Merchant Seamen: Log Books, Agreements and Crew Lists after 1861

Domestic Records Information 91

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Agreement and Crew Lists 1861 - 1938 and 1950 - 1994
3. World War Two: Agreement and Crew Lists 1939 to 1950
4. Agreements and Crew Lists after 1972
5. The Crew List Index Project
6. Merchant Ships' Log Books 1857 - 1990
7. Agreements and Crew Lists, 1863 to 1913, in county record offices

1. Introduction

Agreements and Crew Lists, were introduced in 1835. The agreement was used by the ship's Master (Captain), to record the conditions of employment of the crew for the voyage and period of service. The agreement was agreed by each seaman before the ship sailed. The resultant crew lists were used by the Board of Trade registry clerks to create the entries in the various seamen's registers.

Asiatic agreements are not usually included among the records held by The National Archives. You may wish to try local archives to see if they are in existence for the vessel or voyage that interests you.

For information about The National Archives' holdings before 1861, see the research guide Agreements and Crew Lists 1835-1860. The division of Agreements and Crew Lists before and after 1861 has nothing to do with their format but purely to do with what percentage of the whole is preserved at the various repositories. Before 1861 all official copies are to be found in The National Archives.

2. Agreement and Crew Lists 1861 - 1938 and 1950 - 1994

In BT 99 , The National Archives holds a random 10% sample of the Agreements and Crew Lists, for the periods 1861 to 1938 and again from 1950 to 1994. For the period 1861 to 1923, they can be searched for on the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) using the ship's Official Number (obtainable from the Mercantile Navy Lists). After that date, the Catalogue gives ranges of ship's Official Numbers. See the separate section below on The National Archives' World War 2 holdings.

When the files were being selected for preservation a decision was taken on how to dispose of all those not taken by The National Archives. The National Maritime Museum took 10% and County Record Offices, took some for the period 1863-1913. The rest, approximately 70% of the Agreements and Crew Lists, 1863-1938 and 1951-1976, were transferred to the Maritime History Archive, Memorial University, St John's, Newfoundland, Canada A1C 5S7 (www.mun.ca/mha/).

The National Maritime Museum's 10% sample covers the period 1861-1938 and 1951-1976. Their holdings approximate to 10% over the two periods and were selected by taking the 90% not selected for The National Archives for 1861-1862 and 90% for every year that ended in a figure 5, i.e. 1865, 1875, etc. with the exception of 1945 - see below.

The Maritime History Archive has published the following guides that relate to BT 99 :

Microfiche copies of both of these publications are available at the National Archives, and a catalogue of their holdings for this period is also available on the Maritime History Archive website at www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/searchcrew.php. See below for details of the County Record Offices' holdings.

3. World War Two: Agreement and Crew Lists 1939 to 1950

The National Archives holds the surviving official Agreements and Crew Lists for the Second World War and the succeeding years up to 1950. These can be found in various record series and can be searched for by the ships' Official Numbers in the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue).

4. Agreements and Crew Lists after 1972

After 1972 only the two 10% samples of Agreements and Crew Lists held by The National Archives and by the National Maritime Museum have been preserved. The rest of the Agreements and Crew Lists, up to 1989, have been destroyed. The Registry of Shipping and Seamen hold all Agreements and Crew Lists from 1990.

5. The Crew List Index Project

An independent Crew List Index Project (CliP) was started in 1998 with the aim of providing access to the records of seafarers of the latter part of the 19th century, particularly the Agreements and Crew Lists. This was done by the CliP Project co-ordinating local teams to make transcripts from the records held at County Record Offices. By the end of 2001, 269,000 entries for seafarers had been extracted to a database which is published on CD-ROM. The project has now ended on a national basis. Liverpool, Portsmouth and Southampton Record Offices are continuing to build up their own databases. You should contact the relevant County Record Office to determine the current situation regarding their collection. See above for contact details of the Offices concerned. The CliP website is at http://www.crewlist.org.uk.

6. Merchant Ships' Logs 1857 - 1990

Ships logs can occasionally be found with their 19th century Agreements and Crew Lists and in the 20th century it gradually became usual to find the logs attached to the Agreements and Crew Lists.(see above for series numbers)

The Series BT 165 : Board of Trade: Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen and predecessor: Ships' Official Logs contains log books covering the period 1857-1972.

