Nature of Source
Records from the Merchant Seamen apprenticeship agreements or indentures. Under the Merchant Shipping Act of 1823, all vessels over 80 tons were legally obliged to carry at last one apprentice. These were filed with the local Customs Officer and are now available at The National Archives (TNA). A further Act of 1835 handed the responsibility for registering London based apprentices to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen and for those outside London, the local Customs Officers continued to register apprentices. Although compulsory registration ended in 1849, the system of registration continued into the 20th century. The authorities created indexes from these records which are held at TNA which also hold the original indentures but only about 20 per cent of these have survived.
Earlier apprenticeship records covering all trades including merchant seamen should also be consulted. See ‘Apprenticeship Agreements, Trade’ for more details.
Merchant Seaman records sometimes identify a vessel an individual served on only by the Ships’ Official Number. The Crew List Index Project (CLIP) offers a searchable index of ships by official number. The database includes every British registered ship from 1855 to the early 1950s with official numbers 1 to 200000. In addition CLIP offers a searchable index of ships by name. It shows matching names and their official number, sorted first by name, then by official number. The site also provides a search of Ships by port showing ships registered at each port.
Most Merchant Seaman records survive from 1835 following the introduction of the Merchant Shipping Act which introduced for the first time a central register of seamen. Before the Act few records merchant seamen records exist as seamen were employed for the duration of the contract and then made redundant. Those serving as officers may be easier to locate. Those working in the Merchant Navy below the rank of the officer class are mostly referred to as ‘seamen’ or ‘mariners’ whilst those serving in the Royal Navy are mostly referred to as ‘ratings’.
Merchant Navy mariners were recorded in the 1841 census but unfortunately not those on board ships either stationed on shore or at sea. They were first recorded on board vessels in port from 1851 (1861 for Scotland) and from 1861 measures were taken to record mariners at sea. However the coverage, especially for the earlier censuses, is patchy with many not appearing in the schedules. For more detailed information on the census and Merchant Navy see here and here.
See also
Merchant Navy – Certificates of Competency & Service
Merchant Navy – Crew Lists & Agreements
Merchant Navy – Death At Sea Indexes
Merchant Navy – Musters
Merchant Navy – Registers of Seamen/Service (Seamen)
Merchant Navy – Registered Ticket Records
Merchant Navy – Trinity House Petitions
Where Found
The National Archives (BT 150, Index of Apprentices arranged in alphabetical order with London ports listed separately to non-London ports or ‘outports’. The index relates to the copy indentures in BT 151 and BT 152; BT 151, Apprentices’ Indentures; BT 152, Apprentices’ Indentures for Fishing)
National Maritime Museum (Marine Society Registers of Apprentices, 1772-1950)
Imperial War Museum (Collections include photos, art, souvenirs, ephemera, recordings and newspapers, journals and books)
Guildhall Library (The library holds the Lloyd’s Marine Collection, including the historical printed and manuscript records formerly held by the library at Lloyd’s of London. The collection offers the maritime and family historian information on ships’ details, shipping movements and shipping news and casualties from 1741 to the present. They also hold the Newall Dunn Collection, an important photographic and reference resource on merchant shipping from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. Details of the holdings can be found on the Library Catalogue)
Period Covered
1824 – 1953
Genealogical Value
- Name and age of apprentice.
- Date and length of apprenticeship
- Name of master
- Name of ship served on.
