Go to the Home Page

British Mercantile, Whaling and Fishing Records of the 19th & 20th Centuries

- A realistic guide to what is available

to those looking into civilian mariners’ careers

 

by Len Barnett

Go to Academic Papers on the Royal Navy

Go down to Chronological Guide

Go down to Vessels - technical data, tracing their movements and accidents

Go down to Mariners: life, death and bravery

 

 

Introduction

 

As a professional researcher specialising in mariners in British mercantile service during the last two centuries, I receive enquiries of a great variety. Sometimes only armed with a person’s name, happily I am able to provide a wealth of information from original documents. At other times, even with more information to hand no records survive and I have to tactfully explain that there is nowhere to go.

 

There is no doubt that genealogy has become a popular pastime. There certainly seems to be evermore people using the facilities of museums and archives to trace their ancestors. The media too has realised this. A number of television documentaries and ‘how to’ programmes have recently been aired on British screens. Often these tell amazing tales, with polished ease.

 

For those who have spent days trawling through tens of thousands of entries, red-eyed and tired, in the vain hope of finding one single piece of information, it is realised that research can be distinctly hard work! So, the following is based on years of working on various classes of original records and is meant as an aid to people who are interested in finding out about their merchant mariner forebears. I cover the main state documentation of the office of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, the Board of Trade and Admiralty (where applicable); along with principal commercial records such as Lloyd’s of London and Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.

While this website guide primarily covers records dealing with mercantile trades (other than in the East India Companies), reference is also made to whaling and fishing.  Also, although there are no direct references within my website I have some experience of research in the field of yachting.

 

How to use this web-site

 

What follows initially is a brief chronological guide, giving a description of what records are available during particular periods. Some subjects are highly complex and for these there are links to separate pages with more detailed information and suggestions as to further reading. This is intended to allow people to go to the era that they are interested in and assess what records, if any, are potentially of use to them. The links allow for a slightly deeper understanding.

Following on are two other sections. One deals with vessels: technical information, tracing their movements and accidents to them. The second deals with mariners as people: wider aspects of how they lived since the parliamentary legislation of the 1840s and 1850s; details on their deaths at sea; and of bravery awards. These sections can be used in conjunction with the other information available. Within the various sections are also links to the other side of my web-site. These are made when there is relevant information to be gained on subjects in the academic papers posted there.

People within the United Kingdom who are easily able to travel around the London area may then want to conduct their own searches. As these often take a considerable time and therefore can cost much in time, money and effort, people from further away may want to invest in the expertise of a professional researcher. This is especially pertinent for people from overseas, where a trip to the U.K. may well cost a great deal of money.

 

Of course engaging a researcher is a matter of choice and requires trust. Some of the main institutions mentioned have lists of researchers. A number of researchers advertise that they are expert in a number of fields, both military and civil. However, as some of these bodies of records are immensely complicated personally I find it difficult to believe that these people can be truly ‘expert’ in all these areas. On the mercantile side I specialise in records dealing with men of the British merchant service between 1835 and 1972. Also, presently I am in the process of producing a relevant guide to the Honourable East India Company. For those potentially interested in my services, I can be contacted at len@barnettmaritime.co.uk. Please note that I earn my living as a freelance researcher and therefore charge professional fees.

 

Please note that some that the basic classes of records are increasingly being put online. As these projects are ongoing and ever-changing I have not mentioned when and where these classes are. Due to the ‘politics’ within individual institutions this in itself has become complicated: hideously so in the case of state records once the responsibility of The National Archives, Kew. Nevertheless, I can and do discuss this with clients.

Also, some of the information within these pages does not agree with some statements made in various other research guides: official and otherwise. In a number of subjects I have found the ‘traditional’ understanding to be wanting. As a result of this I have conducted my own detailed research into the legislation underpinning the keeping of the state documentation which is now used for genealogical research. This is incorporated into these web-pages.

For this reason I have not referred to genealogical guides in the following pages. A few organisations produce excellent research material, such as Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. In another case, the otherwise very informative guide for the Lloyd’s collection at the Guildhall Library has become somewhat out of date: through organisational changes of outside entities. (Presently this is being revised and should be ready for publication this coming winter.) Unfortunately, the output of many of the remaining organisations is patchy. Some information is good, the majority mediocre and in a seemingly increasing number of cases publications are full of typographical and/or factual errors.

 

Chronological Guide

 

Prior to 1835 there is no surviving large body of information on British merchant mariners. There are, of course, various records still in existence. These include port books, ‘Board of Trade’ shipping returns, Customs books, High Court of Admiralty records, registers of protection from being pressed, muster rolls, apprenticeship books and ledgers of receivers of sixpences. However, often these are far from complete and for genealogical purposes are for the most part less than useful. (There are, of course, exceptions. An obvious class would be of major legal disputes involving merchant shipowners cum masters.)

