Crew Lists and
Agreements
Before
beginning the practicalities it is worth pointing out that, as far as I
understand, agreements were first required under an Act of 1729. According to a
Board of Trade Precedent Book (TNA: PRO BT 167/1 p.1) ‘Masters of vessels
proceeding to parts beyond the seas were then required to enter into Agreements
with their seamen...’. It was not, however, until 1835
that there is any usable collection of these records (if indeed any previous
examples survive).
The individual
forms that constituted Crew Lists and Articles are not particularly important
to this study, so slight changes will not be mentioned in great detail. How
they were filed and where the surviving documents are now held are more important however.
Firstly,
between 1835 and 1856 all were filed by port of register. Therefore, this is an
essential element of the entries in the ‘ticketing system’. From 1857 onwards,
thanks to the efforts of the first Registrar of Seamen, British vessels were
issued with official numbers and are filed by this number. Therefore, it is
essential to identify vessels by official number. Lloyd’s Register of Shipping can be used for this, but not before the mid
1870s. Therefore, in searches for vessels between 1857 and the 1870s the Mercantile Navy List should be used.
Between 1835
and 1844 there were basically two varieties of crew lists. There was the Schedule C for vessels conducting deep ocean voyages and
which was required to be deposited with the local Customs Office within 48
hours of arrival at the final U.K. port of discharge. For vessels on coastal
work there was the Schedule D, a six-monthly return
to be handed in within three weeks of the end of the half year (June and
December). All these years are filed together in their original documentary
form, by port of register, at The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, U.K.
Between 1845
and 1854 further forms were added. There was the Schedule A for foreign-going vessels. Generally known as
‘agreements’ or ‘articles’, this was a contract between the master and the crew. Schedule G was a list of crew members on sailing
for foreign-going voyages, giving their ticket numbers. There was also the Schedule M that indicated those still onboard at the
final discharge (which may have been introduced at this stage). And, for the
coastal and fishing trades the Schedule
B was introduced. The rules for depositing
changed slightly. Again these are held at the P.R.O. as original documents.
In 1855 and
1856 there were no changes and these records are filed exactly as immediately
above. However, as already stated above in 1857 ships’ official numbers were
introduced and Crew Lists and Agreements have been filed by the year of the end
of voyages ever since. Between 1857 and 1860 these are again held at T.N.A.,
Kew.
From then on
in, because of a stance taken at the Public Records Office, Kew in the late
1960s these have been scattered far and wide. Although this body had been charged under law to
maintain public records the then management of the P.R.O., seeing no apparent
reason for keeping these and taking up much space, planned to have the vast
majority destroyed. No British institution
could be found to take these (other than in part) and had a small number of
Canadian academics not stepped in, then these would surely have been
obliterated. (In a lecture as part of the International Commission for Maritime
History Seminars, held at Lloyd’s Register on 8th December 2005, in
discussing the above Professor L.R. Fischer mentioned that the original
correspondence relating to this rescue operation remains in existence in
Newfoundland.)
For the
already noted reasons it is important, once again, to stress that not all
Crew Lists and Agreements have survived. There are three main repositories
for vessels operating from U.K. ports, with another ‘class’ of locations known.
These are The National Archives, Public Records Office, Kew, Surrey, U.K.; the
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, U.K.; various ‘county’ records
offices and other miscellaneous collections spread around the U.K.; and
overwhelmingly, Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada.
As already
touched on in the main mercantile page, it might be thought that these
documents may not have survived enemy action in war. However, this is not
actually the case. It seems that much effort was expended in securing the
‘office’ copies of these documents. This not only covers the World Wars of the
20th century (or at least the First World War), but also earlier
conflicts in which British merchantmen were lost. Regarding the Great War
1914-1919, strangely the documents of many others on commercial account which
were not destroyed violently
are missing though. Perhaps, through other pressing matters the state apparatus
did not put a high priority on this. For some time I thought that much of the
documentation of vessels that were taken up for Government Service (Mercantile
Fleet Auxiliaries) during the First World War was missing. However, there is a
partially separate listing of Crew Lists at Memorial, described as vessels on
Admiralty service 1914 to 1920 under T.124 forms (for commissioned vessels).
