Merchant Navy Registers of Seamen’s Service

Nature of Source

IWM (INS 3757)

Introduction
The Registers of seamen service records are a crucial resource for Merchant Navy research, providing details about mariners employed in the service. The indexed Registers of Seamen were extracted and compiled from the newly created Agreements and Crew Lists, established following the 1835 Merchant Shipping Act. The Act required shipmasters to compile Agreements and Crew Lists and then lodge them with the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (RGSS). The process created a centralised register of Merchant Seamen capable of serving with the Royal Navy, if required during times of military conflict. Before the Act few records merchant seamen records exist as seamen were employed for the duration of the contract and then made redundant. 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’.

Evolution of Merchant Navy Registers

First Register (1835-1844)
The first register initiated the formal registration of merchant seamen in the UK. It was established under the Merchant Shipping Act of 1835 and was compiled from ship’s crew lists. Seamen were issued tickets with unique numbers. The first register was divided into two series:

• Series I (1835-1836)
• Series II (1835-1844)

Second Register (1845-1853)
Between 1845 and 1854, the authorities established an entirely new system whereby every mariner applied for a Register Ticket (See Registered Ticket Records). This system proved unpopular and unworkable and was replaced by a new register.

Third Register (1853-1857)
This separate Register of Seamen extracted from Crew Lists was opened in 1854 and abandoned in 1857, due to problems of maintaining registers based on Crew Lists. This was the last register before a 56-year gap in central registration. Between 1857 and 1913 the names of seamen will only be found in the Crew Agreements and Lists.

Fourth Register (1913-1941)
A new Central Index Register was introduced in 1913 which survived until 1941. Unfortunately entries between 1913 and 1918 were destroyed in 1969.

Fifth Register (1941-1972)
In 1942 a new Central Register of Seamen was introduced during WWII which lasted up to 1972, after which registration effectively ended. The records contain CRS 10 forms with detail service records of individual seamen.

Unfortunately no records exist from 1973 to 1999 as legislation was not required to keep records of individual seamen. From 1999 onwards the Registry of Shipping and Seamen in Cardiff holds records of service extracted from the ships official logbooks and crew agreements.

The registration system underwent a number of revisions over the years of operation and is classified into the following series of registers held at The National Archives.

Series I: 1835-1836 held in series BT 120. The register is arranged alphabetically in five volumes.
Series II: 1835-1844, held in series BT 112 and indexed in BT 119. This series includes the Register of Seamen’s Tickets (BT 113) and the Alphabetical Register of Masters Tickets (BT 115.
Series III: 1853-1857, held in series BT 116.
Series IV/Central Index Register: 1913-1941. The originals are held at Southampton Archives with copies available at TNA in series BT 364 as a combined index of the CR1, CR2 and CR10 cards.
Series V/Central Register of Seamen: 1942-1972, held in series BT 382.

Vessel Identification
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.

Mariners and the Census
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. The Mariners site has a short guide to the census.

Additional Resources for Family History Research

Ship’s Logs
The Merchant Shipping Act of 1850 instructed the keeping of official logs for British merchant ships. The logs provide a wealth of information on an ancestor’s life at sea, especially for events not recorded elsewhere.
The official logs recorded significant events on board, such as:

• Illness and medical incidents
• Births, marriages and deaths
• Crew movements and transfers such as details of crew joining or leaving the ship.
• Desertions
• Disciplinary proceedings and punishments
• Sailing Dates/daily positions. These are sometimes included but were not mandatory.

Unfortunately, only about an estimated 20% of these logs have survived. Many were destroyed or lost over time, especially if no significant events were recorded during a voyage. Surviving logs are typically found with crew agreement papers found in a number of record series held at The National Archives. The logs for 1905-1912 and 1914-1918 were kept separately and are now held at The National Archives in series BT 165. Additionally, some logs may be held in other repositories such as local archives, the National Maritime Museum or overseas archives.

Lloyd’s Captains’ Registers
Lloyd’s Captains’ Registers document the career of a captain or mate who held a Master’s Certificate covering the years from 1869 to 1947. The Registers lists the names of captains and mates of merchant ships who received master’s certificates and includes details such as their place and date of birth, certificate number with date and place of issue and the name of ship’s served on with voyage details. The original registers held at The London Archives and the National Maritime Museum. The London Archives Registers, 1869-1911 have been indexed which are available by going to more search options in the catalogue and selecting indexes. The registers provide a date of birth, certificate number with date and place of issue and the name of ship’s served on with voyage details.

