What are these records?

These records are the original wills of warrant officers and ratings as well as Royal Marines other ranks. You can search and download the wills in series ADM 48 of around 20,000 men who joined the Royal Navy between 1786 and 1882.

Accident, disease and war were risks for seamen and many of them made wills to provide for their families in the event of death. As far back as 1698 the Admiralty had to deal with people impersonating deceased seamen or their executors, creditors or next of kin.

These forms were accepted as valid by the Admiralty and they were deposited in the Navy Office, with orders to issue cheques to the executors.

What information do the records contain?

As a rule each man’s will begins with the printed words ‘In the Name of God, Amen’.

The wills usually provide the following information:

• the man’s name
• the date the will was made
• the man’s rank
• the last ship he served on
• details of his effects
• the name (and sometimes the address) of the person who was to receive the effects in the event of his death (usually his next of kin)

As well as being signed and dated by the testator, wills were usually signed by the master and captain of the ship that the seaman or warrant officer was serving on when the will was made.

These wills also hold details such as the name, address and occupation of the executor.

How do I search the records?

You can search the records in our catalogue (£), by using the search box below.

This is a keyword search so your results will show all instances of the term(s) you searched for within our catalogue descriptions for these records.

• Use AND to find more than one term in a description
• Use “double quotation marks” to find exact phrases

What do the records look like?

The wills are usually a printed form with details filled in by hand, although some have been written out in full. There might also be correspondence, such as the ‘Application of the Executor/Executrix’ and notes.

Will of William Abrams, 1796 (ADM 48/1)

Will of Henry Walker Thorp, 1880 (ADM 48/107)

Why can’t I find what I’m looking for?

Some of the information you are looking for may be recorded in other places. For example:

• in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills 1384-1858
• in registers of probates and administrations 1836-1915, in the series PMG 50
• in officers’ effects papers in ADM 45
• in seamen’s effects papers in ADM 44

This guide provides advice on searching for records of Royal Naval Reserve personnel. The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) was established in 1859 and was made up of experienced officers and seamen from merchant ships.

Service records for Royal Naval Reserve officers after 1920, and for ratings after 1955, are held by the Ministry of Defence. Only the subject of the record, or next of kin, may request access to them.

What do I need to know before I start?

Online records

Records available only at The National Archives in Kew

Records in other archives and organisations

Other resources

Use this guide if you are researching records of Royal Naval Reserve personnel.

Service records for Royal Naval Reserve officers after 1920, and for ratings after 1955, are held by the Ministry of Defence. Only the subject of the record, or next of kin, may request access to them.

What are these records?

These are the service records of more than 7,000 women who joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) between 1917 and 1920.  These records are held in series WO 398.

The WAAC became the QMAAC in April 1918 and was disbanded in September 1921. When the Royal Air Force (RAF) was created in 1918 a number of WAAC volunteers entered the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF).

How do I search the records?

You can search and download the records in Discovery (£) by filling in the form below.

You don’t need to complete every field to find a record.

What information do the records contain?

These records contain a variety of material on a number of different forms.

Enrolment forms include:

• name
• age
• address
• parents’ nationality
• marital status

Statements of service include:

• rank – known as grade
• location
• promotions
• name and address of next-of-kin

Other documents in a woman’s file could include:

• identification certificates
• references from employers
• application forms
• casualty forms
• clothing history sheets (with details about the uniform issued to each woman)

What do the records look like?

Enrolment form from WO 398/163

The original records suffered substantial fire, water and mould damage and this left some text in poor contrast. The microfilms were of the highest quality obtainable and during filming, every effort was made to maximise image retention. Click on the image on the right to view a sample document.

Identification certificate WO 392/163

Some of the records are on pre-printed forms, for example the application and enrolment forms or the certificate of identity, but you might also find handwritten letters such as pay enquiries. Click on the image on the right to view a sample document.