For the period 1902 - 1912 when a birth, marriage or death occurred on board the log was normally preserved, it is therefore possible to find records of deaths of soldiers and Prisoners of War returning on ships from the Boer war. For the First World war period (1914-1919) all surviving logs containing casualties are preserved.

BT 165 also contains selected logs from the 1857 to 1889, and a further selection from 1922 to 1938 plus a miscellaneous selection covering the overall period 1913 to 1972.

7. Agreements and Crew Lists, 1863 to 1913, in county record offices

This table shows the various Record Offices and Libraries who took their local ports records when offered by the Registry of Shipping and Seamen. Each of the repositories has been contacted for details of their holdings. The volume of information returned from most of the contacts makes it impossible to note it all here. To avoid replicating information publicised by the holders the information is restricted to the name of the repository and the ports covered by it. You are advised to contact any of the repositories before traveling.

Record Office or Library	Holdings
Anglesey County Record Office	The archive holds Crew Lists and agreements for ships registered at Beaumaris between 1863 and 1913.
National Archives of Australia	The archive has a large number of record series concerning ships crews and merchant navy. These records include registers of engagement, articles of agreement, registers of discharge, registers of deserters, employment history records, etc. All of these record series are indexed on the Record Search database.
Bristol Record Office	An index of vessels registered in Bristol and a separate annual listing of ships' holdings by number are available in the search rooms. Some of the Agreements and Crew Lists have log books attached. Bristol and Avon Family History Society has produced a surname index of all crew lists for the years 1866,1871,1876,1881 and1886. The repository prefers some notice to be given. Give them a call before visiting.
Gwynedd Archives, Caernarfon Record Office	The Record Office holds 10% sample of the Agreements and Crew Lists for the Port of Caernarfon 1863-1913. The ships are listed in alphabetical order on index cards. Some of the crew lists have been included in the data of the Clip Project - please see below. The material has been researched and used in several publications such as Maritime Wales.
Cambridgeshire County Record Office	It is believed that the Archive has Agreements and Crew Lists. When this research guide was last updated we were waiting for information about their holdings. To find out what they have and how it is organised you should contact the archive.
Carmarthenshire Record Office	Carmarthen, Llanelly (1863-1913). There are ship's index cards in search room and some related records, eg log books, journals etc.
Ceredigion Archives	The archive holds Log books, crew lists and agreements for ships relating to Cardiganshire ships.
Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies	100% of Agreements and Crew Lists for Runcorn, 1861-1913, with typescript lists of ships and the Agreements and Crew Lists. There are also shipping registration papers (but not registers) 1847-1963. The records are arranged by ship (in order of registration number) and date; enquirers need to know the name of the ship. Prior is required notice because the records are stored offsite.
Cornwall Record Office	Ports for which crew lists are held: Falmouth, Fowey, Hayle, St. Ives, Padstow, Penzance, Scilly, Truro. 1863-1913. The holdings are a 70% representative set of documents for one voyage only, of all ships registered at out ports There are not any log books/journals etc. relating to the above vessels. The crew lists are listed twice in the Merchant Shipping's Record catalogue: they are grouped alphabetically within their port of registration and also alphabetically by ship name irrespective of port.
Cumbria Record Office and Local Studies Library, Whitehaven	For the ports of Whitehaven and Workington, Agreements and Crew Lists 1863-1914, registers of shipping for Whitehaven and Workington and a very few log books which predate the crew lists. The crew lists are listed for each vessel with covering dates and the port the vessel was registered in. In addition there is also a shipping index which was compiled before 1985.
Cumbria Record Office, Carlisle Headquarters	Agreements and Crew Lists for Carlisle and Maryport 1863-1914.
Devon Record Office	A catalogue to Devon's local Agreements and Crew Lists covering the period 1863-1913 is available via Access to Archives (A2A). The records do include log books where they survive. The Record Office publishes 'Ships' Crew Lists: A Handlist of Records in the Devon Record Office' (1987). They have also acquired, since 1987, photocopies of some of the documents in Newfoundland (D.4923?). There is a paper list of these held at the Record Office.
Dorset History Centre	Agreements and Crew Lists for Bridport, Lyme Regis, Poole and Weymouth for the period 1863-1913. This represents approximately 80% of the Agreements and Crew Lists for the ports for this period. Some of the Agreements and Crew Lists have the ships' logs attached. The archive participated in the CliP Project - see below, and all the Agreements and Crew Lists have been catalogued to provide an alphabetical list of ships' names and the dates of the Agreements and Crew Lists held for each ship. An index of seamen's names for the years ending in a 3 or an 8 has been compiled.
