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UK - NZ Resources

Voyages and losses, check Lloyd's List
Description of a vessel, check Lloyd's Register of Shipping
Mariners website  Ships in UK Ports 1881 Census

Lloyd's Register - Register of Ships

Today Lloyd's Register undertakes shipbuilding research, issues shipbuilding rules, and surveys ships under construction and in service to ensure that they meet its standard and is an institution completely separate from the insurance market now officially known as the Corporation of Lloyd's foundered to supervise surveys of vessels and to publish Lloyd's Register of Shipping.  The concept of 'ship classification' originated in the eighteenth century, when the practice began of awarding different classes to ships according to their condition.  The Register Book is published annually, lists all seagoing merchant ships of over 100 tons gross. Annual volumes of Lloyd's Register run from 1 July through 30 June of the following calendar year.  Worldwide network of agencies gather the shipping information.  Family History Library has Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping. If you know the name of the ship and approximate year the LR may provide some details on the vessel, vessel's number and information on ports of embarkation and arrival.  The ship's official number is necessary if you want to search post 1854.  Ship's Muster Rolls and Agreements and Crew List (1747-1860) which are filed by ship's number. NMM database Manuscript Collection under Lloyd's for further details. The daily Lloyd's List of shipping news - shipping index reports movements of more than 12,000 vessels.

Most of the registers for Australian ports are now held by Australian Archives and the microfilm is available for reading at all their regional centres.  Some earlier registers, mostly pre-1856, are likely to be in State archives offices. Their purpose was to record details of owners, managers and mortgages not masters. AJCP have photocopied some Naval records in Kew. See Australian Joint Copying Project handbook part 7.

1902: Marine insurance, however, is the only kind of insurance officially recognised Members of Lloyd's, it should be explained, are divided into two classes � underwriters, who act as principals and accept risks, and brokers, who effect insurances with the underwriters on behalf of shipowners. An underwriter is required to deposit a large sum as guarantee � from �5000 upward, according to individual circumstances. It speaks well for Lloyd's that during the past four or five years there has not been a single failure. And it certainly is necessary that an underwriter should have his wits about him. The seaworthiness of the ship, the character of the owners, the standing and capacity ol the captain, the nature of the cargo � all these and many other considerations enter into the question of the value of the risk to be undertaken.

Taranaki Herald, 8 February 1900, Page 1
Gambling in ships
The five hundred odd " underwriters" of insurance agents (says the London " Daily Mail") who constitute the world's marine insurance office known as Lloyd's spend their lives playing a game of pitch and toss with the world's mercantile marine.
    The 40,000 dice with which the game is played include every build of merchantman, from the Oceanic to the 100-ton wallowing " tramp." The bare rules of the game are as simple as those governing pitch and toss ; yet so complex are many of the thousand and one influences to be taken into consideration before you make each move, a man must have the head of a Bismarck if he would make a fortune by insuring ships. Every ship on leaving port with a fresh cargo is insured in at least three different ways. Against total loss of both ship and cargo, accident to ship, and accident to cargo. As the anchor is being weighed a clerk is despatched to Lloyd's with a portfolio giving full particulars of the destination, nature of. cargo, name of captain of  ship, the amount of insurance wanted, and rate. No single " underwriter " ever takes the risk of insuring a whole ship. But before he decides whether he will take an eighth, sixth, or quater, he has to weigh the chances there against the ship returning to port, w ho rate wanted. Firstly, he recalls standing of the firm she belongs to ; whither it is unlucky. '
    Then he looks at the captain's name, and if his memory fails refers hurriedly to the " Captains' Register," a biographical dictionary of every captain, giving every detail concerning him, from the luck he has had to the number of children. Then the nature of the cargo in relation to the distance of the voyage and the destination. These being satisfactory, he notes the routes she is taking in relation to the weather, and whether the equinoctial gales are blowing or whether cyclones are expected. Then he runs over the political state of affairs.....
    Wherever you can smell the salt sea. you will find a Lloyd's agent with his telescope, telegraph, and flagstaff. On sighting any vessel he signals as to name, destination, and condition, and before she has had time to haul down her flags these facts concerning her are posted up at, Lloyd's. An underwriter is keeping an eye on a certain vessel on which has plunged to his full depth. Yet here is a telegram from the agent who ought to have reported sighting her during the night. "Large vessel gone to pieces off here. Name not known." Even then your grey-headed underwriter does not lose heart. Other ships are passing that very point. The one which carries his financial life or death may even now be in safe anchorage. It is in such circumstances that the gambling spirit wins.

Barriskill, D. T. comp., A Guide to the Lloyd's Marine Collection and Related Marine Sources at Guildhall Library, Guildhall Library Research Guide 7 (2nd ed.; London: Guildhall Library, 1994)

Blake, George 1893- Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1760-1960 illustrated by David Knight. Lloyd's Register of Shipping (Firm : 1914- ) Published London : Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1960. 194 p

Bloomfield, Valerie Resources for Australian and New Zealand studies : a guide to library holdings in the United Kingdom Australian Studies Centre, London, 1986. 284p ISBN: 0-7123-0122-4 NMM, Greenwich holding.