Further References
- Bevan, Amanda. Tracing Your Ancestors in the National Archives: The National Archives, 2006
- Fenton, Roy & Briody, Nuala & Macdonald, Mike. Maritime Information, A guide to libraries and sources of information in the United Kingdom: MIA, 2004
- Hailey, John. Maritime Sources in the Library of the Society of Genealogists: Society of Genealogists, 1997
- Spencer, William, Family History in the Wars: The National Archives, 2007
- Smyth, W. H. The Sailor’s Wordbook: The Classic Source for Over 14,000 Nautical and Naval Terms: Conway Maritime Press, 2005
- Tracing Your Family History: Merchant Seamen: Imperial War Museum, 2006
- Tracing Your Family History, Merchant Navy, Imperial War Museum, 2006
- Watts, Christopher & Watts, Michael & Smith, Kelvin. Records of Merchant Shipping & Seamen, PRO Publications, 1998
- Watts, Christopher & Watts, Michael. My Ancestor Was a Merchant Seaman: Society of Genealogists, 2011
- Watts, Christopher & Watts, Michael, Tracing Births, Deaths and Marriages at Sea: Society of Genealogists, 2004
- Wills, Simon. Tracing Your Merchant Navy Ancestors: Pen & Sword Books, 2012
- Wills, Simon. Tracing Your Seafaring Ancestors: A Guide to Maritime Photographs for Family Historians: Pen and Sword Books, 2016
- Woodman, Richard. The Merchant Navy: Shire Publications, 2013
Websites
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research (The National Archives Research Guides: Numerous guides are available covering all aspects of the Merchant Navy including finding crew lists, Merchant Seamen Registers and looking for Merchant Navy ships)
www.iwm.org.uk/research/tracing-your-family-history/tracing-your-merchant-navy-family-history (Imperial War Museum: Merchant Navy Family History: Guides include: Where to find Merchant Navy Records; Casualty Records; Medal Records; Other sources)
www.marinelives.org/wiki/MarineLives (MarineLives project. The MarineLives collaborative public history project was established in 2012 to digitise, transcribe and annotate the manuscript records of the English High Court of Admiralty from the 1620s and 1670s. The original records are held at The National Archives in Kew)
https://museum.wales/curatorial/industry/resources/maritime-history (National Museum Wales: Researching Welsh maritime history)
www.rmg.co.uk/collections/research-guides (National Maritime Museum Research Guides: Tracing family history from maritime records; The Merchant Navy: World War Two; The Merchant Navy: Tracing merchant seamen; he Merchant Navy: Tracing people: Crew lists, agreements and official logs; The Merchant Navy: Tracing people: Master-mariners, mates and engineers; The Merchant Navy: Sources for enquiries; The Merchant Navy: Sources for ship histories; The Merchant Navy: First World War)
https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/information-sheets (Lloyd’s Register Foundation: Information sheets: Guides include: Registry of Shipping and Seamen; Useful sources for genealogists; Sources available to historical researchers; Collections of the Lloyd’s Register of Ships and associated publications in UK and Ireland)
https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/lloyds-register-of-ships-online/lloyds-register-of-ships-online (Lloyd’s Register Foundation: Lloyd’s Register of Ships online: How to access the historical Lloyd’s Register of Ships. Links to volumes of the Lloyd’s Register of Ships which are fully accessible and searchable online. Resources include the 1764 Register Book)
www.mun.ca/mha/research/principalrecords.php (Maritime History Archive. List of the principal records of British shipping and seamen, showing their present locations)
www.mariners-l.co.uk (Mariners: Researching the mariners and ships of the merchant marine and the world’s navies and home of the Mariners Mailing List with numerous guides and resources for researching a merchant mariner)
www.mariners-list.com (MARINERS: Researching your Mariner Ancestors and the Vessels they Sailed on. The site provides tools and information to help you find your Mariner Ancestor)
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/listGuides.aspx (Merseyside Maritime Museum: Tracing Seafaring Ancestors in the Merchant Navy)
www.merchant-navy.net/forum/forum.php (Forum Thread: Complete Guide to Researching Merchant Navy Records)
www.crewlist.org.uk (Crew List Index Project: Volunteer project transcribing records held at County Record Offices. Site includes guides to finding and using crew lists. The index is available online at www.findmypast.co.uk)
www.glamorganfamilyhistory.co.uk/maritime/Site.html (Bob Sanders Family History Pages. Tracing British Seamen & their ships)
www.glamorganfamilyhistory.co.uk/maritime/CREW.html (Bob Sanders Family History Pages. Tracing British Crew Lists & Agreements)
www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/archive/pdf/Naval%20History-Tracing%20Seafaring%20Ancestors%20in%20the%20Merchant%20Navy%20no43.pdf (National Museums Liverpool: Tracing Seafaring Ancestors in The Merchant Navy)