Essex Record Office	Agreements and Crew Lists for Harwich, Colchester and Maldon, 1863-1913. There are some log books within the collection. The records are held by year then by port - enquirers will therefore need to know the port and year of sailing. The records are awaiting cataloguing. The archive also holds some shipping registers for the ports.
Flintshire Record Office	The Record Office has approximately 90% for the port of Chester, 1863-1913, and a few strays from Barrow, Bideford, Douglas, Faversham, Fleetwood, Folkestone, Fowey, Goole, Jersey, London, Lowestoft, Padstow, Preston, South Shields, Sunderland, Truro, Whitehaven, Aberdeen, Ardrossan, Berwick,Campbeltown, Dumfries, Glasgow, Inverness, Kirkcaldy, Leith, Perth, Peterhead, Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Newry, Sligo, Youghal, Wexford and Halifax and Windsor in Nova Scotia. They also hold Chester port registers, 1836-1913, some registration documents and some log books, cargo books and other papers for a small number of these vessels. The records are filed by year in order of ship's number. Enquirers need to state a year and the name or number of the vessel, but as they are also indexed by name it is possible to search this first.
Glamorgan Record Office	Agreements and Crew Lists for Cardiff, 1863-1913, excluding all years ending with 5. There is a list of ships published on the internet, see Ships' List. There are very few log books with the crew lists, but there are shipping registers organised by ship's registration number within each year and indexes of ships' names and of masters.
Gloucestershire Record Office	Agreements and Crew Lists, 1863-1913 for the Port of Gloucester. The collection has been catalogued as a table which is arranged alphabetically by ship showing the years within the period for which records are held. The collection includes some log books and this is indicated in the catalogue. The records are arranged by year and then alphabetically by vessel within each year. If the researcher is interested in individual crew members the name of the vessel and the approximate dates are required. Brief details of the collection are available in the Summary Catalogues section of our website. There is a collection of Registers of Ships, 1759-1833, with particulars of cancellation to 1893. These registers act as documents of title for the ships and provide information about the ownership and dimensions of individual volumes. Most of the ships were built in either Gloucestershire or Shropshire. The information usually includes: name of the ship and her master, when and where she was built, name of the surveying officer, and a note of its fate (occasionally). The collection is fully catalogued and is available for use in the Search room There is an appendix arranged alphabetically by ship giving the name of the vessel, her type, the date of registration and the reference in the register.
Gwent Record Office	The crew lists cover the years 1868-1909 and mainly relate to the port of Newport. A few relate to the ports of Chepstow, Chester and in one case London and Newport. The records are indexed on card by name of ship in alphabetical order.
Hull City Archives	Hull City Archives holds fishing vessel crew agreements under the 1883 Sea Fisheries Act 1884-1914, reference is DPF. They are arranged by year in H number order. There is an outline index to the H numbers, and a more complete index to vessel owners. A volunteer is inputting some lists into the catalogue including all the names included in the lists. This is naturally a slow process. The agreements are available to the public, please note visitors do need to make an appointment to visit the Archives.
National Archives of Ireland	It is believed that the Archive has Agreements and Crew Lists. When this research guide was last updated we were waiting for information about their holdings. To find out what they have and how it is organised you should contact the Archive.
East Kent Archives Centre	Agreements and Crew Lists for Deal (1863-1883), Dover (1863-1913), Folkestone (1880-1897) and Ramsgate (1863-1913). They cover an estimated 10% of the Agreements and Crew Lists for these ports. There are also fishing vessel crew lists for Dover 1884-1900 and Folkestone 1884-1914. The records are catalogued under port, and then by vessel name, chronologically. The records were indexed as part of the CliP project (name index). Visitors are advised to make an appointment before traveling.
Centre for Kentish Studies	A small quantity of crew lists for Faversham, 1863-1909. The catalogue gives: name and type of vessel, tonnage, and register number (we hold the shipping registers for Faversham also). There are no secondary finding aids.
Lancashire Record Office	Crew Lists for ships registered at Fleetwood, Lancaster and Preston for 1863-1913 (ref: SS/1/1-61), ships' names are given in the catalogue along with relevant dates. There is a handlist to maritime records, including shipping registers, crew lists, port records, private business records of shipping companies/owners, diaries of officers and seamen, correspondence of officers and seamen, wills and inventories of officers and seamen, ship building records, maps and charts, photographs, ship's logs deposited privately, shipwrecks, Local Government records, and other miscellaneous related material (Handlist 45). There is also an index to the shipping registers for the Port of Lancaster. Staff cannot check records on researchers' behalf.
