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Researching Mariners
This section deals with researching mariners in the 19th Century and the first part of the 20th Century, where many records still exist (1835 onwards), and are easily accessible (1840 to 1860). For researching mariners from earlier times, visit the section on John Scarrow of Whitehaven.
The research I have undertaken on the Scarrow mariners, embraces the period between 1835 and 1870, and then a later period between 1905 and 1940. As with my more general research on the Scarrow's, the method I would use now to find maritime records is different to that which I employed myself over ten years ago. This is for the simple reason that there is now much more information available on the internet. At a later stage it will still be necessary to visit the National Archives in Kew, or other repositories of maritime records, but a lot of the initial work can be done sitting in front of your own PC.
Registration of Mariners serving between 1835-1857, 1858-1912, 1913-1941
If your mariner served during either the first or third period, then it is likely his name will appear in one of the many seaman's registers. If he served during the second period but achieved a rank of master, mate or engineer, then he will appear in one of the officer's registers.
1835-1857
From 1835, central government began to monitor a potential reserve of sailors for the Royal Navy which resulted in number of large registers which were in effect a directory of mariners. These registers of service were created from data contained in ships' agreements and crew lists, and exist today at the National Archives as series BT112, BT113, BT114, BT115, BT116, BT119 and BT120. They have been recently transcribed into a searchable database on findmypast, so this is a very good place to start - see example below where we search for Joseph Scarrow, who served throughout this period:
Merchant Seaman Search window from Findmypast.com
With an unusual name like Scarrow, there is no need to specify a date range, as the result below shows only three entries. If your surname is Smith, it would be advantageous narrow the search in some way!
Merchant Seaman Search Result for Joseph Scarrow from Findmypast.com
Of the three entries above, the first comes from BT112/61, Register of Seamen, Series II part 1. For details of how to interpret this information see Joseph Scarrow's voyage record.
Merchant Seaman Search result for Joseph Scarrow from Findmypast.com
The second hit is also from Register of Seamen, Series II, but in this case BT112/62 which is part 2. Notice that Joseph Scarrow has been allocated a new number but with a reference to his original number 3726, and also that his brother William has also appeared. There is quite a significant amount of information missing here, which is why it is worth looking at crew lists in conjunction with these registers. Again, look at Joseph Scarrow's voyage record to see what should have been added to the register for later years.
Merchant Seaman Search result for Joseph Scarrow from Findmypast.com
The final hit for Joseph Scarrow comes from the Alphabetical Register of Masters, BT115. The entries here are not so easy to interpret, but again looking at Joseph Scarrow's voyage record will show how to do this and also what is missing.
Merchant Seaman Search result for Joseph Scarrow from Findmypast.com
1858-1912
To search for mariners in the registers between 1857 and 1912, we are restricted to masters, mates and engineers. Currently, registers for this period are only available to view on microfilm at the National Archives.
The various registers for Masters and Mates are indexed by BT127 which contains an alphabetical listing of them in both the home and foreign trades. The index covers the years between 1845 and 1894, and references the registers for Certificates of Competency, Foreign (BT122); Certificates of Competency (Steamships), Foreign (BT123); Certificates of Service, Foreign (BT124); Certificates of Competency, Home (BT125); and Certificates of Service, Home (BT126).
The registers for Engineers are indexed by BT141, covering the years between 1861 and 1921. It references the registers of Certificates of Competency, Engineers (BT139) and the registers of Certificates of Service, Engineers (BT142).
Joseph Scarrow does appear in one of these registers, namely the Register of Certificates of Service, Masters and Mates, Foreign (BT124/12), has now been transcribed into a database by the Crew List Index Project (CLIP).
If one searches for "Scarrow", the result that appears is this:
If one clicks on Image, a photograph of the page within BT 124 appears:
It is possible to zoom into the image, and a decode for port number is provided. The port number for the 1851 column is 103, and CLIP identifies this as Whitehaven.
A similar link is available to look for Ship's Official Number, although the ship numbers shown in the above entry are Port Rotation Number, for which no decode currently exists. Official Number is used in the later years of BT124.
1913-1941
In 1913, a new register for seamen appeared, and came in three guises: CR1, CR2 and CR10. Fortunately there is a central index for these three registers covering the years 1913 to 1941 and this can be found at the National Archives in BT364. Even better, is that CR1 and CR10 have both been transcribed into a searchable database on findmypast. If we search for Robert Barnes Scarrow, whom we know sailed between 1905 and 1940, we come up with two results:
Search result for Robert Barnes Scarrow on findmypast.com
These two results are references to CR1 and CR10 respectively.