Correspondence from WO 398/16

Applicants had to appear before a selection board and they needed to provide two references. They would also have to pass a medical examination before they could be accepted. Click on the image on the right to view a sample document.

Correspondence WO 398/163

These are taken from the file of Grace Murray, a teacher who applied for a post in the WAAC. Although she served in France, she had a severe attack of influenza and had to return to Scotland. Click on the image on the right to view a sample document.

Why can’t I find what I’m looking for?

Many records suffered severe damage as a result of a German air raid in September 1940. About 57,000 women served in the WAAC, but only 7,000 records survive. Therefore it is possible that the records you are searching for do not exist.

The National Archives does not hold wills or administrations proved in England and Wales (or any other part of the UK) after 1858 but this guide provides advice on where they are held and how you can search for them.

For further information on how to find wills proved after 1858 in England and Wales, read Find a will or probate document on the GOV.UK website.

For wills proved in Scotland up to 1925 go to Scotland’s People and from 1925 onwards go to the National Records of Scotland.

For Northern Ireland wills, go to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), and for the Republic of Ireland go to the National Archives of Ireland.

What do I need to know before I start?

Online records

Records available only at The National Archives in Kew

Records in other archives and organisations

Other resources

What are these records?

Available here are over 700,000 Royal Navy service records for ratings who entered the service between 1853 and 1928. Some of the records cover periods of service up to at least 1950.

The original records are in four series at The National Archives:

• • continuous service engagement books from 1853 to 1872, in series ADM 139
  • registers of seamen’s services from 1873 to 1924, in series ADM 188
  • registers of seamen’s services  from 1925-1928, in series ADM 362
  • continuous record (CR) cards from 1929-1950, in series ADM 363

Please note, a rating must have enlisted before 1929 in order to have a record within these series.

How do I search the records?

You can search and download the records in Discovery (£) by filling in the form below. You may find more than one record for an individual is their service spans a number of the series above.

You don’t need to complete every field to find a record.

Bear in mind:

• the date of birth was not always recorded, so try leaving this out if you don’t get any results
• a small number of records are not searchable by name. For more information see ‘Why can’t I find what I’m looking for?’ below
• some official service numbers contain letters and numbers – when searching it is easier to enter the number only

Where there is no date of the birth in the original document, the record description will give the date range for this collection.

You may find more than one search result for an individual. Depending on how long they served, you many find records in the following combinations of series:

• ADM 139 and ADM 188
• ADM 188 and ADM 363
• ADM 362 and ADM 363

Some may have two records of service within series ADM 188. If there are two records within ADM 188 we have linked these together, so both are attached to the same download.

In ADM 188 records you can find the continuous service (CS) number in the ‘date and period of CS engagement’ box, usually in the top left hand corner. This indicates they will also have a record in ADM 139.

What information do the records contain?

The information in these records can include:

• year of birth (you might also find the day and month)
• town and country of birth
• names of ships served on, with dates of joining and discharge from each ship
• period of time actually served
• any engagements not completed and the reason for this
• service numbers – known as continuous service (CS) numbers up to 1872, and official numbers (ON) from 1873 onwards

From 1892 you can find greater detail in the records, including:

• occupation
• good conduct badges issued (if any)
• notes made about character and ability
• physical appearance, such as hair and eye colour, height and tattoos
• wounds suffered (if any)
• date of death (if occurred in service)
• you may also find a cross reference to the ‘new register’. This will be to one of the Continuation books in ADM 188/83-90

The continuous service engagement books, from series ADM 139, may also reveal:

• details of any service in the merchant navy
• official numbers (which can be traced to records of service in the later registers of seamen’s services)

What else can I learn from the record?

A record may indicate that the rating was promoted to warrant officer (for example, gunner, boatswain, carpenter or artificer engineer). You can find warrant officers’ service records in ADM 196.

