
So Question 1 - Does anyone know of any way I could prove this theory?
I know about the career of the Monowai 1890 to 1897 on the San Francisco run, but nothing thereafter apart from her use as a troopship for the Boer War and WW1 then her removal from service in 1920 and scuttling in 1926. So Question 2 - Any info on the missing years 1897 to 1920 to be found anywhere?
I can find almost nothing about the Wairuna - as far as I can tell she was a cargo ship and the only real detail I have is that she was sunk in 1917 by a German raider somewhere in the Pacific. And so finally, Question 3 - Does anyone know about her career from 1905 when USSC bought her and 1917 when she sank?
Sorry to ask for so much in my very first post! Any help greatly appreciated.
Glendaveny