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Thank you greyghost and Jink for the above.

The Crew List Index Project site provides information about the records of British seafarers and ships

There is a Board of Trade inquiry report relating to C M PALMER (the ship John was serving on) , official number [62371] of Newcastle, collision and loss, 17/2/1878.


https://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/vesselsnum/62371

Archive Reference BT 159/2. is a reference within the National Archives website.
There is a viewable document on the Ancestry website.

From 1854 records of births, marriages and deaths at sea had, first, to be recorded in ships’ logs. When the ships next docked at a British port the information from the logs was then recorded by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (RGSS). Copies of the RGSS registers were **periodically** sent to the General Register Office.
The National Archives

John Bowden
in the UK, Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths at Sea, 1844-1890

Detail Source
Name John Bowden
Gender Male
Death Age 24
Event Type Death
Birth Date abt 1854
Birth Place N castle
Death Date 17 Feb 1878
Ship C M Palmer

Official no. of ship 62371
Cause of death - Drowned. He was a crew member

also drowned
James le Bean 46 a Donkeyman from London
George Potter 43 a Steward, from Colchester
John Newton 17 an Engineers boy, where from not listed
Jane Hall 28 a Stewardess from Berwick

Note says "supposed nine persons - names - - unknown - Passengers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_February_1878

SS_C._M._Palmer United Kingdom
The steamship was run into by the steamship Ludworth ( United Kingdom) and sank in the North Sea off Harwich, Essex with the loss of seventeen lives. There were at least 43 survivors, who were rescued by Ludworth. C. M. Palmer was on a voyage from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland to London.[37][65]

Thank you Erika, would a death certificate have been issued? I've just looked on the GRO and can't see anything or would it be held elsewhere?

He drowned as a result of a collision 17.2.78 He was from Newcastle, and was a Fman (presumably fireman) Crew member

Hello, could someone please take a look at the entry on FMP for the following -

John Bowden, Year 1878, At Sea, Archive Reference BT 159/2. Register of deaths at sea.

I am wondering what information the record holds.

Thank you.

EDIT - he may have drowned rather than actually died on a ship.