If an ADM 363 record shows that the rating re-entered at a date after 1928, with a new official number, then you may find their record is still held by the Ministry of Defence.

If the service numbers is prefixed with the letter ‘F’ this means the rating served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) during the First World War or with The Fleet Air Arm after 1920.

If you find a Y-prefixed official number, the rating may have volunteered for service in the Royal Navy but was allocated a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve without necessarily being called up.

From January 1894 service numbers were assigned according to a rating’s branch of service. Consult the table below to find which sets of service numbers were assigned to the respective branches of service:

What do the records look like?

The early two examples here are from the record of George Smith, who first served on HMS Victory.

The form in the first image shows that he volunteered on 10 June 1853 and gives his birth date as 1 December 1838, along with a description of his appearance.

Royal Navy service record of George Smith

The second image shows the separate forms that were signed by boys, agreeing to serve ten years once they turn 18, and by men, agreeing to serve a fixed number of years.

Certificate for boys

The third image is a later example. It’s a pre-printed form, with the details listed in headed columns.

Pre-printed form

This final image is an example of the later records in ADM 363. This image shows the first page only.

First page of a service record for Alfred Henry Conway (ADM 363/1/1)

Why can’t I find what I’m looking for?

If you are looking for records of ratings who served with armoured cars in Russia, 1915-1917; these are in ADM 116/1717. They are original documents and must be viewed at The National Archives at Kew.

The record may be amongst the ADM 188 pieces which are not searchable by name. These are the service records for ratings issued with CS numbers 1–40,000. You can find them within the following pieces:

ADM 188/1: 1–10000, including A and B suffix
ADM 188/2: 10001–20000, including A and B suffix
ADM 188/3: 20001–30000, including A and B suffix
ADM 188/4: 30001–40000, including A and B suffix

You can download these free of charge, but you will need to scroll through them to find an individual entry.

Try searching the Royal Navy First World War Lives at Sea database by name, service number and numerous other criteria. As of June 2021, the database contains 32,000 records and is continually being updated. Once completed (scheduled for November 2022), it will contain information relating to all the Royal Navy officers and ratings that served in the First World War. The database is being compiled largely from records held at The National Archives and there is no charge for access. It is a joint project between The National Archives, The National Maritime Museum and the Crew List Index Project with the help of a global team of volunteers.

If the rating joined in 1929 or after, their service record will still be with the Ministry of Defence. Visit the GOV.UK website for information about how to request a summary of a service record.

1. Why use this guide?

Port books record customs duties paid on goods imported and exported through English and Welsh ports. The books were kept by local customs officials at ports all around England and Wales between 1565 and 1799.

Use this guide to find out more about port books and how to locate books for individual ports among the collection held at The National Archives. You can use port books to find information on:

• the development of trade between the 16th and 18th centuries in England and Wales
• ships and their masters
• merchants and the goods they traded

Occasionally you can also find information on some or all passengers on a ship.

4. Understanding and interpreting entries in the books

Information in the port books can be difficult to read and interpret. Before 1600 many entries in port books are in Latin though by 1660 most are in English.

A page from a searcher’s port book for Conway, whose head port was Chester, from 1754 (document reference E 190/1427/1).

4.1 Tips and pitfalls

When examining port books it is worth bearing the following in mind:

• there might be more than one ship with the same name so even if other details from the port books match up, you can’t be sure it is the same ship
• the names of foreign masters or merchants, given verbally, might be written down wrongly or anglicised
• merchants and masters are sometimes described as native (‘indigenus’, often abbreviated to ‘Ind’) or alien (‘alienigena’ often abbreviated to ‘Al’)

A page of from a controller’s port book for Chester from 1754 (document reference E 190/1427/7).