Port Books
The name of a Captain will also be mentioned in Port Books covering England and Wales. Dating back to 1565, the Books detail the movements of all ships entering and leaving a port and provide the name of the Captain but not crew members, the name of the ship and its destination as well as the cargo’s owner. Port Books are held at The National Archives but many did not survive and their use declined significantly after 1750. Surviving Books can be searched via The National Archives Catalogue. First click on ‘Advanced search’ and then type in the port’s name being searched. Then under ‘Search for or within references’ type ‘E 190’. For Scottish ports the books are held at the National Archives of Scotland and can be searched via the online catalogue in series E71, E72 and E504.

Lloyd’s Register of Shipping
The Register of Shipping is used as a resource for tracing voyages and obtaining detailed information about vessels, their owners and a captain’s career. The Register initially covered ships from the British Empire and later expanded to include vessels worldwide. 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. The registration number of the seamen being researched will be needed to look up his details in the registers. When researching a specific seaman, you’ll need their registration number, which can often be found in Crew Lists or in the alphabetical name index of seamen in series BT 119 at The National Archives.

Seamen’s Pouches
Seamen’s Pouches were official collections of documents related to an individual merchant seamen’s career and cover the years from 1913 to 1972 and formally ending around 2002. The Pouches contained various personal and professional items including records from the Central Index Register of seamen from series IV and V, training certificates and qualifications, identity cards and application forms (with photographs). 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 in The National Archives. The name index covering series BT 372 is available at the TNA Discovery catalogue. First click on ‘Advanced search’ and then type in the  name being searched. Then under ‘Search for or within references’ type ‘BT 372’. The series can also be directly searched from the series catalogue entry.

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 – Registered Ticket Records
Merchant Navy – Trinity House Petitions

Where Found

The National Archives

• Series BT 120, Register of Seamen, Series I, 1835-1836. These volumes represent the first attempt to register British seamen by the General Registry and Record Office of Seamen.
• Series BT 112, Register of Seamen, Series II, 1835-1844. The Register incorporates all the British merchant seamen already registered in the first series contained in BT 120. Series BT 119 holds an Alphabetical Index of Seamen in BT 112.
• Series BT 116, Register of Seamen, Series III, 1853-1857. Registers of all British merchant seamen from the discontinuation of the Registry Tickets to the abandonment of the separate Register.
• Series BT 350, (formerly CR 10) Register of Seamen, Special Index, 1918-1921. Microfiche copy of the CR 10 Central Index cards to the Register of Seamen with the originals held at the Southampton Archive Services. The cards are filed in alphabetical order and some cards might have a photograph of the seaman attached.
• Series BT 349, (formerly CR 1), Register of Seamen, Central Index, 1921-1941. This Register includes an alphabetical index and the discharge number for each seaman.
• Series BT 348, (formerly CR 2), Register of Seamen, Central Index, Numerical Series, 1921-1941.
• Series BT 364, Combined Numerical Index from the CR 1, CR 2 and CR 10 Series arranged numerically by continuous discharge A number, 1921-1941. The discharge A number can usually be found against the seaman’s entry in the Crew Lists or in series BT 349.
• Series BT 382, Fifth Register of Merchant Seaman’s Service (CRS 10 forms), 1941-1972.

The Maritime History Archive
Memorial University of Newfoundland. The Archive holds a collection of records related to British shipping and seamen including:

• Crew Lists and Agreements. The MHA houses approximately 75% of the surviving crew lists (also known as crew agreements) and official logbooks of British merchant vessels. These documents provide detailed information about the crew members, including their names, ranks, and the vessels they served on.
• Vessel Registers. These records include information about various vessels, such as their names, types, and ownership details.
• Certificates of Competency. These documents certify the qualifications of seamen, detailing their training and experience.
• Official logbooks contain daily records of a ship’s activities, including navigation details and weather conditions.

