Record Masterclass
Dr Simon Wills helps you make the most of this essential source for researching seafaring ancestors, which is freely available online
Dr Simon Wills explains how you can find clues about your seafaring relations in free online shipping registers
Lloyd’s published its first Register of Shipping in 1764, and from 1777 onwards it became an annual publication. It is a useful resource for genealogists who want to know what a named ship looked like, and when it was in service. The register also allows you to follow the careers of Merchant Navy captains, and to identify the ships that were owned by an individual.
Although the register was published in the UK, it eventually included ships from the whole of the British Empire and then the world. Lloyd’s Register Foundation has scanned most editions from 1764 to 1945, and they are free to access online via its website at bit.ly/lrf-register.
The register was intended to inform insurers, investors and merchants about the seaworthiness of ships. It did this by describing the type of ship, its capacity, its age and any repairs that had proved necessary, and also identified the owner and captain.
Crucially, Lloyd’s also introduced a rating system to describe the quality of the ship’s hull following inspection. Originally the letters ‘A’, ‘E’, ‘I’, ‘O’ and ‘U’ were used, with ‘A’ being the best. The condition of masts and rigging was designated by ‘G’ (good), ‘M’ (middling) or ‘B’ (bad), but this was replaced in 1776 by the numbers ‘1’, ‘2’ and ‘3’. Hence a top-class ship was denoted as ‘A1’, and this is the source of the modern expression ‘A1 quality’ meaning something that’s the best.
After 1834 the letters ‘A’, ‘Æ’, ‘E’ and ‘I’ described the overall calibre of the ship. Class ‘A’ and ‘Æ’ were both first-class ships differing in age and construction
The register eventually included ships from the whole of the British Empire