Deserter

[Anneclarke23]

I have struck a brick wall for my great grandfather who was born in Ireland in 1813(according to the Nova Scotia, Canada census). Family legend is that he jumped ship around Cape Negro, Shelburne Co., N.S. , swam ashore and changed his name to John Brown. His original name is believed to be Hoyte or Holte, however, this spelling may very well be incorrect. I am guessing that his original first name possibly was John- it would be less confusing.
No doubt others also deserted with him. That is all we know about him and I'm wondering if there may be a list of deserters somewhere????? Seems like that would be my only chance of finding him. He was protestant.
He settled nearby in Port La Tour and married Catherine Snow.
It would be great to solve this last mystery.
Anne

[Oates]

I don't know about a list of deserters, but I would have thought his military service record would contain the info you're looking for, unless you don't have enough info to find it.

I did find this though on the Great War Forum - Kings Regulations 1912(amended to August 1914) Para 1929 - Disposal of Documents.
1929a(ii)Desertion - (Original)To be retained by officer i/c records for 15years and then destroyed. (Duplicate)To be forwarded to officer i/c records and retained by him until the man has been non-effective for 50years and then destroyed.

There was no change to this regulation in KR's 1923
So I suppose it may have been destroyed.

I also found this - British and German Deserters, Dischargees, and POW's Who May Have Remained in Canada and the USA, 1774-1783. Part One and Two

Shame it's a bit older than what you're looking for.

Sorry =/

Edit - Also one of these from Cyndi's list may help
http://www.google.com/custom?domains=CyndisList.com&q=deserters&sitesearch=CyndisList.com&client=pub-3865931076334159&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23660099%3B VLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3 AFFFFFF%3BALC%3A660099%3BLC%3A660099%3BT%3A521800% 3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BLH%3A50%3BLW%3A5 0%3BL%3A%2Fgraphics%2Ftreebutn2.gif%3BS%3Ahttp%3A% 2F%2Fwww.CyndisList.com%3BLP%3A1%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en

Do you know what war he fought in?

[Geoffers]

I have struck a brick wall for my great grandfather who was born in Ireland in 1813(according to the Nova Scotia, Canada census). Family legend is that he jumped ship around Cape Negro, Shelburne Co., N.S. , swam ashore and changed his name to John Brown.

To try and have something to work on, do you know if he absconded from the Royal Navy, or a Merchant ship?

[Anneclarke23]

No, unfortunately I don't have any more info on him other than what I wrote.
Thanks for your speedy response. I will check the mentioned sites.
Anne