Genealogy Chat

I have possible parents of one of my ancestors in Liverpool, for one child he is a rigger and another a Mariner, please could anyone tell me if these are the same, they both sound as though they could be to do with the sea.

Thanks for any help

Marilyn

I dont think thats a problem Marilyn - a rigger is the sailor who uses the ropes to hoist up the sails so a mariner/rigger is compatible.

Thanks for that Heather, you just solved my problem!!

Marilyn

A rigger is someone who works with ropes, cables, etc., and would be a dock worker, rather than a sailor. Actually, it's not just ships' rigging that might apply. A guy who dealt with the cables and struts on old biplanes was an aircraft rigger, and riggers work on circus tents, wireless masts, and derricks ( the standard 18th century crane). However, I think it still won't be a problem for Marilyn.

Thanks to all of you for your replies, it has helped me put my tree together for another generation.

Marilyn

Oh, just found this, which may be of interest:

ANY ONE who frequents the waterfront may enjoy an exhibition of oldtime seamanship in watching the work of the ship's riggers.
RIGGING A DANGEROUS TRADE ANY ONE who frequents the waterfront may enjoy an exhibition of oldtime seamanship in watching the work of the ship s riggers. in these days of coal and gasoline burning engine.. There are still a few sailing craft scattered about the city s docks whose rigging needs overhauling at this Spring season, and the ancient trade of ship s rigger is active. It is one of the most picturesque trades in the world, and in some re-, spects the most hazardous. .1 ship s rigger must the talents of a. trapeze , a painter and a car--' penter, and be, of , an sailor. It is easy to find ship s carpenters arid painters along the dock, but the riggers, who are masters of 'all the intricate rigging of ships of every kind, and hare also the skill to repair them. are almost extinct. There was a time, a generation and more ago, when the docks about fork n ere crowded with sailing craft, when ..thousands of experienced ship s riggers could be engaged overnight and at a moderate wage. The ship s rigger must venture aloft in rigging which is mown to be weak and defective. W trapeze performer works aloft certain that the rigging above the stage is solidly--constructed. ` Should he. .fall ha is protected by a netting beneath him. The ship s rigger has no such safeguard. Should the. rope on n-hich he is standing high up in the rigging give way he must come down on the bare deck, or perhaps sate himself in a measure by leaping into the water. Serious acct= dents of this kind are common. A few of the oldtime ship s riggers still linger about the waterfront oP New Tork, the remnants of the thousands who once handled shipping of the harbor. They are rather more numerous in Down East ports, where sailing craft are more common. Tltc riggers of New fork make headquarters usually in the loft buildings along South Street, _ where quaint old roof fines still preserve the `original appearance of the street. _ To visit one of these old offices is to step 'back suddenly for a century-. These spacious old buildings were erected long before the days of elevators . . . To their upper floors one must climb many winding flights of old wooden stairs. The , to call them such, ire usually very old-fashioned, with ,' of another century, while ihc walls are hung with pictures of forgotten s hips and many deep sea . These interiors have cha. Little since their windows k .ked down upon the docks of South Street, crowded with the famous clipper ships which parried the Stars and Stripes to every ca. 7.'he few ship s riggers who remain are in much demand at present, a.nd their n ages would have amazed the of a past generation. In; refitting a vessels now let, and the work is definitely set down in blueprints. The ship s rigger seldom worked from blueprints. I He estimated the amount of work re--I quired with an eye and set t a price upon it by a system of mathematics all his ow n. When a ship comes into port with her rigging seriously--injured she is taken I, to a ship yard, but much of the minor I repairing is still done at the docks. t >:Jquipped with a supply of new ropes and other details, the rigger will yen--I turc into dangerous places that might I well daunt an ordinary sailor. One of the pleasures of a sailing voyage in the past was to watch the' sailors work aloft, skillfully adjusting their sails.

Thanks Heather, interesting reading, dont think I could have done that, battling high winds and dizzy heights - and - with no safety net.

Marilyn