Dare, Joseph Stafford, Master Mariner, 1863-1951.

The collection consists of fifty-five certificates of discharge, 1883 to 1901, showing a complete record of Dare's career at sea. There are also testimonials and indentures; diaries from 1885 to 1888, and 1898 to 1901; and a notebook of cargoes, loaded and unloaded, in the ATHENIAN, 1900.

Administrative / biographical background
Dare was born in Leicester in 1863 and first went to sea in 1878. Much of his early career was spent on the west coast of South America. He was an apprentice on the iron barque SARCO (1876), owned by Shallcross and Higham of Liverpool, abandoned off Cape Horn after being thrown on her beam ends in September 1881. Dare was among the crew members picked up from lifeboats and landed at Valparaiso. He took his second mate's certificate in 1883, but was dogged by ill health and did not take the first mate's and master's certificates until 1891 and 1894 (see certificate number 013606). He was employed as an officer on the sailing vessels DUNNERDALE ex CHOLULA (1867) and JOHN GAMBLES (1874), and was then an able seaman on the passenger steamer BRITANNIC (1874). His later employment was with the Bedouin Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. and then Frederick Leyland & Co., both of Liverpool. Failing health finally forced him to leave the sea and he retired in 1901.