This, I have found, is slightly misleading, as there are also others on other
‘T’ forms. In all likelihood, these will cover the majority of vessels (but not
all) on Government Service for the First World War period. Some of the
outstanding can be found within naval files, especially those extracted for the
writing of the official histories by the Naval Historical Branch, but not all
by any means.
Generally the
coastal-trade was much less stringently policed. Undoubtedly part of this was
down to an 1851 amendment to the Mercantile Marine Act of the year before,
which exempted vessels of less than 80 tons burden involved purely in U.K.
coastal work from all this paperwork. However, this does not explain fully a great many gaps which appear in these
records.
Another
variety of documents missing belonged to vessels working permanently within the
Empire. It is clear that these were held by local Colonial Mercantile Marine
Offices, without any intention of ever sending them to the U.K. Not only do
these cover entities such one ship companies of the Pacific nitrate trade
working out of Singapore in the 1920s, but also such esteemed companies as P
& O, based in Bombay in the 1860s and 1870s. Some such documents are
definitely known to exist within state records at Hobart, Tasmania and also in
Sydney, N.S.W., both in Australia (It should be noted that those in these past
outposts of empire may be filed in orders different from those in the U.K. post
1857. Apart from anything else, I have seen correspondence relating to some
First World War era movements that show that those in Australia were originally
held at ports of signing on.) I have also heard that there are some within
state records in Ottawa, Canada and also in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In the past I
had been led to believe that any records surviving in India would be at New
Delhi, thanks to a civil servant friend I have learned that there are some in
Bombay. This would seem to indicate that there may be others at Calcutta.
However, I understand those at Hong Kong were burnt by the Japanese during the
Second World War and Singapore’s did not survive independence. Although having
made enquiries I have found no information on any surviving records in South
Africa.
Also, few
examples of Schedule G and Schedule M have survived. This is a pity from a
genealogical point of view, as these can be used to check ticket numbers and
signatures.
So, where are
these records post 1860?
For the years
1861 and 1862 all surviving ‘British’ examples (minus 10 per cent at the
P.R.O.) are held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, U.K. They also
have ninety per cent of the years ending in five - 1865, 1875, 1885 etc., etc.
Of course, there are exceptions here - 1945 and from 1975 onwards. (Those for 1975 and 1985 are said to have been transferred by the
R.G.S.S. but are not yet available to the public.)
T.N.A., Kew
holds ten per cent (one in ten boxes) of all years 1861 to 1938 and 1951 until
1994. Apparently all from 1939 to 1950 are now available, in which case from
the searches I have conducted there is a not insignificant percentage of these
missing. The earlier sloppy catalogued information has now been greatly
improved, although there may still be problems in
locating some of these documents.
T.N.A. also keep a separate selection of ‘celebrated’ ships. These are
the better known vessels of the esteemed passenger liners: of famous companies
such as Cunard and the White Star Line (before their
forced amalgamation in the 1930s). However, the lesser known vessels of these
same companies, such as White Star’s BALTIC, are not held within this class.
Some Second World War Allied
merchant vessels’ documents are also now available at Kew. As per normal, these
have not been organised in an efficient manner. One chunk, identified as Dutch
are in BT 99, while the other, shown as Allied but also including Dutch
freighters, are in BT 387.
Quite by accident, that is in conducting background research for an ongoing
project, I have found that some of these records pertaining to vessels
owned by railway companies (from 1863 onwards) are also at Kew. These are
within the general class RAIL. There are also some
others, scattered through government files.
An
unspecified, but small holding of others from 1863 to 1913 is spread around
various British county record offices. (Incidentally, a client has informed me
that some catalogued as being in Northumberland Record Office are in fact now
in Newcastle.) Others are known to have been given to back to commercial parent
companies c.1969. An example of these are some of the
Canadian Pacific Railway Company (that are now held by the National Maritime
Museum, Greenwich). Others, such as many from Cardiff registered companies seem
to have disappeared off the face of the earth, but may lie gathering dust in
archives somewhere.