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/guildhall-library/guildhall-library-collections/maritime-collections (Guildhall Library. Maritime Collections. Brief guide to Merchant Navy material held at Guildhall Library. The Library holds the Lloyd’s Marine Collection, including the historical printed and manuscript records formerly held by the library at Lloyd’s of London with maritime and family historian information on ships’ details, shipping movements and shipping news and casualties from 1741 to the present)
www.poheritage.com (P&O Heritage: The site highlights the history and the collections and archives of the P&O shipping line as well as the companies acquired by the group over the years. The site hosts a number of Family History Research Guides and an online database of nearly 2,500 P&O ships)
www.parishchest.com (Online store selling Merchant Navy records from a variety of suppliers)
Online Databases
www.thegenealogist.co.uk (The Genealogist: Masters and Apprentices Records, 1824-1910. Index of indentured apprentices in the Merchant Navy. The records had been compiled by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen and its predecessor and are extracted from series BT 150 held at TNA. The books have been transcribed and include colour images of the original registers)
www.ancestry.co.uk (Apprentices Indentured in Merchant Navy, 1824-1910 This collection contains lists of young men who were indentured to merchant navy ships between the years 1824 and 1910. They include details such as name, age and date at registration or indenture, vessel, port of registry, and birth year and place. The data has been extracted from TNA series BT 150/1-53)
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/merchant-seamens-campaign-medal-records-1939-1945 (The National Archives: Search a database of World War II Medals issued to Merchant Seamen extracted from BT 395. The series lists the medals awarded to merchant seamen for their service in the Second World War with the exception of the Arctic Star)
https://search.lma.gov.uk/SCRIPTS/MWIMAIN.DLL?GET&FILE=%5BWWW_LMA%5Dindexes.htm (London Metropolitan Archives: Indexes to Lloyd’s Captains Registers. These indexes cover the years 1851 to 1911)
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/merchant-seamens-campaign-medal-records-1914-1918 (The National Archives: Search British War Medal and the Mercantile Marine Medal records consisting of over 155,000 index cards taken from catalogue references BT 351/1 and, for the Silver War Badge, a list of recipients)
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/merchant-shipping-movement-cards-1939-1945 (The National Archives: Search digitised cards recording the movements of British and Allied merchant ships during the Second World War. The records provide the name of the ship, size tonnage of ship, to whom ship was registered, ship’s destination, date of arrival at destination, sometimes ports of call and any cargo carried on board)
www.findmypast.co.uk (England & Wales Merchant Navy Crew Lists 1861-1913. Search crew lists and agreements from various local archives and county record offices across England and Wales including The National Archives and the National Maritime Museum. Over 157,000 of the 570,000 records in this set include images of original documents. Part of these records are created from the Crew List Index Project, a volunteer led project indexing individual crewmen from original documents held in various repositories in the UK as well as in Canada)
www.findmypast.co.uk (Merchant Navy Seamen 1835-1941: The records comprise two main sections: Firstly, Merchant Navy Seamen 1835-1857 which consists of records of individual seamen that the central government created to monitor a potential reserve of sailors for the Royal Navy and secondly, Merchant Navy Seamen 1918-1941 which consist of records of index cards that the Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman used between the two world wars to produce a centralised index to merchant seamen serving on British merchant navy vessels. The datasets consists of registers from Series I, Series II, Series III but not Series IV which will remain unpublished)
www.welshmariners.org.uk (Welsh Mariners: Online index of 23,500 Welsh merchant masters, mates and engineers covering 1800-1945, compiled by Dr. Reg Davies. The sister site at www.irishmariners.ie has records of Irish merchant seamen)
www.glamorganfamilyhistory.co.uk/maritime/CREWIN.html (Bob Sanders Family History Pages. Cardiff Crew Agreements, transcribed records of master mariners named in the crew agreements)
https://memorials.rmg.co.uk (National Maritime Museum: Maritime Memorials: The memorial database contains records of over 6000 church, cemetery and public memorials to seafarers and victims of maritime disasters, including many important works by prominent sculptors and designers)
https://info.dumgal.gov.uk/HistoricalIndexes/Home/IndexDescription/8 (Dumfries and Galloway Council. The Shipping Registers for Dumfries 1824-1904, Kirkcudbright 1824-1841, Stranraer 1824-1908 and Wigtown 1836-1908)
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