Lincolnshire Archives	It is believed that the Archive has Agreements and Crew Lists. When this research guide was last updated we were waiting for information about their holdings. To find out what they have and how it is organised you should contact the Archive.
North East Lincolnshire Archives	The archive holds Agreements and Crew Lists for Grimsby vessels (1864-1914). Fishing vessel crew lists (except 1907-1914) are available without advance ordering. Merchant vessel crew lists, 1863-1914 are kept in another building and must be ordered in advance. They are indexed by crew name c1880-1900 and indexed by vessel name c1880-1900. There are a few log books included in the series. There is a published Index of ships registered at the port of Grimsby 1824-1918. All searchers should make appointments before visiting the Search room.
Liverpool Record Office	Covering dates c.1861 - c.1913. There is not a published catalogue, but there is a list in alphabetical order of ship, which also gives dates of holdings and ship's official number. In some cases log books, journals, discharge papers etc have survived and these have been kept with the relevant crew list. The records are kept in alphabetical order of ship, users therefore need to know the name of the ship. Some work has been done on indexing crew members as part of the CliP Project, see below. This has produced a locally available database of names, although this only represents a small fraction of possible names.
Manchester Archives and Local Studies	There is a mixture of Agreements and Crew Lists and official log books with crew lists for ships registered at Manchester from 1894-1913. The catalogue entries are in tabular form listing: name and official number of each ship, the year registered, where and when it had previously been registered, and the years for which we hold records from the ship. This list is available to view in hard copy in the Archives Search room.
Manx National Heritage Library	Castletown (including Derbyhaven), Douglas, Peel and Ramsey for the period 1861 to 1913. An index of ships is available in the public Reading Room. The Library holds about 90% of the Agreements and Crew Lists and the HM Customs and Excise Shipping Registers for Manx ports for these years.
Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre	Port of Rochester 1863-1913. Published in database on website. There are also Port of Rochester shipping registers. Organised by date and registration number. Customers need correct port and rough date of registration. Unless of course you are using the database in which case vessel's name can be retrieved. There is a manual list also available. Please note booking is required for microfilm copies. No charge for the website database.
Merseyside Maritime Museum	Catalogues of the records are available, and work has been done on the crew lists by CliP - see below. Records held at the Maritime Archives are available to the public, Tuesday to Thursday, 10.30am to 4.30pm, no appointment is necessary. However, some of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board records are held at the Reserve Store in North Street, Liverpool and are available by appointment only.
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland	For 1862-1938, approximately 80% of Agreements and Crew Lists largely for ships registered in Belfast, Newry, Coleraine and Londonderry but also include ships build in Northern Ireland but registered elsewhere. They do include some official logbooks. The crew lists and agreements are listed, when completed the alphabetical list of will also be available on the website. Currently, customers need to know either the name of the ship or the official log number.
Northumberland Record Office, Berwick-upon-Tweed	It is believed that the Archive has Agreements and Crew Lists. When this research guide was last updated we were waiting for information about their holdings. To find out what they have and how it is organised you should contact the Archive.
Northumberland Record Office, Newcastle	It is believed that the Archive has Agreements and Crew Lists. When this research guide was last updated we were waiting for information about their holdings. To find out what they have and how it is organised you should contact the Archive.
North Yorkshire County Record Office	The Record Office holds Agreements and Crew Lists for ships registered at Middlesborough, Scarborough and Whitby 1857, 1861-1867, 1872, some log books but by no means for every vessel. The records are arranged chronologically and by official number. They are available to researchers on microfilm (MIC nos. 2966-70, 2972, 2974-75). All researchers are requested to make an appointment before visiting the office.
Pembrokeshire Record Office	The Record Office holds crew lists for two ports - Milford Haven and Cardigan - both for the period 1863-1913. There are a (very) few log books amongst the crew lists; these have not been individually listed. The crew lists are arranged by ship's number within each calendar year. They have a card index, alphabetical by ship name, and a hard-copy alphabetical list by ship name within each year. All enquiries must be made via the name of the ship unless the searcher wants to look through all the crew lists for a particular year. The CliP indexing project, see below, covers the years 1863, 1880, 1881.
Portsmouth Museum and Records Service	Crew Lists for Portsmouth and Cowes 1863-1913. The holdings are listed in book form. There are around 1300 entries, listed alphabetically by ship's name. They are currently indexing the crew names for each ship as part of the CliP project, see below.
National Archives of Scotland	The Agreements and Crew Lists are held under the reference BT3, and cover the dates 1867-1913, for Scottish ships only. The ships are listed alphabetically by name in the paper catalogue. Official logs are found with the Agreements and Crew Lists, where they survive. The records are summarised on the website in the Family History FAQ #18 - Where do I find records for an ancestor who served at sea?
Somerset Archive and Record Service	Agreements and Crew Lists for the Port of Bridgwater which included Minehead 1863 - 1913. A manuscript check list exists and there are gaps in the series. For a few ships there are no records at all, for a few others they have practically the complete coverage, and for the majority there are odd years missing at intervals. The records are stored by year in ships' official number sequence. To access the records an enquirer needs the ship's number and a year. A volunteer has indexed them all by name of crew member and the index is available on the website. The index can be searched by name of ship or name of crew member (See Bridgewater Crew List). Unfortunately neither online index gives the ships' official numbers. You will need to book an appointment in advance of a visit. The records themselves do not have to be ordered in advance.
Southampton Archives Office	The archive holds crew lists and agreements for ships built or registered in Southampton and also those who used the port regularly between 1863 and 1913. The archive also holds the records of the Furness Withy shipping line.
Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich Branch	It is believed that the Archive has Agreements and Crew Lists. When this research guide was last updated we were waiting for information about their holdings. To find out what they have and how it is organised you should contact the Archive.
Suffolk Record Office, Lowestoft Branch	There are crew lists for the port of Lowestoft which cover the date range 1863-1914. An index is available within the search room. Additionally there are the following: i) Lowestoft shipping registers, 1852-1874, 1879-1946 which have been transcribed and indexed by owners the missing volume is currently on deposit at The Registry of Shipping and Seamen. ii) Port of Lowestoft Research Society collection which contains photographs and/or index cards to most Lowestoft vessels. The index cards record such information as where built, yard number if known, dimensions, tonnage, ownership and incidents of note within the vessels shipping career. iii) Records for some of the fishing companies from Lowestoft. iv) Ships drawings and assorted miscellaneous items for individual vessels.
Tyne and Wear Archives Service	The main series of Crew Lists are for Shields, 1863-1914 (ref: 2599). Fairly complete, but these are only rough-listed (anecdotal evidence from users suggests minor gaps). Arranged chronologically, not indexed (ships, fishing boats bundled separately within chronological sequence).
National Library of Wales: Department of Collection Services	A collection of Aberystwyth Shipping Records is held at the Library, and it consists of crew lists and agreements of ships associated with the port of Aberystwyth, 1863-1913. There is an index available for these papers in the form of a schedule. They are organised by the name of the ship and the year of the voyage, and are stored yearly by the ship's official number. Log books are also available for some ships for certain years.
West Glamorgan Archive Service	An estimated 80% Agreements and Crew Lists for Swansea and Port Talbot for the period 1863-1913. Log books, journals etc. are sometimes filed with the crew agreements. The records are arranged first by year then by ship's official number. It is necessary for a researcher to know the name of the ship in order to find a crew member. There is a card index of ships and of ship's masters in the search room, as well as a catalogue showing for what years we have crew agreements for a particular ship. A database of crew members for 1881 has been compiled by CliP. A summary of the records is to be found on the website in the Guide to Collections.
West Sussex Record Office	The holdings are for 1863-1913, for the ports of Arundel, Chichester, Littlehampton and Shoreham. There is a typescript catalogue, arranged by ship's official number and indexed by name of the vessel for the 461 ships. It is believed that the record office has 100% of the surviving Agreements and Crew Lists for the period but they cannot guarantee complete documentation for each vessel. Additionally there are log books for approximately 40-50% of the vessels. Through a team of volunteers they are gradually building an index by name of both crew members and ship owners. As the index is prepared it is made available to the public. So far there are about 10,000 cards for crew members and about 250 cards for ship owners.

(ri2198) Last updated: 19 April 2008 | © Crown Copyright 2003