Campbell, Robert D. The ship's register : a history of British ship status and registration procedures including their adoption in New Zealand Wellington, N.Z. : Ministry of Transport, Marine Division, 1980. 73 p., [9] p. of plates

Classification societies / edited by Jonathan Lux ; foreword by Sir Roderick Macleod. London ; New York : Lloyd's of London Press in association with the International Bar Association, 1993. 132 p,  Ships-Inspection, rules for classification and construction.

Hall, Christopher A.  A Guide to the Lloyd's Marine Collection (1985)

Information Group
Lloyd's Register
100 Leadenhall Street
London EC3A 3BP
Tel: +44 (0) 171 709 9166
Fax: +44 (0) 171 488 4796
"The Library of Lloyd's Register of Shipping holds a complete run of Lloyd's Registers, the various registers of yachts (British and American), Registers of Ship Owners, Statistical Returns, plus records of ship building, Casualty Returns, and other unpublished sources such as the Wreck Books." Posted , Aug. 6, 1998 Emigration Ships List by Debbie Beavis

Information Section
Corporate Marketing Group
Lloyd s Register of Shipping
71 Fenchurch St.
London, EC3M 4BS

The Keeper
Lloyd's Marine Collection
Guildhall Library
Aldermanbury,
London EC2P 2EJ
Tel: +44 (0) 171 606 3030
Fax: +44 (0) 171 600 3384
E-mail:  Manuscripts.Guildhall@ms.corpoflondon.gov.uk
(Lloyd's List, Weekly Indexes, Voyage Record Cards, an excellent run of Lloyd's Registers, selection of Yacht register, Lloyd s Missing Vessel Records 1873-1954, Lloyd s War Loss Records-1st and 2nd World Wars, Lloyd s Marine Loss Records-1939-1970.. etc) A guild is a society of men with the same trade banded together to protect their members interest.

• Lloyd's List is a newspaper. If you have a departure date, port name but no ship name check the Lloyd's List to determine the names of these vessels leaving a certain port on a certain date in the UK bound for NZ. Microfilmed annual indexes to movements and casualties (1838-1927) and Voyage Record Cards (1927-c1975). The former accessible at a number of institutions such as the Guildhall Library in London, the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the Maritime History Archive at the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, and the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney, the latter accessible only at the Guildhall Library (Forty eight hours notice is required for access to the Voyage Record Cards) For maritime historians the most important single record generated by the Corporation of Lloyd's is probably Lloyd's List, originally a weekly newspaper, it was published twice a week until 1837, then daily. The first surviving issue of Lloyd's List is dated 2 January 1740/41; issues survive for the years 1741, 1744, 1747-1753, 1755, 1757-1758, 1760-1777, and 1779 to date.  Lloyd's List is accessed by two major indexes:  (1) to casualties and "paragraphs" (news items), 1741-1763, 1767-1768, 1770-1771, 1775-1776, 1779, 1783 (indexes to other years up to 1799 in progress):  (2) to movements and casualties, 1838-1927. Posted by Michael Palmer on the emigration-ship list 4 Aug. 1998
  
  Otago Witness May 28 1853
  The oldest Lloyd's list in existence bears the date 1745, and is in possession of the committee at Lloyd's. It is printed on a narrow slip of paper about a foot in length, and besides containing the price of bullion and the stocks, gives the rate of exchange on foreign countries; On the reverse is the "Marine List," which gives a list of 23 arrivals and 212 departures at English ports, with 34 ships at anchor in the Downs. There are also notices of four arrivals in Irish and foreign ports, with advice of three British ships taken by the enemy's privateers. Turning from this document, which gives a week's news, to one of the year 1800, published daily, contains an average of 75 ships. This was in time of war; A "Lloyd's Lost" for 1850; one of the fullest of these covered 15 pages in the arrivals and loss books for one day, giving the names of about 460 vessels.

• Captain's Register NMM info (British Masters and Mates) from 1868-1947. Shows the captains birth place and date, certificate number, examination date and place, vessels served on and date of death. At the Guildhall Library.  1869 Captain's Register is available from Macbeth Genealogical Services
  
  The "Captains' Register'" has well been described as a biographical dictionary of the whole of the certificated commanders of the British mercantile marine. In the register is entered the date and place of the worthy skipper's birth, a record of his progress at sea, the ship, the ships he has commanded, and, if he has been unfortunate, the ships he has lost, and the result of the subsequent inquiry.

• Vessel survey records manuscripts survive for the period c.1833-c.1964, and are now deposited in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. 

