Catalogue description Registry of Shipping and Seamen: Agreements and Crew Lists, Series II

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Details of BT 99
Reference: BT 99
Title: Registry of Shipping and Seamen: Agreements and Crew Lists, Series II
Description:

This series consists of a ten per cent sample of agreements and crew lists (with log-books where they survive) for the years 1861-1938, 1951-1994. Agreements and crew lists for the period 1939-1950 are generally in BT 380 and BT 381, but some are in this series.

A sample of agreements, etc, of fishing vessels under eighty tons from 1930 are also included in this series.

All casualty and death lists for 1914-1918 are included.

Contains some records accessioned into this series in error and otherwise in BT 380.

During the process of incorporating the paper finding aid, for the period 1861-1923, into the Catalogue the crew lists found therein for the following ships - Official Number (Year) - have not been located: 3201 (1916), 5340 (1869), 5342 (1869), 5343 (1869), 5344 (1869), 5346 (1869), 5350 (1869), 5352 (1869), 5354 (1869), 5355 (1869), 5356 (1869), 5357 (1869), 8659 (1872), 13366 (1900) [should be in piece 2121], 15116 (1867), 16068 (1886) [should be in piece 1480], 16461 (1872), 19258 (1893), 22682 (1890), 23183 (1872), 23602 (1869), 24090 (1897), 24098 (1897), 24102 (1897), 24153 (1897), 24165 (1897), 24206 (1897), 24220 (1897), 24272 (1897), 26782 (1887), 26797 (1887), 27003 (1872), 28169 (1875), 28264 (1875), 29100 (1885), 29853 (1913), 29857 (1913), 29861 (1913), 29864 (1913), 29879 (1900) [should be in piece 2123], 34119 (1891), 35052 (1897), 35053 (1897), 35089 (1897), 35122 (1897), 35232 (1897), 35303 (1897), 35322 (1897), 35332 (1889), 35533 (1897), 35558 (1897), 35600 (1897), 35703 (1897), 35900 (1897), 36245 (1897), 36336 (1897), 36403 (1897), 36812 (1897), 36815 (1897), 36827 (1897), 37182 (1897), 37281 (1897), 37297 (1897), 37300 (1897), 37516 (1897), 37638 (1897), 37659 (1897), 38071 (1897), 38100 (1897), 38724 (1897), 38748 (1897), 38781 (1877), 38781 (1897), 38789 (1897), 39040 (1897), 39196 (1897), 39198 (1897), 39204 (1897), 39254 (1897), 39743 (1897), 42981 (1913), 46141 (1881), 46787 (1878), 46790 (1878), 48563 (1872), 50174 (1872), 55331 (1873), 56125 (1885), 56613 (1870), 56947 (1870), 57166 (1884), 58273 (1895), 58402 (1872), 58409 (1872), 60975 (1872), 62732 (1911), 63663 (1872), 68093 (1871), 74545 (1911), 76214 (1914), 85277 (1911), 97965 (1915), 102106 (1912), 105658 (1914), 108648 (1914), 113565 (1912), 115234 (1918), 115282 (1916), 115887 (1913) [should be in piece 2944], 118793 (1912), 118796 (1912), 118798 (1912), 118802 (1912), 118804 (1912), 118805 (1912), 118807 (1912), 118809 (1912), 118810 (1912), 119147 (1920), 119967 (1914), 119975 (1915), 120645 (1914), 123196 (1914), 124325 (1913), 128497 (1915), 128498 (1915), 128502 (1915), 128503 (1915), 129470 (1918), 129510 (1916), 132673 (1915), 132675 (1915), 133160 (1917), 133165 (1917), 133317 (1917), 133382 (1917), 133385 (1917), 135340 (1918), 135478 (1917), 139198 (1917), 140675 (1918), 142602 (1919), 142603 (1919), 142604 (1919), 142605 (1919), 142606 (1919), 142607 (1919), 144341 (1921), 146556 (1922), 146558 (1922), 146561 (1922), 146562 (1922), 146566 (1922), 146567 (1922), 146571 (1922), 146572 (1922), 150462 (1922).

