Ship Passenger Lists

 

A.

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B.

I'm not sure how the transcriber spelled PORTEOUS from this. It almost looks like PORTEENS. Maybe the transcriber thought it looked like the standardized spelling of PORTEOUS. Actually, he would have been right in doing so, because William Dennis PORTAS did become PORTEOUS.

I had a hard time finding John and Mary Ann's passenger listing. Ancestry.com listed the name as PORSENS. I can see how they would mistake the handwritten "t" as an "s." So here the surname is really spelled PORTEUS.

Copyright 2005-2006 Karen Porteous Glass. All rights reserved. Contact

19 April 1870, SS Malta sailed from Liverpool to Port of New York, USA.

Jno Porsens/Porteus, 28 = John Portus
M A, 28 = Mary Ann
Georgina, 4 = Georgiana
Wm, 3 = William Dennis
Jno, Inf = John Henry

In steerage was John, Mary Ann, Georgiana, William Dennis, John Henry. The person
who wrote the passengernames, listed my great grandparents and their children
very different from what I would have suspected - PORTEUS. The PORTEOUS
name has been spelled so many ways I shouldn't have been surprised when I finally
found the entry at the National Archives.

This is the only picture of the ship I could find. It is an old shipwreck postcard "Cunard
Line SS Malta," published by Gibson and Sons, Penzance & Scilly Isles, SS Malta was
built in1865, gross 2132, 1st class passengers 40, steerage 550, wrecked Cape
Cornwall 15 Oct 1889 carrying general cargo from Liverpool to Venice. I'm sure
the SS Malta is similar to the SS Bothnia pictured below.

SS Malta 1889 (This information came from the website Land's End Diving.)
Wrecked under Kenidjack Castle in thick fog a Cunnard Liner carrying cargo and
passengers on a pleasure cruise, all the 40 crew and 21 passengers were safely
removed by the sennen lifeboat. The wreck was heavily salvaged with 633 tons of
copper, iron, tinplate and pig iron recovered along with 160 tons of herrings and 720
tons of sugar.

The wreck lies close against the cliff in about 10 metres of water on a rocky bottom,
even though she's broken large sections are recognizable with a big piece of the hull
intact. Best dived early or late in the year when the kelp isn't so dense and the entire
wreck can be seen scattered amongst the rocks and boulders.

21 April 1875, SS Bothnia sailed from Liverpool to Port of New York, USA.

A.
Dennis Porteous, 56 = William Dennis Portas
Elizth, 57 = Elizabeth
Jane, 30 = Jane
Jno Wm, 14 = John William Marshall

In steerage was William Dennis, Elizabeth, Jane, and John William Marshall. The person
who wrote the names of the passengers listed my great-great grandparents and their
children very different from what I have been researching. This is the first time I saw
our name spelled PORTEOUS. This way of spelling seems to be the "standard" spelling
set in the second half of the 19th century. Thus far, in all the prior census and parish
records the name was PORTAS or PORTERS. Also note the "William" was dropped
from this entry. This is the only time I have seen just his middle name used.

B.
John Vanplew, 25 = John Rouse Vamplew

Also on the same ship in steerage is Mary Ann's brother John Rouse Vamplew. John R.
settled in Kansas along with the senior William Dennis family.