BALTIC QUEEN VIRTUAL SAILOR S REGISTRATION

Information on holdings at The National Archives and local record offices are described in The National Archives' Merchant Seamen: Agreements and Crew Lists after 1861.ġ915 Crew Lists online - As a special project for the centenary of the First World War, the National Maritime Museum, digitised and with the help of volunteers, transcribed all of the 1915 Crew Lists in the collection. For other years, some crew agreements were taken by local record offices. To request a crew list to view in the reading room, please contact staff. The remaining 90% for 1861, 1862, and years ending in '5', are held by the National Maritime Museum. 1861–1938Ī 10% specimen group of crew agreements for each year, taken at random (every tenth box of papers) together with those for famous vessels (with some exceptions, such as those for the Cutty Sark and Great Britain), is in The National Archives. These and other valuable sources are described in The National Archives' Merchant shipping: Crew Lists and Agreements, 1747–1860.Īfter 1860, crew agreements have been divided between a number of repositories. Up to 1854 records are arranged by port and registry number subsequently by ship's official number. Muster rolls exist for 1747–1851, but prior to 1800 only those for Bristol, Dartmouth, Liverpool, Plymouth, Shields and Scarborough have survived. 1747–1860Īll surviving muster rolls and crew agreements for British-registered merchant ships up to and including 1860 are held by The National Archives. The crew agreement, which provides at minimum the date and place of the beginning and end of the voyage, is often more informative in this respect. Sailing and arrival dates are sometimes noted but were not required. The log will usually give the ship's position at the time of any birth or death, but may have no other reference to the ship's movements. These include new arrivals on board (such as births or the signing on of a new crew member) departures (death, disappearance, desertion, or signing-off of a crew member at an intermediary port before the end of the voyage) marriages, illness, and any disciplinary action taken against a crew member. They are more a 'parish register' for the ship, noting vital information about the crew and passengers, and only had to be kept if there were relevant entries to record. Official logs of British merchant ships also have some details of crew members but they are not, as many people assume, a daily diary of a ship's movements. Crew agreementsĬrew agreements, detailed contracts between a seaman and his employer, carried on beyond 1857, and provide greater information about the crew, apprentices, ships and voyages.įor ships engaged in the Home trade (operating in UK coastal waters, or from UK to North European and Baltic ports) records of agreements were submitted twice a year and usually include a list of all sailings and arrivals for the half-year.Īgreements for vessels in the foreign trade were submitted at the end of each voyage and do not include this information, just a general voyage description with dates.

BALTIC QUEEN VIRTUAL SAILOR S REGISTRATION

This central registration stopped in 1857 and only began again in 1914 with the start of the First World War. The 1835 Merchant Shipping Act and its successors were intended to create central registers of all seamen who might be called on to support the Royal Navy in time of war.

Introduction Crew listsĬrew lists, originally termed muster-rolls or muster-books, began in the 18th century and were initially kept in order to collect a levy from seamen's wages for a relief fund, and as a record of the names, ratings, dates of entry and final discharge for all men serving on board a ship. Crew agreements for British-registered merchant ships, crew lists or muster-rolls and official ships' logs are of particular interest to genealogists and people tracing family history, and to anyone researching specific ships or seafaring generally.

Baltic Queen Virtual Sailor S