Nature of Source
Listing of crew members arranged by Register Ticket number and alphabetically by name. Between 1845 and 1854, the authorities established this entirely new system whereby every mariner intending to work on a vessel sailing from the UK had to apply for a Register Ticket. Each Ticket was entered into a ledger from which an alphabetical register was compiled. First consult the indexes which provide the person’s first and second name and his ticket number and then further information can be found by looking up his ticket number.
This system proved unpopular and unworkable and was replaced by a new Register of Seamen which only lasted for four years until 1857 (See ‘Registers of Seamen/Service’).
Please note that no entries exist for ticket numbers above 546,000 despite the fact that ticket numbers above this figure are noted in the alphabetical index.
Also look for Seamen’s Pouches which contained various official items relating to the career of a merchant seaman. The pouches could include records from series IV and V of the seamen registrations as well as photographs of the seaman. Unfortunately out of the 500,000 or so pouches around 95,000 were destroyed mid 20th Century. The records are held in series BT 372. The name index covering series BT 372 is available at the TNA Discovery catalogue. First select advanced search from the Discovery home page and enter the name being searched. In the ‘Search for or within references’ box type BT 372 and then scroll down to ‘Held by’ and click ‘Search The National Archives’. Finally click the search button. Further filters appear on the search results screen. The series can also be directly searched from the series catalogue entry
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.
To trace the voyages and obtain detailed information on a particular vessel including the owner as well as the captain’s name and career, consult the Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. The register included ships from the British empire and later from around the world. Editions of the register are available at the National Maritime Museum as well as other repositories such as the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and the Guildhall Library who holds the Register from 1764 to the present. The Foundation offers a resource showing links to digitised volumes of the Lloyd’s Register of Ships which are fully accessible and searchable online. Many editions covering the 18th and 19th centuries are available to view online at Google Books and the Internet Archive which also offers the facility to conduct a text search for the names of vessels and captains. The Maritime and Historical Research Service has compiled a list of available volumes scanned by Google Books and Southampton Library & Archive.
See also
Merchant Navy – Apprenticeship Records
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 – Trinity House Petitions
Where Found
The National Archives (BT 113, Register of Seamen’s Tickets, 1845-1855 arranged in numerical order; BT 114, Alphabetical Index to Registers of Seamen’s Tickets; BT 115, Alphabetical Register of Masters compiled from the register of Seamen’s Tickets)
Merseyside Maritime Museum (Maritime Archives and Library: The library holds registers of merchant ships and records of the major shipping companies operating from Liverpool; records of the port of Liverpool, local trade associations, shipping companies, merchant houses, port services, charities and ship builders; plans, photographs and oral tapes. A series of detailed information sheets dealing with the maritime research are available at the web site)
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)
Imperial War Museum (Collections include photos, art, souvenirs, ephemera, recordings and newspapers, journals and books)
Period Covered
1814 – 1972
Genealogical Value
- Name, address, year and place of birth.
- Rank, age, ticket number
- Physical description
- Date first went to sea
- Royal Navy career.
- Details of voyages
- Photograph of seaman.
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)
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.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)
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.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)
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)
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.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)
Findmypast
Merchant Seamen Registry 1939-1945. The dataset consists of 24,406 records detailing the Second World War experiences of maritime ancestors. These records are sourced from series BT 390 held at The National Archives. The records apply to merchant seamen who served on Royal Navy ships, Auxiliary vessels and Wartime tugs.
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)
CD Roms
S & N Genealogy Supplies (Crew Lists and Agreements 1863-1913)
The Maritime History Archive (Ships and Seafarers of Atlantic Canada. Searchable CD containing data on the vessels, captains and crews of Great Britain and Atlantic Canada, 1787-1936)
London Cornish Association (Cornish Masters & Mates Project. Cornish-born Merchant Navy Officers extracted from TNA BT 127)