I also have
found two other locations, not
apparently shown on any of the official listings, from an internal
memo. This indicates that some documents also went to the National Library of
Australia, Canberra and the Public Record Office of Ireland, Dublin.
However, the bulk until 1972 (of around 70 per cent of those once held by
the R.G.S.S.) are at the Maritime History Archive, Memorial University
of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland A1C 5S7: rescued from proposed
destruction. For readers’ information, Memorial University’s Maritime History
Archive website address is http://www.mun.ca/mha/. All their mercantile
documents up to 1950 have been catalogued, but certainly as of 2005 those subsequently
have not yet been dealt with and physical searches are required.
With the
exceptions of the National Maritime Museum (that has no catalogue of holdings); the recently acquired holdings at
Memorial University (covering 1951-76); and those in odd collections, the
locations of all other surviving Crew lists and Agreements can theoretically be identified by a number of listings. So,
apart from post Second World War vessels, generally these locations of
surviving documents can be found, although because no one institution holds all the relevant catalogues, visits to multiple
archives are often required in the greater London area. As indicated by the
word ‘theoretically’, unfortunately none of these catalogues can be entirely
relied on, with some being areas being really less than excellent.
Also, as
already stated in the main webpage a small percentage of merchantmen’s official
logs have survived, filed along with the Crew Lists and Agreements. This is
dealt with in a separate webpage. Also, by the 20th century often
the forms of Crew Lists and Agreements that coastal vessels used were combined
with their logs.
It is worth
pointing out that when conducting searches of these documents at Kew. they are not produced individually. One has to physically
search through the boxes they are stowed in. After 1857 it generally becomes
easier as they are retained in their numerical sequence. But, this cannot be
promised prior to this date, when filed by port of register. Sometimes they are
still bound up by pieces of sealed-cord that civil servants placed around them
so long ago and often they are generally in alphabetical order. However, often
they are not, and this it seems is the fault of people conducting modern
searches who have little concern for others. Also,
these documents can be in a very poor condition indeed,
especially if cheap paper was used originally. (This is very apparent from
documents from the Dundalk area that literally crumble when touched.) Anyway,
wearing one’s ‘Sunday best’ clothes is not recommended for a day
out at Kew looking at Crew Lists and Agreements
It must also
be stressed that certainly in the first fifty years or so there was no one form
of words in agreements (or indeed any of the documents covered by the
Mercantile Marine Act of 1851), although there are phrases and paragraphs
common to many. Rather than use the documents supplied or sold at shipping
offices some of the larger companies obviously had their own specific forms
printed, especially in cases where the terms and conditions were identical, in
liner trades: such as the Wilson Line of Hull for the Baltic trade. However,
all these documents had to be approved by Local Marine Boards. Some articles
even contained advertising at the top, from chandleries to trade unions.
Profits from this may have been used in the
pursuance of setting up of sailors’ homes, which was actively encouraged by
this Act in another way. Later, at the turn of the 20th century,
Board of Trade correspondence shows a great deal of effort in standardising
paperwork.
Study of the
original legislation, along with practical experience of viewing these records
underpins this section. Minor points, such as the identity of the individual
who proposed ships’ official numbers, can be found within publications
mentioned elsewhere on this site.
Following are
examples of different types of vessels, giving an idea of types
information that may be extracted from Crew Lists and Agreements:-
Coastal agreements for the port of Lancaster 1845-60
Barnstaple coasters 1914 and 1919
PRINCESS CHARLOTTE - Foreign-going barque
(‘whaling ship’) 1845
BRITISH QUEEN - Foreign-going barque (‘emigrant
ship’ to Australia) 1852-53
VERITAS - Foreign-going schooner 1858-60
DON - Bespoke fast steamship for blockade running in the American Civil War 1863
LOANGO - Foreign-going steamship 1893
CROWN OF ARRAGON - T124 form for a commissioned Mercantile Fleet Auxiliary 1914
STRATHALLAN
- Excerpt showing victuals for Chinese Crew Members 1915
PETER M - Foreign-going steamship 1948