That is true that no mention of a ship is made except that Gerard had served with Quentin on board a ship, but the name of the ship is not mentioned that I recall.
However in the case of the Children, that plotline is made to be very important in 1970. You are led to believe that not only was David and Haley in danger in 1970 but that it was somehow a rehashing of what happened to Tad and Carrie in 1840. However in the end, the children are really not prime players in this segment. Carrie is more so than Tad, but neither are put in the kind of danger that Daphne seems to fear for David and Haley in 1970, yet she clearly asks Gerard if it has to happen like it did before? In the end, you wonder why the children were involved in the whole matter at all in 1970. Unlike with 1897 where the events of 1968 and 1969 play a role in the plot line of the past, with the concern being for David in the future, no such thing happens with this plot.
I think the one thing that doesn't happen with 1840 that did happen with the plot leading up to 1897 is there is no reason given for why the ghosts suddenly appeared at Collinwood in 1970. In the Quentin storyline, it is Chris and his curse that bring Quentin restless spriit back. It is also his need for forgiveness from Jamison who he sees in David that is a driving force for his ghost. Also his hatred for his family and their descendents makes him want in death what he could not have in life, which was Collinwood.
In 1840 we have nothing to explain why the ghost show up when they do. There is no event to explain why they came back when they did and why they had not come back before. Had a grave been disturb or a room found, something to show how and why the restless spirits of Gerard, Daphne and the children came back it would have worked to better tie 1840 to 1970.
What was really going on behind the scenes was a franic race to do bigger and grander things each day. Dan Curtis was pushing for something to happen each day and the pace of the show was on manic. It is because of this that so many continuity errors occured. The importance was on effects and having a major event everyday, rather than what had made the show so successful all along and that was telling a good story. Up until the end of the 1897 flashback, the show seemingly could do no wrong. Then the Leviathan storyline came around and that was followed by PT 1970, which might have been better had it no coincided with the production of House of Dark Shadows. So much of the main cast being away for so long caused that storyline to drag and never live up to the potential it could have. Then we had the 1995 flashforward which was quite good and very interesting. Returning to 1970, we had 6 weeks of setup for the trip to 1840 and that was all those 6 weeks were about. Then the story did not flesh out the setup, which really made that whole segment virtually worthless.
As someone else pointed out earlier, this segment had great potential but then it went off course and started rehashing previous plotlines. We had the introduction of new characters and a new family line, the Drew family, but very little was made of the new sources for new stories. Instead we see another version of Trask, which after Rev. Trask and Gregory Trask, the rest just paled in comparsion. It was like because Jerry Lacy's, Tony Peterson didn't work, that he couldn't play anything except someone name Trask. The most interesting part of this storyline is in the early part of this segment for the most part. Toward the end we really start to go a bit crazy with the direction of the story and characters really begin to lose their definition. During this time, without giving away the plot we have one of the biggest goofs continuity wise with a character being killed off who was essential to a later time period. Finally with this segment we have the ulitmate end to the whole Barnabas and Angelique storyline, which to this day I have mixed feelings about.
Like I said originally, I do enjoy watching the 1840 storyline, not as much as 1795, but it is enjoyable to watch, but still I see that there was a great deal wrong with it that should not have happened and could have been avoided.
Raholt