4.2 Useful published sources for interpreting port books

The following books, all available from The National Archives library, may help you to identify unfamiliar descriptions of goods and quantities occurring in the port books:

• R E Zupko, A Dictionary of English Weights and Measures (1968)
• S W Beck, The Draper’s Dictionary: A Manual of Textile Fabrics, Their History and Applications (1886)
• N S Gras, The Early English Customs System (1918) which includes the 1507 Book of Rates, listing commodities and duties payable
• A Millard, Analyses of Port Books Recording Merchandises Imported in the Port of London by English and Alien and Denizen Merchants for Certain Years Between 1588 and 1640
  (1960)
• T S Willan (ed), A Tudor Book of Rates (1962)
• H Crouch, A Complete View of the British Customs (1755) which lists rates of duty from 1660 onwards

These are the service records of over 5,000 women who served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) between 1917 and 1919. The original records are grouped in series ADM 318 for officers and ADM 336 for ratings or other ranks.

The WRNS was formed to carry out shore-based duties and allow sailors to go to sea. Recruitment posters encouraged women to ‘Free a man for sea service’. The Admiralty aimed to recruit 3,000 women but eventually over 5,000 women joined. Katharine Furse, formerly Commandant of the British Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments, was appointed Director in November 1917.

How do I search the records?

You can search and download the records in Discovery (£) by filling in the form below.

You don’t need to complete every field to find a record.

What information do the records contain?

Ratings’ service records

Each rating’s record consists of a form listing details such as:

• full name
• date of enrolment
• age at enrolment
• character
• ‘mobile’ (willing to work away from their home area) or ‘immobile’
• period of service
• where she served
• name and address of next-of-kin
• whether discharged from service

Immobile ratings are found most often in London or at naval bases such as Portsmouth.

Officers’ service records

The officers’ files hold official forms, dossiers and letters concerning appointments and promotions.

In some cases a file might also include an identification certificate giving details about:

• date and place of birth
• marital status
• trade or profession
• religion
• physical description
• name of next-of-kin

What do the records look like?

Example of a rating’s service record

The service record of Dorothy Poulter shows that she enrolled as a motor driver on 18 July 1918. View an extract below.

Her character and ability were assessed as ‘V.G.’ (or very good).

The record also shows that she was paid a demobilisation gratuity in September 1919. The abbreviation ‘SNLR’ appears in the ‘discharge’ column. This abbreviation occurs frequently in these records and it means ‘services no longer required’.

Service record of Dorothy Poulter ADM 336/26

 

Service record of Lily Marx ADM 318/189

Examples of an officer’s service record

Click on the thumbnail, right, to view extracts taken from the service record of Lily Marx.

The first image, her application form, shows that she was born in Australia, was of British nationality and had been educated in Switzerland. She had also attended Cheltenham College and Bedford College.

The second image is from a 1919 report which reviews her performance. In this report, the divisional director considered her to be ‘an extremely good officer all round’ and deemed her suitable for promotion.

Why can’t I find what I’m looking for?

Officers who resigned in 1918 for personal reasons are not included in these records. Look at the series ADM 321 instead, which contains two registers of appointments, promotions and resignations of WRNS officers from 1917 to 1919.

What are these records?

These records, in series ADM 340, consist of over 5,000 officers’ service records for men and women serving in the Royal Navy, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and Women’s Royal Naval Service.

Some contain information dating back as far as c.1880 (and possibly earlier still in a few cases), while others detail service through both World Wars and into the 1950s.

At present only the cards are available to download (pieces 1-150).

How do I search the records?

You can search and download the records in Discovery (£) by filling in the form below.

You don’t need to complete every field to find a record.

What information do the records contain?

The information in these records can include:

• name
• date of birth
• place of birth
• rank
• date of seniority and promotions attained
• training undertaken
• names of ships served on, with dates of joining and discharge from each ship
• period of time served
• home address

In some instances an officer may have more than one card.

What do the records look like?

Cards

The image you receive will contain both the front and reverse of the card.

The top of the card contains an officer’s name, date of birth, place of birth, previous service, rank and date of seniority. The lower section of the card records any obligatory training undertaken and a list of ships the officer served on.

