Uncatalogued: Sheasby, Sidney Frederick, Master Mariner, 1889-1978

Certificate confirming his duties as instructor and librarian in the Nautical Department, Ruhleben Camp School, 1915-1918. Certificate dated 12 November 1918.

Administrative / biographical background
Sheasby was born in Northampton and first went to sea as an apprentice on the barque EARL CADOGAN in 1906-1910. He was second mate on the FRANKDALE when this vessel was seized at Hamburg by the German authorities in October 1914. With many other British merchant seamen, he was detained briefly in hulks at the docks and then spent the rest of the First World War in the civilian internment camp at Ruhleben racecourse in Berlin. While imprisoned, he gave instruction and acted as librarian in the Nautical Department of Ruhleben Camp School. He married Nellie Paynter at Swansea in 1918 and qualified as master in the following year (certificate number 042131). His career at sea continued throughout the Second World War and after.