 

Between 1835 and 1857 a whole series of experiments were made by the British state in keeping tabs on the entire British merchant service. This was due to changing political realities, inasmuch as the press had become inexpedient for manning warships of the Royal Navy when necessary. Under the control of the General Register Office of Merchant Seamen and headed by a Lieutenant R.N. initially this was answerable to the Admiralty (although later handed over to the ‘Board of Trade’ in 1850). These exercises failed for a whole raft of reasons and by the end of this period the raison d’être had become non-existent with increasingly widespread continuous service for ratings in the Royal Navy from 1853 onwards.

 

While it cannot be said that every British merchant sailor can be traced within this body of documentation (generally known as the ‘ticketing system) there are certainly hundreds of thousands of men who most definitely can be. However, these records are not at all easy to use and for a number of reasons. Even with considerable experience, sometimes I am surprised in the way documents are recorded, or filed, as individual ports or even civil-servants entered information as they saw fit. Nevertheless, even with all the limitations this era can be regarded as a real ‘window into the past’ and historically very interesting. For modern genealogists, the most important aspect of this is the ability to locate individual ships’ crew lists and agreements, as these may give invaluable information on forebears. All surviving examples of these documents during this period appear to be in London. Ships’ official logs may also be filed with the above documents, but only in a small minority of cases and not until 1852.

 

After 1857 but before 1919, without individuals’ discharge certificates (that had already been introduced in real terms in 1835) it becomes all but impossible to trace most merchant mariners. The most notable exceptions to this are mostly deep-ocean seamen officers and a proportion of engineering officers. To a lesser degree coastal masters were also included (not being completely brought into the system until 1931); and skippers & mates of fishing boats (from 1884). But, others such as apprentices (already from 1823) and cooks (from 1908) potentially can also be identified. (At the turn of the 20th century there was also pressure from outwith the Board of Trade to have a system of qualification for seamen, but this was not introduced.)

A word on apprentices’ indentures might not go amiss. TNA catalogues and publications give the impression of there being about ten per cent of the indentures surviving. Unfortunately, the actual proportion is very much smaller. Nevertheless, viewing the indexes to the office copies of the indentures can still provide some useful information: even if they are not necessarily, the easiest of listings to use.

However, for merchant mariners that were in India during the great Sepoy Mutiny of 1857-58, there may be another source worthwhile looking into at the British Library. As well as sailors in local naval service, merchant mariners were known to have joined the Naval Brigades of the Bengal Marine.

 

‘Certification’ of mercantile seamen officers had already begun in 1845, with a voluntary system of examination for masters and mates of deep-ocean vessels. However, from 1850 onwards there were moves to make certification mandatory, both in deep-ocean and coastal vessels. Regulation of the latter trade remained far lighter however. (Again in the early years of the 20th century moves to have certification within the coastal trade tightened up were fended off by the Board of Trade.) Certification of engineers began in 1862, but it is important to note that this remained far from universal. For genealogists the salient feature in these schemes are the individuals’ certificate numbers issued. Armed with these, other useful records can be viewed: especially for seamen officers. As apparently with books of continuous discharge and service, during the Second World War individuals’ certificates of competency were kept ashore in ‘safe custody at Mercantile Marine Offices for whilst the holders were at sea’. This practice was rescinded post war (see TNA: PRO BT 9/4210).

 

As for apprentices, in 1823 legislation required vessels of more than 80 tons burthen to carry indentured apprentices. (Later legislation cancelled this requirement.) It should be pointed out that only a tiny percentage of the relevant paperwork has survived in state hands (although some seems to have been acquired by private individuals as collections and I know of some indentures with descendants). Even when identified in the ledgers, details are sparse and often only confirm what is already known.

 

In respect to cooks, courtesy of the Merchant Shipping Act 1906 two years later a programme of registration was instituted in order to attempt to maintain better standards at sea, which were traditionally absolutely foul. Unfortunately, very little information is recorded in the surviving documents. The T.N.A., P.R.O., Kew holds the alphabetical listings giving basic details - year and place of birth and certificate number. The surviving numerical registers at the N.M.M., Greenwich duplicate this, but may also mention the recipients’ death, or loss of certificate. At Kew there is also another source relating to the 1950s. This is a Board of Trade precedent book (TNA: PRO BT 167/132) and again gives little information, other than reporting that masters had signed on unqualified cooks.