The reverse of the card contains a list of ships served on, retainer pay and any voluntary training undertaken.

To get an idea of what the cards look like, see the record of William Holmes Hossack (PDF, 0.59MB).

Why can’t I find what I’m looking for?

If you cannot find a record for an officer it may be because:

• the officer died before records were systematically kept
• the officer’s record you are searching for is held in files that have not yet been digitised
• you should be searching for a rating, rather than an officer

Try searching the Royal Navy First World War Lives at Sea database by name, service number and numerous other criteria. As of June 2021, the database contains 32,000 records and is continually being updated. Once completed (scheduled for November 2022), it will contain information relating to all the Royal Navy officers and ratings that served in the First World War. The database is being compiled largely from records held at The National Archives and there is no charge for access. It is a joint project between The National Archives, The National Maritime Museum and the Crew List Index Project with the help of a global team of volunteers.

You can also try the following record series as alternative sources of information:

• Royal Navy ratings’ service records in series ADM 139 and ADM 188
• Royal Navy officers’ service records in series ADM 196
• Royal Naval Reserve officer service records in series ADM 240

You can also consult The Navy Lists, which are available to view at The National Archives. The Navy List gives name, rank, date of commission and seniority. It should also indicate names of ships served on.

1. Why use this guide?

Use this guide for advice on how to find records at The National Archives, and to a lesser extent in other archives, of Royal Navy shipwrecks. The records covered include those that document the complete loss of ships through sinking as well as those lost to damage, whether as part of a military conflict, a result of natural disaster or any other accident. Some of the records will allow you simply to establish that a ship sunk or was wrecked, others can provide more detail, such as the circumstances of the disaster or incident and the number on board who died, if any.

You can also consult our guide to births, marriages and deaths at sea.

2. How to conduct a search at The National Archives

A search in The National Archives’ records will almost certainly require a visit to our reading rooms in Kew where you can consult library books and original documents. Most of the records we hold for lost ships are not available to download or view online but you can, however, make a start online by searching our catalogue (see Step 2, below).

We recommend you follow these steps, in the order shown, when searching for records of the loss or damage to a specific ship:

Step 1: Consult the Royal Navy Lost List and/or lists in published books

The Royal Navy Loss List is a searchable database on the Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust website. It covers all vessels recorded as sunk or destroyed in service from 1512-2004 but does not include vessels captured by the enemy or that suffered loss of life but which did not sink. The purpose of the list was to record losses which are likely to have resulted in material remains on the sea floor.

There are a number of alternative lists in printed publications, many available at The National Archives library, and they are likely to be the easiest way of establishing the date and circumstances of the loss, if they are known, and will equip you with vital facts in your search for primary sources – or may remove the need to consult original documents altogether.

The following books are available at our library in Kew, as are those listed for the First and Second World Wars in the subsequent sections of this guide. They are the best place to start on a visit to our reading rooms.

• Larn, R and Larn, B, Shipwreck Index of the British Isles (Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, 1995-2002). These six volumes are the most comprehensive listing of wrecks in UK coastal areas up to the end of the 20th century. Organised by county and date, with a ship name index, among the details provided with each listing are the name of the captain, the number of crew on board and lost, if any, and the origin and intended destination of the voyage.
• Gosset, W P, The Lost Ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900 (Mansell Publishing, 1986). Contains a ship name index and a geographical index listing ships lost by region.
• Hepper, D J, British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859 (Jean Boudriot Publications, 1994). Chronological list with details of the circumstances of the loss.
• Hocking, C, Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the Age of Steam, 1824-1962 (Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, 1969). Two volumes listing ships in alphabetical order with a short description of the disaster and the date, among other details. Includes Royal Navy and  merchant ships.
• Hooke, N, Modern Shipping Disasters, 1963-1987 (Lloyds of London Press, 1989). A sequel to Hocking’s Dictionary of Disasters at Sea, presented in the same format.
• Marx, R, Shipwrecks of the Western Hemisphere, 1492-1825, (David Mckay Co, 1975). Covering shipwrecks in the Caribbean and all over the Americas, several thousand losses are listed in date order and briefly described. The book covers ships of all types and includes a ship name index.
• Grocott, T, Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Eras (Caxton, 2002). Contemporary newspaper accounts of both merchant and military ships wrecked. Organised by date but with a ship name index.