Maritime Museum
The museum houses a diverse range of collections that reflect the city of Liverpool’s rich maritime history. The Archives Centre has extensive collections of maritime books, artifacts and documents spanning three centuries. These include one of the finest collections of merchant shipping records in the UK including Registers of Merchant Ships dating from 1739 to 1942 and photographs including the Stewart Bale Ltd photographic archive.

Caird Library
National Maritime Museum. The Library and Archive holds many useful resources for tracing people who were involved in the Merchant Navy. The materials held include: Births, deaths and marriages at sea; Crew lists for the following years only: 1861, 1862, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925, 1935, 1955, 1965, 1975, 1985, and 1995; Officers’ records and Shipowner records.

Guildhall Library
Maritime Collections. 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 which has information on ships’ details, shipping movements and shipping news and casualties from 1741 to the present. The Library also houses Captains Registers which list masters and mates who received certificates between 1869 and 1948 and Ship Registers which detail various vessels, including their specifications and ownership. The Newall Dunn Collection is photographic and ephemera resource for Merchant Shipping history covering from about 1880 to the early 21st century.

Southampton Archives
The collections include:

• Crew lists, 1863-1913 for Southampton-registered vessels (or some other vessels which regularly sailed from the port), 1863-1913.
• The Central Index Register of Merchant Seamen, 1918-1941 including over a million and a quarter record cards with details (and sometimes photographs) of those serving on board British-registered vessels.
• Records of shipping lines, including Furness Withy Shipping Line (incorporating Royal Mail Line and Prince Line); Shaw Savill & Albion service records.
• Photographs of Southampton’s dockland areas and the ships which sailed from them.

Registry of Shipping and Seamen
The department holds the Medal Roll for World War II and original papers (not complete) of Medal Applications for the World War II period.

Period Covered

1835 – 1857

Genealogical Value

• First and last name
• Age and date and place of birth
• Rank of seaman
• Details of ships served on and discharge date
• Dates of voyages
• Physical description and occasionally a photo in later records

