Debbie Beavis
 

The filmed volumes of Lloyd's Captains' Registers found in large archives worldwide are frequently cited as the main, if not the only source, for tracing the career of a Master Mariner. This is unfortunate as they are just one of the sources available and they do have limitations. The purpose of this posting is not to explain the reasons for and methods of compiling information at each source, which for most people is irrelevant. Rather it is to list the main sources available for anyone wishing to trace Master Mariners. It is not an exhaustive list. Where there is overlap you should check all sources. Remember also that most Masters and Mates will have seen service as ordinary seamen or apprentices before gaining their certificate and the various Indexes and Registers of Seamen and Seamen's Tickets should be also be searched together with Registers of Apprentices. Certain sources replicate information found in others, but as in any research, you are wise to check all possible sources.

Before 1845 Masters and other Officers were not separately registered. Use the Indexes and Registers of Seamen and Seamen's Tickets. (See Guide to 19C Merchant Seamen)

In 1845, a system of voluntary examinations for masters and mates of foreign trade vessels was introduced by the Board of Trade. The Mercantile Marine Act 1850 required examinations to be compulsory, and new masters or mates passing the examination were granted Certificates of Competency. Masters and Mates who had already been serving in that capacity on foreign going vessels before 1 January 1851 were granted Certificates of Service. In 1854 the requirement for certification was applied to masters and mates of home trade vessels also.
 

Records of the Registrar General of Shipping & Seamen
 

1845 -1854	BT115	Masters and Mates of all craft; Alphabetical Register of Masters	Extracted from BT114 - Register of Merchant Seamen [q.v]
1845 - 1850	BT143	Men passing voluntary examinations for Masters; Certificates of Competency & Service Misc.
1845 - 1921	BT122-128	Registers of Certificates of Competency and Service, Masters and Mates Home & Foreign Trade	Series of six registers in several volumes indexed by BT127 with key.
1845 - 1894	BT127	Indexes to Registers of Certificates of Competency and Service, Masters and Mates, Home & Foreign Trade
1880 - 1921	BT129-130	Registers of Certificates of Competency - Fishing Officers	Two registers in several volumes indexed by BT138
1880 - 1921	BT138	Indexes to Registers of Certificates of Competency, Fishing Officers
1910 - 1930	BT352	Indexes To Certificates of Competency - Masters, Mates, Engineers and Fishing Officers, Home and Foreign Trade
1913 - 1935	BT318	Registers of Examinations for Certificates of Masters, Mates and Engineers - Returns of Passings and Failures
1917 - 1968	BT317	Registers of Masters and Mates Certificates, Passings and Renewal

Lloyd's Captains' Registers

1851 - 1947 Series of Registers each in several volumes predominantly only listing men employed in the foreign trade.  The earliest date available is 1869 which has been printed and published on microfiche. This is readily available for purchase. Although this contains retrospective details to 1851, it officially contains the details only of those Masters in service in 1869 though there are isolated entries where the man is known to have died, and the information had not yet been transmitted.

Note that these registers can contain a wealth of information about individual voyages and also some biographical information about each man.  Original Lloyd's Captains' Registers are at the Guildhall Library, Manuscripts Department, Aldermanbury, London EC2P 2EJ. http://ihr.sas.ac.uk/gh

There is a description of Lloyd's Captains' Registers at  http://www.ihr.sas.ac.uk/ihr/ghinfo11.html#lloyd's  which explains fully the information they do or do not contain, and why, sometimes, an expected entry does not appear.

The Guildhall Library staff will undertake only limited research in response to written enquiries only and expect you to be able to give them the name and date of service at least before they will agree to do a search  they do not offer a full research service but are by and large helpful within the limits of their available time. Note that some of the registers may not be copied at all due to their fragile condition, and that in any case, a black and white photocopies are inadequate as the registers have colour coded entries.

Most of the registers have been filmed, and should be available at large archives worldwide which have a maritime section. You should be aware however that some of them have been very badly filmed and can be virtually illegible- this is not the fault of the originals which are perfectly clear.

Published Sources

Lloyd's Register of Shipping and Mercantile Navy List both contain lists of those men who passed the voluntary examination, and the latter includes lists of all those granted certificates for some periods.
 

Continuing Research

Once the various registers and indexes of Masters and Mates have been searched, the next step is to obtain a copy of the man's Application for a certificate. Having passed the examination for a certificate of competency, a man had to make written application for the granting of the certificate. The information was entered in registers and the resultant information is of great value to the researcher.

Applications for certificates (awarded before 1900) are held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF. For these, you will need to provide the certificate number. Not all applications have survived. They should include all voyages undertaken over at least the four years prior to the award of the certificate, along with useful biographical information supplied by the applicant. The NMM makes a charge for production of these certificates and has a long waiting period. Their web site is at http://www.nmm.ac.uk  They can be contacted by post at the The National Maritime Museum, Romney Road, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF

Later applications are held by the RGSS, Cheviot Close, Parc Ty Glas, Llanishen, Cardiff CF4 5JA.

RGSS records, held in classes with prefix BT are held at the Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Surrey, England. http://www.pro.gov.uk. The Public Record Office has an ongoing programme of filming documents for conservation purposes, and once filmed the records may become available through maritime archives, or LDS Family History Centres.  You would be well advised to check whether the documents have become available locally before making a long journey or employing someone to undertake the research. Some records are still in the process of being transferred to the PRO and again you should contact them to check access before travelling. The PRO will not conduct a search on your behalf but will send out a list of researchers prepared to undertake such work.  They have recently updated the on-line help leaflets available also via their web site. Their catalogue is now on-line and the correct references of the records you need may be ascertained from that.

Note that PRO references are not LDS references! You will need to identify the correct LDS film reference for ordering purposes by using their own catalogue. Their catalogue is now also available online. A short cut to finding this section of the catalogue is:

Go to the custom search page at http://www.familysearch.org/Search/customhomepage.asp
Click on Family History Library Catalog
Click on All Searches
Click on Author Search
In the Author Box, enter exactly as between quotes below "Great Britain. Board of Trade. Mercantile Marine Department"
The PRO records available are:
BT 98, 112 to 116, 119, 120, 159, 160

Other published records - Lloyds Register of Shipping and Mercantile Navy List are readily available at many large libraries and maritime institutions.

It is always a good idea to approach the Local Studies section of the Library or local Maritime Museum in the port from where you think your mariner was sailing. It is also wise to join the Family History Society for the area too. These may hold indexes of ships and/or seamen, transcription of census records and other miscellaneous records. They may well  have staff or members who have a special interest in your subject.
 

Last updated 21.04.02ef

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