Step 2: Search the catalogue with ship’s name and one other search term

Though the records of ships losses are not always identified by the ships’ names in our online catalogue, it is worth trying to locate those that are at an early stage of your search.

Search our catalogue using the name of the ship (omitting HMS as it is not always used in catalogue descriptions) plus one of the following words:

• sunk
• sinking
• loss
• wreck/wrecked
• torpedo/torpedoing/torpedoed
• damage
• attack

To target the records of the Admiralty, the body that administered the Royal Navy, use the advanced search of our catalogue and use the references fields to restrict your search to reference ADM.

Step 3: Consult the ship’s log, if it survives

We hold large numbers of Royal Navy ships’ logs from the 1660s onwards, though not all survive. The log book may give the position of the sinking, though the ship may have been wrecked because its officers did not know where they were. However, logbooks were often lost with the ship and in these instances you should turn to the logs of any other ships which sailed in company with the lost ship.

To search for logs, which are arranged alphabetically by ships’ names, click on the following series links and search by ship’s name or, for Masters’ logs, by the name of the officer who wrote the log:

• Captains’ logs, 1669-1853, in ADM 51
• Masters’ logs, 1672-1840, in ADM 52
• Log books maintained by the Officer of the Watch, 1799-2007, in ADM 53
• Supplementary ships’ logs, 1808-1871, in ADM 54

Step 4: Search for a courts martial record, if there was an inquiry

The loss of Royal Navy ships usually resulted in an inquiry, with the captain or surviving officers sometimes court martialled, though this was far less likely if the ship was lost to enemy action or if none of the officers survived.

These records can be the most detailed narratives of a loss available, although, as the court’s purpose was to establish the circumstances of the loss and to apportion any blame, it did not necessarily take an interest in the exact position of the wreck.

Click on the following series links to search each series by year and by words such as ‘loss’, ‘sinking’ or ‘grounding’ plus the name of a ship for:

• 1892-1951 in ADM 178
• 1890-1965 in ADM 156
• 1660-1976 in ADM 1 (most are indexed in The Lost Ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900) – to search in this series you will need to include ‘courts martial’ as one of your search terms

Step 5: Search through Admiralty and Navy Board correspondence and case files

There are many records which were not created specifically to record losses but which do, nonetheless, either formally record losses or contain incidental references to them. Using these records for details of a wreck is bound to be quite time consuming and should be considered a last resort if you have followed the steps above and still need information. The principal records to search through are:

• Reports from flag officers and captains on the loss of ships under their command from about 1698 onward in ADM 1. See our guidance on How to use ADM 12 to locate items in ADM 1.
• Case files created by the Admiralty Record Office, 1852-1965, in ADM 116.
• Letters sent to the Navy Board, or by that board to the Admiralty in ADM 106, which occasionally deal with wrecks, particularly those which occurred in the vicinity of dockyard ports or where salvage was attempted. We also hold digests, summarising contents of each letter or paper, for 1822 to 1832 in ADM 106/2153 to 2177.
• The Admiralty Digest in  ADM 12, which provides a name and subject index from 1793 onward. See our guidance on How to use ADM 12 to get the most from this series and the various series that it indexes.

3. Additional records and publications of First World War losses

You can find records of First World War losses by following the steps in section 2 but in this section we present publications and records focussed specifically on the war.