Also, in 1936 a new seaman rate was introduced with examinations for Efficient Deck Hand. In its earliest form this would appear to have been something of a hybrid between ordinary and able rate for foreign-going vessels and applicants had to be at least nineteen years old. Apart from one memo as part of the Board of Trade Marine Department’s correspondence and one single application form for examination within miscellaneous documents relating to the Central Register of Seamen, it would appear that nothing survives from this scheme. Nevertheless, from info supplied by a few past mariners (including Captain Christopher Woods) by the 1960s an E.D.H. certificate was a requirement for a lifeboatman’s certificate. In turn the latter was needed for qualification as able seaman.

 

There are also other exceptions to the rule of being unable to trace mariners from the mid 19th to mid 20th centuries, other than noted above. Some commercial companies’ records are held variously in archives throughout the United Kingdom, such as at Glasgow University and the Merseyside Maritime Museum. The best way to investigate this, I have found, is through the National Register of Archives. Due to a reorganisation they are now sited at the Public Records Office, Kew. For those unable to visit, the N.R.A.’s website is well designed and can be found at http://www.hmc.gov.uk.

 

At the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich a not inconsiderable percentage of personnel records for three companies of the ‘P & O Group’, have not only survived, but are available for study. Principally these are of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company Limited, but there are also a lesser amount from the British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. and the Orient Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. Additionally, they have some other corporate documentation, such as of the Shaw Savill Albion Line in their archives, but the scope genealogically can be limited. Elsewhere, there are other corporate collections. These can be investigated through the National Register of Archives.

Remaining with the subject of possible leads to mariners from the mid 19th to mid 20th centuries, some relevant documentation of the Royal Naval Reserve from this period is now in the public domain. This can be useful as service records not only show details of R.N.R. service, but depending on the time period and rank held may also show individuals’ commercial activities. There was also another reserve that merchant mariners may also be traced through. This was the Mercantile Marine Reserve that came into being mid First World War, originally for one specific purpose, but that would seem to have enlarged its scope at least administratively by the end of hostilities. Individuals can be traced through the M.M.R.’s two medal rolls for the entire Great War period.

Another possibility relates to foreign mariners naturalised as British citizens. The relevant paperwork is to be found in Home Office classes at The National Archives, Public Records Office, Kew. Although a Home Office responsibility, the day to day processing of mariners was conducted by the mercantile bureaucracies. My only experience of these at the time of writing relates to cases between 1900 and 1914, but there can be a great deal of info in these files, including full and accurate certificates of service, compiled by the office of the R.G.S.S.

 

It is presently not until about 1919 that tracing any British merchant mariners (other than those already dealt with above) is realistic though. Although begun six years before, the Central Index Register can be an invaluable source for researching men during the inter war period. The C.I.R. continued until 1940-1941 when it was replaced with the Central Register of Seamen, which was in force until 1972. The original documents that form the bulk of this latter system are at the Public Records Office, Kew. It should be pointed out that the C.R.S. does not record information prior to 1941, which makes researching past service difficult in a large number of mariners.

 

I have deliberately not mentioned the period of the First World War until this point, since it requires attention of its own. Apart from certificated officers, tracing forebears in mercantile service can be very difficult indeed and sometimes impossible. At first sight it may be surmised that enemy action (especially from February 1917 onwards when unrestricted U-boat warfare was re-imposed by the Germans) would have meant the total loss of crew-lists and agreements. However, this is not necessarily the case: though a great many crew lists are missing. However, the real problem is the loss of the Central Index Register prior to 1919.

Nevertheless, because of the all-encompassing nature of this conflict information can be found dealing with merchant mariners, but often only in their aid of the state. Increasing levels of tonnage were requisitioned by the government for its use. And, in the closing stages there was something akin to ‘nationalisation’ of shipping. This all produced official paperwork, some of which has been preserved. Also, this was also the first major war where in Britain naval reserve forces were committed in a large way. For the merchant service, this primarily meant the Royal Naval Reserve, though of course there were merchant mariners of the Royal Fleet Reserve, who having previously served in the R.N. were recalled to service in 1914. There was also some crossover into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as well. Allied to this, the relevant medal rolls for the Great War covering both the Merchant Service and Reserve Forces have now been released for public scrutiny.

The Second World War is now proving generally easier to research from a genealogical point of view. Along with the release of the Central Register of Seamen it would appear that all the surviving crew lists, agreements and other documentation have now been transferred from the R.G.S.S. (Earlier sloppy cataloguing at the T.N.A./P.R.O. has now apparently been corrected - but only after complaints from researchers.) Some other classes of official wartime mercantile records also now released can be of real use, especially the Board of Trade ships’ voyage cards. Although sometimes highly codified, these can be used to get access to naval operational records (in particular those relating to convoys) and much can now be gleaned. It should be stated though that these operational records are not necessarily of use without a good understanding of the concepts dealt with. (Operation Orders, for instance, were produced for naval, air force and mercantile officers and can be full of jargon and abbreviations.) Poor cataloguing of these records by modern civil servants also often make searches of these far more time consuming than should be necessary. Partially through this and additional weaknesses in the original record keeping, other problems can be encountered in these classes, but reference to some documents in the Lloyd’s of London collection at the Guildhall Library in the City can sometimes resolve these.

