I hope someone can point me in the right direction - I cannot find the following abbreviations from a British naval service record on any abbreviations lists.
B 2 C (in his first year of service as a 16 year old in 1874)
B 1 C ( in the following year of service in 1875)
F.E.C.G. Xmas 1874 paid 2 pound 10 shillings (C.G by itself is Captain of Gun)
In Dec 76 he was an ORD ordinary seaman for 2 years then AB able seaman. In Jan 83 the rating abbreviation is TM

Many thanks

rockbarbie - 2019-10-26 08:53:00

lol I loved the physical descriptions of my great grandfather and his brother in their RN documents. B1C is in there and follows GGF on several ships.

B2c - Boy 2nd class
B1c - Boy 1st class
Ord - Ordinary Seaman
AB - Able seaman

TM might be Training Management.

GG Uncle has a bunch of other ones too. D3C, D2C.

GG Uncle had jumped ship in Esquimalt in 1873 (Pacific Station) and GG Father in Wellington in July 1874 (South Pacific Station).

Edited by morticia at 10:33 am, Sat 26 Oct

morticia - 2019-10-26 10:18:00

Interesting as a Great-grandfather was a mariner, from bottom to top and vice versa - also said to be a cranky bastard!
Ordinary - like a deckhand and new on the job.
Able - 2-3 years training and 'able' = well-acquainted with the position.
Leading - next step up from Able.

amasser - 2019-10-26 11:11:00

rockbarbie wrote:

In Jan 83 the rating abbreviation is TM

If he later became a ships officer, TM might be third mate.

The expression for a ships officer who started off as a "boy", ordinary seaman and able seaman is "came through the hawse pipe.

Edited by stock at 11:38 am, Sat 26 Oct

stock - 2019-10-26 11:35:00

Thank you all for your helpful knowledge - it is great to be able to "put some substance" to the bones of the service record. I will investigate further the T.M. abbreviation he was promoted to it whilst on board the HMS LONDON that was patrolling around Zanzibar at the time policing the slave trade.
The suggestion of third mate sounds plausible in this context..

rockbarbie - 2019-10-26 12:48:00

I have found that TM stands for “trained man” It relates to a course of instruction and competency test for uprating/promotion.

rockbarbie - 2019-10-26 14:06:00