Penelope Lovesy 05/03/2021 18:16:05
Image: Gannet at Sea
Poole Museum is a marvellous treasure house of the town’s heritage. We store thousands of objects and hold a mountain of historical information but Poole’s community is another treasure house, not to be forgotten.
Among our collection of ships’ portraits is one of the Poole steamship Gannet
Thanks to a family historian we now know more about this ship. Rosalind Hayward has recently sent us the fruits of her meticulous research in to her Great-Grandfather John Edward Starling.
Born in Norfolk in1882, he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16 and served in the Boer War. Later, as a merchant sailor he came to Poole and married local girl Harriett Woodland. They settled at 22 Towngate Street where they raised their three children. In January 1909 he is found as Mate aboard the Poole registered Gannet.
John Starling served throughout the First World War and also in The Second World War until he retired from the Royal Navy and rejoined the merchant navy.
He died in Poole in 1944 at the age of 62.