 

Genealogical research post Second World War is now more organised than it was, although the disposal of this batch of the crew-lists and agreements through to 1972 can present difficulties in finding. Since then few of these records have apparently been retained: but then the British Merchant Navy was on its knees by this time.

 

 

Vessels - technical data, tracing their movements and accidents

 

It is also be possible to learn more of vessels, especially technical details, from the records of classification institutions. In Britain, there were a number. However, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping has predominated. Also available in a few locations of the U.K. are the registers of the French Bureau Veritas. These can be useful, not only for European registered vessels, but also for those under the U.S. flag. There were, of course, other classification institutions. These included the Germanischer-Lloyd and the Det Norske Veritas. However, I am not aware of any of their older registers being available in the U.K. 

The certificates of registration for British and Colonially registered civilain vessels can also yield good technical information. ‘Office’ copies of these are to be found at The National Archives, Public Records Office, Kew.

 

Knowing the dry detail of which vessels and when forebears served on them is one thing, knowing where they operated is another. Although crew-lists and agreements can give this information, often much is missing. However, as an aid to underwriters, the intelligence department of Lloyd’s of London compiled a great deal of information on foreign-going vessels, with a far lesser amount on coasters. Not only did this cover movements, but also ‘casualties’, the marine insurance underwriters’ term for damage to, or loss of vessels.

Newspapers can also be helpful in gaining information on vessels and incidents. Excluding the shipping press, which is dealt with in the page on Lloyd’s of London (see link above), with the exception of movements into and out of London docks, ‘quality’ national titles tend only to have dealt with serious incidents, such as sinkings. Often these were syndicated reports from regional newspapers. Regional publications, especially of large ports, can often be a rich source of data, showing both routine movements and covering also ‘local’ incidents far more fully than the nationals. There are various holdings of newspapers, probably the best in the U.K. is the British Newspaper Library at Colindale, North London.

In essence the shipping industry is far from glamorous. It has been and remains merely there to shift goods from one location to another and make profits for the shareholders, which is not to say that this cannot be interesting, or exciting. However, this mostly goes unreported (by anyone) and normally it is only when something goes disastrously wrong that there is any record.

The subject of safety at sea is complex and one I do not propose to discuss at any length. Suffice to say that death and injury through accident was traditionally staggeringly high during the ‘sailing ship’ era, with something of a gradual tailing off through technological change of the latter nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (Nevertheless, if one routinely reads Lloyd’s List it is apparent that the accidents that were prone one hundred years ago, still happen with depressing regularity. Such is human nature.)

Although begun before, as of 1850 through the Mercantile Marine Act, there have been state mechanisms in Britain to deal in a disciplinary manner with gross misconduct and miscalculation by ships’ officers: as well as lesser matters. An important element of this dealt with major accidents resulting in serious damage to, or loss of vessels. However, wartime incidents including sinkings by enemy action, at least during the First World War, were dealt with in a different manner and surviving documentation can be found elsewhere. Also, there are the ‘Black Books’ and ‘Confidential Circulars’, which entered details of disciplinary action taken against certificated officers. For crew-members however, (apart from routine reporting on conduct and ability which cannot be relied on as accurate) official comment is generally only to be found within surviving ships’ official logs and even then it is overwhelmingly far from complimentary.

 

Mariners: Life, Death and Bravery

The documents mentioned so far can tell much about the careers of merchant mariners. However, a wider knowledge of life and conditions at sea can add significantly to understanding these. Of course, it all depends on how deeply one wants to go, though a realisation that life was routinely hard and even brutal should be borne in mind.

The death of mariners at sea primarily through accident was also routine: particularly on sailing ships. Even so, while Select Committees periodically reported thousands killed every year, some perspective should be given to this. Other industries also had high levels of death and injury, such as the mineral mining industries, which I believe had an even worse record than mercantile shipping.

Finally, apart from martial wartime honours and awards, civil gallantry awards have only been dealt with in passing. Lloyd’s of London was not the only authority to reward acts of bravery at sea. The state also honoured merchant mariners in a lesser manner, from gifts of items such as watches, to various classes of medals. Very occasionally other grateful organisations, such as town councils or foreign governments, also gave awards to mariners. Sometimes details of these are to be found in state records for civil gallantry awards (see above link) though are also occasionally mentioned in Lloyd’s Captains Registers. Press reports can also be a source for such recognition.

 

 

 

Return to the chronological guide

Return to technical data on vessels, tracing their movements and accidents

Return to the top of the page