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

TNA Research Guides

Websites

The National Archives Research Guide
How to look for records of Merchant Navy seamen in service before 1914. This is a guide to finding records of merchant seamen in service before the start of the First World War.
The National Archives Research Guide
How to look for records of Merchant Navy seamen of the First World War. This is a guide to finding records of merchant seamen who served during the First World War.
The National Archives Research Guide
How to look for records of Merchant Navy seamen in service since 1918. This is a guide to locating records of merchant seamen in service since the end of the First World War, including records from the Second World War, and up to the last decades of the 20th century.
The National Archives Research Guide
How to look for Merchant Navy ships’ records: crew lists, musters and log books. Use this guide for advice on how to find British merchant shipping records known as crew lists and agreements, originally known as muster books, and log books.
Imperial War Museum
Merchant Navy Family History. Expert guides include: Where to find Merchant Navy Records; Casualty Records; Medal Records; Other sources.
National Museum Wales
Researching Welsh maritime history.
National Maritime Museum
Research Guides. Explore a range of research guides produced by the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum including 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
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.
Lloyd’s Register Foundation
Lloyd’s Register of Ships online: How to access the historical Lloyd’s Register of Ships. The site hosts links to volumes of the Lloyd’s Register of Ships which are fully accessible and searchable online. Resources include the 1764 Register Book.
Southampton Archives
How to use merchant navy records at Southampton Archives. This page is a guide to the Merchant Navy records held both at Southampton Archives and Local Studies and around the world.
Maritime History Archive
Memorial University of Newfoundland. List of the principal records of British shipping and seamen, showing their present locations. The website offers a list of major record series, organised by series and including information such as years covered, brief descriptions of holdings, record series numbers and document locations.
Maritime Archives
Maritime and Historical Research Services. The website offers links to resources and information on maritime history research. Highlights include links to archive catalogues holding maritime records, links to passenger lists resources, information about Shipping Company Fleets and other ships and vessels, links to crew lists and lists of captains, links to digital copies of shipping newspapers, such as Lloyd’s List and Lloyd’s Register. The site hosts a collection of photographs related to maritime history as well as ebooks covering various aspects of maritime history.
MarineLives Project
The MarineLives is collaborative public history project established 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
Mariners
The site offers a comprehensive resource for researching mariners and ships associated with the merchant navy. For family historians, the site provides extensive information on mariners, including details about their service and how to access records related to the British Merchant Navy, including logs, agreements, and crew lists. The site also hosts Mariners Mailing List, which serves as a platform for discussions and sharing information.
Maritime Museum
The Archives Centre has extensive collections of maritime books and documents spanning three centuries. The site hosts a range of information sheets covering Liverpool’s maritime past and general maritime history with a number specifically focused on tracing ancestors.
Maritime Museum
Tracing seafaring ancestors in the Merchant Navy: Information sheet 43. This information sheet provides details of sources available in the UK and elsewhere for tracing members of the Merchant Navy who served on British registered ships.
British Merchant Navy-Old Friends Plus
The online community is dedicated to individuals interested in the British Merchant Navy and to current and former members the Merchant Navy. Members can engage in discussions, share experiences and access a wealth of information related to maritime history. Topics covered include general inquiries about the Merchant Navy and researching friends and relatives who served in the Merchant Navy.
Crew List Index Project
The project is aimed at assisting research into British merchant seafarer’s records from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The site offers historical context and resources about Britain’s maritime history and guidance on finding merchant seamen records, including agreements and log books. The site includes research guides on How to find crew lists and agreements and Tips for tracing seafaring ancestors. The site also includes several searchable databases.
Who Do You Think You Are? magazine
How to find Merchant Navy records. Did your ancestor serve in the Merchant Navy? Find out how to trace him with our guide to the best websites.
Who Do You Think You Are? magazine
Merchant seamen crew lists: What are they, and where can you find them? What are merchant seamen crew lists, and where can you find them? Naval historian Dr Simon Wills reveals how to trace an ancestor who served in the Merchant Navy.
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.
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 collections catalogue of nearly 2,400 P&O ships and 1,800 object records.
P&O Heritage
Researching seafarers and merchant seamen. This is a guide to national records and specific P&O records for researching seafarers in the British merchant navy and specifically P&O and its subsidiary companies.
P&O Heritage
Researching seafarers in regional archives and record offices. This is a near complete list of information contained in national and regional archives.
The London Archives
Research Guide: Lloyd’s of London Captains’ Registers. This guide explains how to find a mariner who was active between 1869 and 1947 in the Lloyd’s Captains’ Registers.
National Maritime Museum
Research Guide: Lloyd’s Captain’s Registers. This information sheet explains how to use the microfilm copies of Lloyd’s Captains Registers held by the National Maritime Museum’s Caird Library.
National Maritime Museum
Research Guide: Lloyd’s List History. This guide gives a brief outline of the history of Lloyd’s List, a newspaper reporting shipping movements and casualties, maritime news and other commercial information.

Online Databases

Crew List Index Project
The project is aimed at assisting research into British merchant seafarer’s records from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The site offers several searchable databases, including:

• Ships by Name: Allows users to search for ships.
• Ships by Official Number: Users can find ships based on their official registration numbers.
• Seafarers Names: Search tool for finding specific mariners within the crew lists from British registered vessels.