Crew Lists 1835-1945
So we now have a good summary of our mariner's maritime record, but there are several gaps to fill, and some detail to add if we wish. The source of this missing data will be the crew lists themselves which, for the period up to 1860 are mostly found at the National Archives. These crew lists are found in the BT 98 collection which contains 7000 sub-records (each sub record equates to a box containing typically up to 100 crew lists). BT 98 is not indexed either by ship name or Official number within The National Archive's search engine, Discovery (The sub-record index entry in Discovery only contains either the Port and Ship Name initial letter; or the first and the last official numbers). What this means in practice for crew lists up to 1856, if looking to pre-order specific crew lists from BT 98, is to need to browse Discovery by entering something such as "BT 98/1000", and then keep changing the last four digits until the actual sub-record is found which includes the crew list required. For the years 1857 to 1860, there is a search tool for BT 98 available at CLIP. Having clicked the link, scroll down to the heading Crew lists in BT 98 at TNA from 1857 to 1860 and enter the Ship's Official Number in the dialogue box.
Beyond 1860 crew lists can be found in several repositories, not all of which are in the UK. Some crew lists from this period are still located at the National Archives This is the BT 99 collection and, unlike BT 98, all the official numbers included in each sub-record are indexed within Discovery so a direct search for a specific Ship's Official number can be made).
Other crew lists are to be found at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, but the majority are at the Maritime History Archive (MHA) in St. John's Canada. The MHA have an online index to their holdings, and will carry out research for a reasonable fee. If the search of the MHA index comes up blank for a particular year (post 1862), then it implies the crew lists are actually still in the UK somewhere - probably held by a local record office. Some of the UK record offices with a maritime link obtained crew-lists that would otherwise have gone to Canada, and an example of this is the Whitehaven Record Office which holds crew lists for Whitehaven and Workington registered ships. All somewhat more complicated than one would have expected, so this information is summarised in the table below for the period 1835-1945.
| Period | Main Depository | Secondary depositary | tertiary Depositary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1835-1856 | National Archives BT98, arranged by Registered Port and Ship Name | ||
| 1857-1860 | National Archives BT98, arranged by Ship's Official Number (ON) | ||
| 1861-1862 | National Maritime Museum (90%) | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. | |
| 1863-1864 | Maritime History Archive in St. John's Canada | UK local Record Offices. | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. |
| 1865 | National Maritime Museum (90%) | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. | |
| 1866-1874 | Maritime History Archive in St. John's Canada | UK local Record Offices. | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. |
| 1875 | National Maritime Museum (90%) | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. | |
| 1876-1884 | Maritime History Archive in St. John's Canada | UK local Record Offices. | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. |
| 1885 | National Maritime Museum (90%) | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. | |
| 1886-1894 | Maritime History Archive in St. John's Canada | UK local Record Offices. | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. |
| 1895 | National Maritime Museum (90%) | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. | |
| 1896-1904 | Maritime History Archive in St. John's Canada | UK local Record Offices. | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. Also log books 1902-1919 in BT165. |
| 1905 | National Maritime Museum (90%) | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. Also log books 1902-1919 in BT165. | |
| 1906-1914 | Maritime History Archive in St. John's Canada | UK local Record Offices. | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. Also log books 1902-1919 in BT165. |
| 1915 | National Maritime Museum (90%) | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. Also log books 1902-1919 in BT165. | |
| 1916-1924 | Maritime History Archive in St. John's Canada | UK local Record Offices. | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. Also log books 1902-1919 in BT165. |
| 1925 | National Maritime Museum (90%) | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. | |
| 1926-1934 | Maritime History Archive in St. John's Canada | UK local Record Offices. | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. |
| 1935 | National Maritime Museum (90%) | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. | |
| 1935-1938 | Maritime History Archive in St. John's Canada | UK local Record Offices. | 10% at the National Archives BT99, arranged by ON. |
| 1939-1945 | National Archives BT380 and BT381, arranged by Ship's Official Number (ON). Indexed by BT385. |
Certificates
The National Maritime Museum's Caird Library holds copies of mariners certificates and applications for Masters and Mates and Engineers. The certificates of Masters and Mates can now be viewed on Ancestry, and include the applications which actually contain the most interesting information. If one searches for Joseph Scarrow on Ancestry, in the immigration and travel section, the result below is shown:
Search result for Joseph Scarrow on Ancestry for certificates of masters and mates
The stored image can be seen on Joseph Scarrow's certificates page. By contrast, a similar search for William Scarrow reveals two hits, one for his mate's certificate, and the other for his master's. Robert Scarrow's certificates are not available on Ancestry at the moment (2014), but can be seen at the National Maritime Museum.
Books
There are two books that deal with researching merchant mariners. The one I have found the most useful is "My Ancestor was a Merchant Seaman" by Christopher and Michael Watts. My edition is from 2004, and has few references to the internet, but it describes all the records held by the National Archives and other institutions very well. The current edition, published in 2011, probably deals with this lack of internet links.
The other book I have is "Tracing your Merchant Navy Ancestors", which has some good information about life as a Merchant mariner, but has a less clear analysis of the various sources for research.