Books

The following publication is available at our library in Kew and is the best place to start when conducting a search at The National Archives:

• HMSO, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 (Patrick Stephens, 1988)

Lists

A card index of ships lost between 1914 and 1919 in ADM 242/6.

Narrative accounts

Search with a ship’s name and the word ‘loss’, ‘torpedoing’ ‘sinking’ (or any of the other keywords suggested at Step 2 in section 2 of this guide) to search the records used to compile the Official History of the First World War held in ADM 137. The series includes hundreds of reports on the losses of individual ships, found between ADM 137/3089 and ADM 137/3832.

4. Additional records and publications of Second World War losses

You can find records of Second World War losses by following the steps in section 2 but in this section we present publications and records focussed specifically on the war.

Books

The following books are available at our library in Kew and are the best place to start when conducting a search at The National Archives:

• HMSO, British Vessels Lost at Sea 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 (Patrick Stephens, 1988)
• Brown, D, Warship Losses of World War Two (Arms & Armour Press, 1990)
• Lenton, H T & Colledge, J J, Warships of World War Two (Ian Allan Publishing, 1973)
• Morgan, D & Taylor, B, U-Boat Attack Logs: A Complete Record of the Warship Sinkings From Original Sources 1939-1945 (Seaforth Publishing, 2012)
• Rohwer, J, Axis Submarine Successes 1939-1945 (Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1993)

Lists

Search the lists of Royal Navy ships lost in the war held in ADM 213/578.

Narrative accounts

The records used to compile the Official History of the Second World War are held in ADM 199 and include reports of ships lost during the war. Search the series with a ship’s name and the terms ‘loss’, ‘ships lost’, ‘torpedoing’ ‘sinking’ or any of the other keywords suggested at Step 2 in section 2 of this guide.

5. Beyond The National Archives: where else to look for information and records

Newspaper reports

The most comprehensive source for archived newspapers is the British Newspaper Archive. Local libraries may provide access to online versions of national newspapers, including The Times Archive, also available online in our reading rooms.

As well as the British Newspaper Archive, the British Library holds the largest readily accessible collection of printed Admiralty charts in its Map Library. Sea charts may be useful in establishing the location of a wreck, but usually not in identifying it. See our guide to sea charts for more information.

UK Parliamentary Papers

The Admiralty Register of Wrecks is found in Proquest UK Parliamentary Papers. This is a subscription website you can access on The National Archives’ computers by visiting us at Kew. You may also be able to access it via a large reference library such as a university library.

UK Hydrographic Office

A comprehensive database of wrecks containing over 60,000 records, of which approximately 20,000 are for named vessels, is maintained by the UK Hydrographic Office. Though focussed mainly on UK territorial waters the database includes information on a small number of wrecks in other areas. The same office holds an extensive collection of British Admiralty Charts and other hydrographic charts.

6. Further reading

Huntress, K, Checklist of Narratives of Shipwrecks & Disasters at Sea to 1860 (Iowa State University Press, 1979) – a guide to contemporary accounts of losses

Pickford, N, The Atlas of Shipwreck & Treasure (London, Dorling Kindersley, 1994)

Rohwer, J, Allied Submarine Attacks of World War Two: European Theatre of Operations 1939-45 (Greenhill, 1997)

This is a guide to finding records of Royal Navy ratings who enlisted before the First World War, covering enlistments all the way back to 1667, when the earliest records for individual ratings in our collections begin.

The term ‘rating’, used in the Royal Navy to define roles for seamen rated according to the skills which they performed, encompasses:

• Able Seaman or Ordinary Seaman
• Petty Officer
• Quartermaster

How to get started

Online records

Records available only at The National Archives in Kew

Records in other archives and organisations

Other resources

Appendix – Service numbers issued between 1894 and 1923

From January 1894 service numbers were no longer issued in a simple sequential order and were instead assigned according to the branch of the service in which the individual served. The following table shows which sets of service numbers were assigned to the respective branches of service: