I have recently managed to get a little further back in my late husband's line. His paternal grandfather's mother was descended from John Cooper, who was a waterman in Marsh Gate, Doncaster, in the early to mid-1800s. What I'm interested in finding out is whether he would simply have been ferrying people across the river during his working life, or was he travelling further afield, as I've found a Seaman's Ticket for him. It states that he 'first went to sea as an Apprentice' on 17 July 1803, but was only 'ticketed' in 1845, aged 56. Two of his surviving sons became 'mariners,' but I get the impression from census returns that they were sailing barges up and down the canalways between Doncaster and places like Hull, and Downham in Norfolk, rather than going out to sea in Merchant Navy vessels.