National Maritime Museum
Crew Lists of the British Merchant Navy, 1915. Search a database of over 750,000 names from approximately 39,000 crew lists (Crew Agreements) held by the National Maritime Museum and the National Archives. These records cover a wide range of vessels, from small fishing boats to large passenger liners. Also available are details about the ships themselves, including their names, official numbers and the voyages they undertook.
Findmypast
Britain, Merchant Seamen, 1835-1857. Search over 1.9 million records of individual seamen that the central government created to monitor a potential reserve of sailors for the Royal Navy. The records include seamen from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Republic of Ireland. The dataset includes Register of Seamen, Register of Seamen’s Tickets, Register of Seamen, Series I and Series III from The National Archive’s record series BT 112, BT 113, BT 114, BT 115, BT 116 and BT 120.
Findmypast
Britain, Merchant Seamen, 1918-1941. Search more than 1.1 million Merchant Navy Seamen records and discover information about their voyages, ranks, personal details including their address, next of kin, and physical descriptions. The records include 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 dataset consist of records from The National Archive’s record series BT 348, BT 349, BT 350 and BT 364.
Findmypast
England & Wales Merchant Navy Crew Lists 1861-1913. Search crew lists and agreements from 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.
Findmypast
Ireland Merchant Navy Crew Lists 1857-1922. Search Irish merchant navy records holding the names of thousands of men and women from Galway, Belfast, Dublin, and lands farther away such as Philadelphia, Norway and many more. Crew lists also recorded marriages, engagements, births and deaths at sea. Each record includes an image of the original record from the National Archives of Ireland and a transcript listing information that can be found on the document.
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.
FamilySearch
United Kingdom, Merchant Navy Seamen Records, 1835-1941. This collection includes Merchant Navy Seamen records held at The National Archives. The contents of the records vary, but they usually include name, age, place of birth, register ticket, ship names, and dates of voyages. These records come from The National Archives’ record series BT 112, BT 113, BT 114, BT 115, BT 116, BT 119 and BT 120.
FamilySearch
United Kingdom, Merchant Seamen Records, 1918-1941. Index and images of microfiche copies of a card index originally kept by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, series BT 348, BT 349, BT 350, and BT 364, now held at The National Archives.
The National Archives
Merchant Navy ships’ records: movement cards 1939-1945. 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.
Maritime Memorials
National Maritime Museum. 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.
The London Archives
Captains’ Registers Indexes, 1869-1911. Search indexed Registers going to more search options in the Collections Catalogue and selecting indexes.
Ancestry
UK, Merchant Seamen Deaths, 1939-1953. UK, Merchant Seamen Deaths, 1939-1953. This collection details the names of over 50,000 merchant seamen who lost their lives during and just after WWII. The records are extracted from the ‘Lists of Merchant Seamen Deaths’ held at the National Maritime Museum.
Ancestry
England, Dreadnought Seamen’s Hospital Admissions and Discharges, 1826-1930. Search seamen admitted to the Dreadnought hulk treating those with cholera and needing isolation. The original data is kept at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Ancestry
UK, WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923. Search military and military-related personnel who filed for a pension after World War One if injured or, if killed, details of their widow and/or other dependents or their next of kin if they were unmarried and had no children. The records include Merchant Marine Cards proving details of a small portion of the men who served in the Merchant Navy during the First World War who were entitled to a form of pension.
Welsh Mariners
Welsh Mariners. The website, also known as Morwyr Cymru, is an online index dedicated to Welsh merchant mariners. It features a searchable database of over 23,758 records of Welsh merchant masters, mates and engineers covering 1800 to 1945, compiled by Dr. Reg Davies. The site also has a separate database of over 3,000 Welsh mariners who served in the Royal Navy from 1795 to 1815, including those who participated in the Battle of Trafalgar.
Irish Mariners
The website has details of over 23,000 Irish born and 1000 Canadian born merchant seamen and their voyages contained in the CR10 series of central index cards held in the Southampton Civic Archives.
Bob Sanders
Cardiff Crew Agreements. Explore, transcribed records of master mariners named in the crew agreements.
Dumfries and Galloway Council
Shipping Registers. The registers provide a record of ships that were registered in their home ports giving details into the ownership of ships, crew lists and the movement of goods and people. The locations covered include Dumfries, 1824-1904; Kirkcudbright, 1824-1841; Stranraer, 1824-1908 and Wigtown, 1836-1908.

Medal Resources
Findmypast
Merchant Navy Medal Index Cards, 1914-1920. Search records of Merchant Navy seamen entitled to the Mercantile Marine Medal. Each record is a transcript of the original medal card and contains a link to purchase and download an image of the original record card from The National Archives.
The National Archives
Merchant Navy campaign medal records 1939-1945. 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.
The National Archives
Merchant Navy campaign medal records 1914-1918. Search British War Medal and the Mercantile Marine Medal records consisting of over 155,000 index cards taken from catalogue references BT 351/1.
Ancestry
Web: UK, WWII Medals Issued to Merchant Seamen, 1939-1945. Ancestry search linked to The National Archives website from series BT 395.

CD Roms

Kresen Kernow
Cornish masters and mates, Merchant Navy. CD-ROM index to officers in the Merchant Navy, who were born in Cornwall. Compiled from records held at the National Archives, London. Index prepared by the London Cornish Association, published 2006.
Devon FHS
Devon Masters & Mates Project. Alphabetical list of Devon-born Masters and Mates (Officers in the Merchant Navy) and their certificate numbers, extracted from BT 127 at The National Archives Includes names from South East Cornwall.