Note: Following a project by a team of staff at The National Archives resulting in a paper index for years 1861 to 1923, this detailed information has been incorporated into the online catalogue with the assistance of Jan and Pete Owens as part of the Crew List Index Project (CLIP) - see www.crewlist.org.uk/. Their assistance with the transcription of the crew in the 1881 and 1891 crew lists is also gratefully acknowledged. The 1915 Crew Lists at The National Archives and the National Maritime Museum have been transcribed with the help of volunteers using CLIP software.
Date: 1861-1994
Arrangement:

Records relating to vessels are mostly arranged chronologically and then by official ships number. Some records have been arranged chronologically and then alphabetically by ships name; these mostly relate to fishing boats and ships with provisional registration. For the period 1861-1923 ships without official numbers have been indexed by ships name. Records of cable ships crews for the period 1940-1949 are arranged chronologically and then by surname.

The records for a voyage should be found under the year in which the ship returned to a UK port (for foreign trade vessels) or when the half-yearly return was filed (home trade and fishing vessels). When the voyage ends near the end of a year it would be prudent to search the boxes for the next year as well.

Casualty and death lists, where they survive, are filed under the ship's official number.

The arrangement of the series is as follows:

  • For records dating 1861-1938 see BT 99/1 to BT 99/4502.
  • For records dating 1939-1948 see BT 99/6877 to BT 99/7693, BT 99/7752 to BT 99/7757, BT 99/7802, and BT 99/7817 to BT 99/7818.
  • For records dating 1951-1990 see BT 99/4503 to BT 99/6876, and BT 99/7818 to BT 99/7819.
  • For records dating 1992-1994 see BT 99/7820 to BT 99/7875.
  • Cable ship records are described in BT 99/7694 to BT 99/7751 (1940-1969).
  • Auxiliary war vessel records are described in BT 99/7758 to BT 99/7801, and BT 99/7803 to BT 99/7815 (1934-1950).
  • For ships relating to railway companies see BT 99/6877 to BT 99/6906 (1939-1945), BT 99/7271 to BT 99/7597 (1947-1948), and BT 99/7816 (1939).
Related material:

Records for the period 1939-1950 are mostly to be found in series:

BT 380

BT 381

See also BT 400

Separated material:

The National Maritime Museum has 10% of agreements etc, for 1861-1938 and 1951-1994. Except for those in BT 99 and BT 100, these include all documents for 1861-1862 and years ending in '5'. The remainder, up to 1976, is at the Memorial University of Newfoundland with the exception of a few (generally agreements relating to ships registered at ports within their area) for 1861-1913 which are in local record offices. See www.mun.ca/mha/holdings/searchcombinedcrews.php for details of their holdings

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

General Register and Record Office of Seamen, 1835-1872

Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, 1872-1992

Physical description: 7875 bundles and volumes
Access conditions: Open
Selection and destruction information: Contains a 10% sample of peacetime records. The theoretical basis of the sample is, for each year: every tenth box, starting from a randomly generated number between 1 and 10. When the appraisal of the first tranche of agreements and crew lists and of the seamens' registers series was made in 1970 it was thought that all the agreements and crew lists would be preserved, albeit in various different record offices. Subsequently, some record offices declined to take further accruals of the crew lists, and in 1993 the Memorial University of Newfoundland wrote to the Registrar that it would not be possible for them to accept any post 1976 crew agreements. The majority of post 1976 crew agreements are now destroyed at the end of their business use within the Registry.
Accruals: Series is accruing
Administrative / biographical background:

The 1850 Act required all foreign and home trade crew agreements to be shown to the Collector or Comptroller of Customs before clearance outwards, and to be delivered to the Port Shipping Master or to Customs upon clearance inwards (section 50 of the Act). Home trade crew agreements were required to be delivered half-yearly.

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