Francis William Kirk papers

The collection is mainly focused on Kirk's early career and particularly his time as an apprentice on the steel sailing ship MONKBARNS (1895) with a diary and notebook covering a voyage from Cardiff to Australia and a photograph album also containing various photographs from this voyage. Kirk's continuous certificate of discharge and notes for a planned memoir provide additional details on his career at sea and later piloting work. See also: ZBA9803, a waterline model of the three masted ship MONKBARNS by Francis William Kirk and Alan Gerbault.

Administrative / biographical background
Kirk was born at Tinsley, Sheffield, where his parents William Kirk and Mary Hannah Kirk (née Edwards) operated a post office. His father was also a commercial clerk in the steel trade. He first went to sea as an apprentice on the steel sailing ship MONKBARNS (1895), starting with a voyage from Ireland to Buenos Aires in 1919. Between 1923 and 1928 he was an apprentice and then junior officer on oil tankers, mostly owned by the Eagle Oil Transport Co. Ltd. He qualified as a Second Mate in 1923 and First Mate in 1925 (certificate 0017318) before qualfying as Master in 1928 (certificate 22854). Kirk was later employed as a Trinity House pilot in the Southampton, Isle of Wight and Portsmouth areas. During the Second World War, he had an active role in the navigation of vessels carrying troops evacuated from Dunkirk and later those supplying the Normandy landings. He retired from piloting work in 1965 and died at Southampton in 1981.