Catalogue description Registry of Shipping and Seamen: Inquiries into Deaths at Sea: Papers and Reports

This series contains the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen's files on inquiries into deaths at sea under sections 386 and 690 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894. The files contain correspondence, papers and reports regarding deaths at sea and in overseas ports in order to establish that there was sufficient information to record a death; rather than a missing presumed dead.

The dead include crew and passengers of all nationalities. The files typically include: sworn testimonies of survivors; particulars of the deceased; medical office and inspectors statements; answers to medical circumstances of death; examinations on oath; form B & D 3 containing detailed particulars of the cause of death; form Inq 6 Death on Board a British Foreign-Going Ship; form Inq 7 death, injury, ill treatment, punishment or casualty on a fishing boat; newspaper cuttings, and correspondence.

It should be noted that not all the cases concern fatalities 'on-board' ship; they can include the circumstances of deaths of passengers or seamen on route to the ship.

For the Marine Department and successors' shipping casualty investigation papers see BT 369

Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, 1872-1992

2000 to 2004 Registry of Shipping and Seamen