Record collection of the month

1915 crew lists

If you have merchant mariners in your family tree, it’s worth looking for them on crew lists.

Crew lists were administered by the Board of Trade. Under the Merchant Shipping Act of 1835, masters (captains) of British-owned or British-registered merchant vessels, with some exceptions, had to make a written agreement with every sailor before the voyage began. When the voyage ended, the master had to surrender the agreement, together with a list of all the crew who had been on board during the voyage, to the Registrar of Seamen.

Amongst other things, crew lists contain a list of the seamen, the capacity in which they served, their wages, age, nationality and signature. They also list the

See your ancestor’s actual signature Age and nationality Address and port of engagement

previous vessel on which each crew member served. For this reason, it’s possible to trace a seaman’s career backwards using crew lists, provided each relevant crew list survives.

Not all crew lists survive and only a small proportion have been digitised. The one year that has been digitised entirely is 1915.

Most crew lists from that year are held at the National Maritime Museum’s Caird Library in Greenwich, London, with a ten percent sample held at The UK National Archives in Kew. As part of a joint project between both organisations, the crew lists were digitised and indexed in time for the centenary in 2015 and provide a snapshot of seamen serving on British merchant vessels during the First World War.

Previous ship served on – allowing you to do further research into the vessel Role on board Wage paid