Registers of certificates of competency of masters and mates of foreign-going British merchant ships kept by the General Registry and Record Office of Seamen and its successor.
These volumes list the certificates awarded after compulsory examinations after 1850 but include some awarded under the previous voluntary system.
The five series of registers produced by the system of voluntary registers give the man's name, place and date of birth, the register ticket number if any, and the rank examined for or served in, and also the date and number of the certificate.
The series also includes summary volumes which cover the whole range of the rest of the series, but contain notes of deaths, injuries, etc., to a much later date than the registers themselves.
The last volume registers certificates omitted from the early volumes of the series.
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