Since my last journal I have been searching relentlessly for something that would confirm the true birth place of my ancester William Dring. I needed proof that the William Dring born in South Shields was in fact my William. Well I found it about a month ago.

Coming from this area he would have had a very strong Jordie accent and he was illiterate. Therefore he would not know what his name looked like when written. In our documentation the name 'Dring' has been recorded as 'Green' not only for William but also his Daughter Elizabeth. Here in lies my proof. Unable to understand William's accent and with William not knowing how to spell his name this is how it was written. I also needed a reason why he must have gone to sea at a very early age.

I found the registration of his parents marriage and the births of 3 sisters Susanna, Sarah and Elizabeth. Sarah died in 1773 at the age of 3 years. Then I found the deaths of both parents. His Mother in 1777 and his father in 1779. I believe that after the death of his mother, his father sent him to sea as a cabin boy at the age of 10 years. A common occurance in those days. What happened to the girls I do not know but at 8 abd 3 years old when their mother died perhaps family took them in.

Going to sea at such a young age William had the time to become the experienced Sailor our histories state that he was. He was 17 at the time of his arrest and 20 on arrival in NSW.