Crew Lists and Related Documents
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The Merchant Shipping Act of 1835 required crew lists and related documents
to be filed with the Register Office of Merchant Seamen (now the RGSS).
There were different types of crew list, dependant on the particular
voyage.  In addition to information relating to the voyages, it may be
possible to identify the seaman's ticket number, his place of birth and age,
the capacity in which he is now employed, the last ship in which he served,
and the place and date of joining and leaving the ship. All records up to
1860 are filed at the Public Record Office.

The first series of agreements discussed here are filed in class BT98. In
order to access them, it is necessary to know the port of registration...
the easiest method of locating this is to check Lloyds Register or the
Mercantile Navy List.

After 1857 the system changed - ships were given an official number on
registration and the documents were filed accordingly in numerical order
though may still be found in BT98. It follows then that the port of
registration is no longer required in order to locate an agreement. The
survival rate varies from reasonably good in 1835 to excellent in 1860.

After 1861, the documents have been scattered between archives.

The PRO holds 10 percent of all Crew lists from 1861 -1938, and 1951 - 1989
in BT99.

The National Maritime Museum holds the remaining 90 percent for 1861, 1862
and all for years ending in 5 except 1945, up to 1972.

Certain County Record Offices and other archives hold many crew agreements
for vessels registered in ports within their area, for the years from
1863-1912.

The Registry of Shipping and Seamen holds all Crew lists from 1939-1950, and
those from 1990 to the present day.

>>From 1972 to 1989 all apart from those held at the PRO and those for
1975 and 1985 at the NMM, have been destroyed.

Almost all other records are held at the Maritime History Archive at the
Memorial University of Newfoundland for the period 1863-1972.

The main exception is the class of records in BT100 - documents relating to
celebrated ships... those vessels considered to be 'famous' such as the
Great Eastern, are held at the PRO in the class Agreements and Crew Lists,
Series lll - Celebrated Ships.

Fishing Agreements and Crew Lists from 1894 - 1929 are held in BT144, also
at the Public Record Office.

The Mercantile Marine Act of 1850 laid out rules requiring masters of all
British registered ships to keep an Official Log Book for every voyage. The
information contained in them varies and as you may expect, the earliest
ones include much less information than 20th Century examples. In general,
they will all include such information as births and deaths on board,
illness, disciplinary issues, conduct of crew including notes of desertion,
and anything else of significance taking place on board a ship during the
period of the voyage or voyages.

Home Trade ships were to required to deposit the Log half-yearly, and
Foreign Trade ships after each return voyage, with the Registry of Shipping
& Seamen.

These records begin to appear around 1852, but relatively few remain for the
early years. Any containing a note of a birth, death or marriage at sea
should have been retained but in reality that is no guarantee that you will
find the one you need.

They are filed with the Agreements and Crew Lists, EXCEPT for the period
1902-1919, when there is a separate class in BT165 at the Public Record
Office in Kew, England containing all surviving logs from that period.

This is just an overview of the records and what you may find in them. To
find out in greater detail what may be available and what else you may be
able to search, try the PRO's web site

Note that none of these records have been filmed.