1. Introduction
The entries for seamen in the Registers of Seamen Series II (BT 112) give details of the voyages undertaken. These entries were made in a shorthand fashion which is only partly understood. When trying to interpret these entries the researcher should bear in mind that the clerks were trying to record details of the filing of crew lists at the end of one or a series of voyages, during which the individual had been on the relevant ship. The form of the entry was different for a Home Trade or a Foreign Trade voyage. The registers are of two types and the entries in the earlier registers (Part 1 1835-1840) look slightly different in layout to those from the later period (Part 2 1842-1844).
2. Home Trade Voyages
These entries do not simply record a single voyage, but a half year (January to June or July to December) during which the seaman was engaged on a particular ship in the home trade. During that period the ship may have been on several voyages, and he may have been engaged for some or all of the period. The crew lists were required to be filed within 42 days of the end of June or December. An entry for Home Trade is shown in the first example below, taken from Part 1 of the class.
3. Foreign Trade Voyage
These entries record a single voyage during which the seaman was engaged on a particular ship. The crew lists were required to be filed within 24 or 48 hours of the ship returning to a UK port. Entries for Foreign Trade voyages are shown in both the examples below, the second of which is taken from Part 2 of the class.
4. Notes
- It should be remembered that the dates given are actually the dates on which the various schedules were filed and are not arrival dates. These can only be determined by consulting the crew lists themselves or perhaps, in the case of foreign voyages, by consulting Lloyd's List - no copies of the latter are held by The National Archives, good runs of them are available at the Guildhall Library and the National Maritime Museum.
- No key to Port Rotation Numbers has been located. Crew lists for this period are arranged, in BT 98, for the whole period covered by these registers, by port of registry of the ship and then ship's name.
- Click on the thumbnail image to see how the entries in the earlier registers (Part 1) look slightly different in layout to those from the later period (Part 2). The first image is of an earlier register (1835-1840) and the second image is of a later register (1842-1844).
