Novel research (passenger ship info 1959)

[RickLee]

Hi Everyone
Thanks for having me in the group.
I'm writing an Australian novel and looking for help on some details.
I have a young English woman who needs to board a passenger ship from Sydney to England in 1959. Would it be possible to take a newborn baby along without documents? The woman is traveling on a British passport. Could she just carry the baby on? Or would she need to smuggle it?
Hope there are some on here who worked on passenger ships in those days.
Thanks for your help.

[Andy]

Hi and welcome to SH, we hope you find the site useful for your novel. I can't help you with your question but I'm sure other members can ... I'll alter the title of your thread slightly so as to suggest more about the question.

cheers,
Andy

[John Rogers]

The process back then was for the baby to be entered on the adult passengers passport (Mother).

[RickLee]

Thanks Andy and John.
I thought that might be the case. So in this case the baby is not on the woman's passport. Do you think she could get it onboard and all the way into England ? Borders between England and Australia were not a strict back then. Would she have to smuggle it onboard somehow ? And if so, any ideas How?
I know this is not your usual kind of questions.😉

[pompeyfan]

Hi Rick

Welcome to SH.

I worked aboard Canberra when she was still a liner transporting passengers from Australia and New Zealand to the UK and visa versa. This was early 1970s, so a bit later than the dates you mention. However, regulations would have been the same. When we reached Australia officials would come aboard, they were very strict. I was in charge of the Crew & Isolation Hospital. Sometimes, youngsters were admitted with chickenpox or measles, not babies, but very young. As far as I remember, they were on the parents passport, usually the mother as John said. It would be very difficult to smuggle a child aboard. Remember, it was a six week trip on most ships. All cabins had a steward, so almost impossible to hide a baby from the steward or any crew member. Gossip was rife below decks and indeed upper decks. I also looked after stowaways in my hospital. They were all caught pretty quickly. Also of course are passenger lists. I emigrated on Northern Star in 1968. All passengers were listed including babies and young children. I still have that list. Passengers, including babies not on that list would have surely been found. You may gain some information from my Northern Star thread see https://www.shippinghistory.com/showthread.php?t=17

Good luck with your novel

[John Rogers]

If caught I can see all kinds of charges against the woman, Kidnapping, Human Trafficking, Smuggling. Helping a stowaway. Very hard to do, she would have to have a crewmembers help and that would be hard to find.

[Dredger]

Hi RickLee: This info may help with your question for your novel and the information that should be recored on the incoming passenger lists of 1959.

About UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960

This database is an index to the Board of Trade’s passenger lists of ships arriving in the United Kingdom from foreign ports outside of Europe and the Mediterranean. Exceptions to this are vessels that originated outside of these areas but then picked up passengers in European or Mediterranean ports en route. The UK port of arrival was not necessarily the final destination of the ship. In addition, the names found in the index are linked to actual images of the passenger lists, copied from The National Archives (TNA) collection series BT26.

The passenger lists date from 1878 to 1888 and 1890 to 1960. However, many of the pre-1890 lists were irregularly destroyed by the Board of Trade in 1900. Therefore, there are not many lists included in this database that date from these earlier years.

Separate lists were kept for British (and Commonwealth) passengers and Alien passengers. In addition, there was a variety of form types used throughout the years. These differences in forms may result in a variety of information recorded for different passengers.

When it is available, the following information is included in this index:

• Name of passenger
• Birth date or age
• Arrival date
• Port of departure
• Port of arrival*
• Ports of voyage, if recorded
• Vessel name
• Shipping line, if recorded
• Official number, if recorded
• Source information (TNA collection number, piece, and item numbers)

*The Ports of Arrival listed are the final destinations of the ship. However, if the ship had a stopover in the UK en route to another destination, it still had to have a passenger list filled out.

Additional information such as the passenger’s occupation and intended address in the United Kingdom may also be listed on some forms. From the 1930s entries included the abbreviation, “T”, if the visit was for the purpose of tourism.

Source Link: https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1518

[billyboy]

A warm welcome aboard from the Philippines. Please enjoy all this great new site has to offer.

[RickLee]

Thanks everyone for your help. This is really useful information. I will have to rethink things. I still may need to go down the stowaway route, maybe with crew help.
Cheers everyone.

[RickLee]

Just thinking, maybe there would have been ships or shipping lines that were not as, 'above board' shall we say. (Pun intended) Could she buy passage on a freight liner for instance? Pay off a Captain from a foreign ship under African or South American flags?

[IJC 38]

#10 Yes she could pay to get aboard numerous flagged vessels and nothing said, but you are still faced with the same problem upon arrival in the UK of who are you? and who is the child?. Although many immigration officers/customs/police took the odd bottle (I hear laughter in the background) I think they may have drawn the line at turning a blind eye to a woman and child. Why not move your novel forward in time to the present era, where-in she could buy a passport for herself and child and upon arrival would have no problem getting in and also be given a Council house and benefits no questions asked

[Varley]

Well. If baby bribed aboard and sufficiently young looking she could have had it on board as far as outside parties are concerned.

[John Rogers]

The Captain would have to record the Birth.

[Varley]

Indeed, and then there would be 'legitimate' entry documentation.

[tugger]

Don't know about a trip to the UK, but in the 50s 60s plenty of ring bolts crossed the Tasman from NZ to Aus, on one trip i think there were more ring bolts on the Monawai from Auckland to Sydney than fare paying passengers.
Tugger

[RickLee]

Thanks guys. Some good humour on here. All helps me get my head around the possibilities. I'm grateful.