• Lloyd's Register, the earliest surviving volume of which dates from 1764, updated in manuscript to 1766;  other surviving volumes date from 1768 (letters M-Z only, updated in manuscript to 1771), 1775-1784, 1786-87, 1789-1802, 1803, 1804-1806, 1807, 1808-1816, and 1818 to date.  It is important to note that Lloyd's Register is a voluntary classification society, and until 1875 its published volumes listed only those vessels it had surveyed and classed.  As a result, many smaller vessels, and many early steamships, do not appear in the published volumes of  Lloyd's Register;  in 1875, other British vessels of 100 tons and over were added.  Until 1890, Lloyd's Register was almost exclusively confined to British registered vessels, although it included some foreign vessels that traded regularly with Great Britain;  in 1890, all British and foreign sea-going merchant vessels 100 tons have been listed.  The early volumes of Lloyd's Register  through 1881 were reprinted, in both book and microfiche format, in the 1960s, and are widely available and (National Library of Australia) at most maritime research institutions and university libraries (as they are considered important reference works, however, few libraries will allow them out on Interlibrary Loan). Posted by Michael Palmer on the emigration-ship list 4 Aug. 1998
  
  Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1874/75
  CHILE
  Official Number: 9494
  Signal Letters: K.H.N.V.
  Rig: Ship
  Hull: Iron
  Tonnage: 768
  Length: 191.0
  Breath: 28.0
  Depth: 16.3
  Built: 1856 London
  Owner: Shaw, Savill, & Co.
  Master: T. Thompson
  Port Belonging To: London
  Bulkheads: 3
  New Deck: 1869
  Asphalt Cemented: 1869
  
• The following was copied from Lloyds' Register, Infosheet No. 10., Lloyd s Register of Shipping, Sources 
  
  CASUALTY RETURNS July 1890 to date
  
  Quarterly and annual statistical returns of total losses worldwide of ocean-going merchant ships of 100 tons gross and above according to flag and cause of loss, e.g. foundered, missing, burnt, collision, broken up. In a separate section brief details are given of the ships by name in the above loss categories.
  
  Early quarterly returns give figures for steamers and sailing vessels by flag and cause of loss, and for total tonnage owned in each country. Details of ships cover tonnage, flag, description (e.g. iron paddle steamer, steel screw steamer, wood brig), voyage, cargo, circumstances and place of loss, and date. Later issues also include for each ship the year of build (from 3rd quarter 1928), and ship type (oil tankers indicated from 1939, other types, e.g., motor cargo vessel, motor stern trawler from 1969).
  
  Early annual summaries (first 1891) give total figures for the year for steam vessels and sailing vessels lost, according to flag and cause of loss. Later issues also include analyses for ships lost or broken up by size, principal type and age (from 1967), and world maps (from 1970) showing approximate positions of ships foundered, burnt, wrecked, and lost by collision during the year, with tankers indicated separately. Details of ships not already included in the appropriate quarterly return are also given.

The Gauntlet, barque, whose pumps, while loading at Brisbane were rendered useless through the lead pipes having been eaten through by rats, a new regulation has been adopted by Lloyd's, under which it is required that all lead pipes used for pumping purposes on board ship shall be covered with zinc or iron in such a manner as to be effectual protection against the sharp teeth of the vermin.

The Timaru Herald 8 July 1886
Lloyds. "As an insurance association it is the centre of machinery for the collection and diffusion of mercantile intelligence it stands unrivalled, and together with its affiliated associations of Lloyd's Register and Salvage Association, it forms an enormous organisation, and knows no jealously but to meet the requirements of the public and to bring the great weight of an influential corporation to the aid of the preservation of life and property from the perils of the sea." Colonel Hozier

Letters from Home

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UK Resources & Sources

 Official Log Books

The Mercantile Marine Act of 1850 obliged masters to keep an official log book recording names and conduct of their crew, any births, illnesses and deaths on board, misconduct, punishments and desertions. The log books of foreign-going ships were handed in within 48 hours of arrival, of home trading ships, half-yearly.  Today

Official Log Books at National Library AUS
    Asterope (London - New Zealand) 1866-1867
    Black Eagle (Glasgow - Auckland) 1861-1863
    Indian Empire (Glasgow - Lyttelton, N.Z.) 1865-1866
    Nelson (Glasgow - New Zealand) 1863-1864
    Siam (London - Auckland) 1865-1866
    Tamana (Glasgow - New Zealand) 1867
    Victoria (London - New Zealand) 1861-1863
    Welsh Mariners
Tracing British Seamen & their ships
 Welsh mariners

Crew Agreements

1861-1938 The Public Record Office holds a 10% sample of crew agreements for each year, plus those for a number of famous ships. The remaining 10% for 1861, 1862 and years ending in '5' are held by the National Maritime Museum (Park Row, Greenwich, London SE10 9NF).  Researchers wishing to consult them must give at least one week's advance notice, citing the name and official number of the ship and the year the voyage ended.   A few crew agreements are held by local record offices. About 70%, are held by the Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St.John's, Newfoundland AIC 5S7, Canada and they have produced indexes to its holdings, covering the periods 1863-1913 and 1914-1938, arranged by official number. The official number of a vessel can be found by consulting the Mercantile Navy List or, after 1872/73, the Register of Ships.  Crew Agreements for foreign-going vessels were submitted at the end of the voyage, therefore it is this date which determines in which particular year a Crew Agreement is filed. LR does not hold any crew agreements. Lloyds Register notes the vessel's number, but the ships are listed in alphabetical order. Auckland City Libraries - Social Sciences Dept holds on fiche - a list of  Crew Lists and Agreements held at the Maritime History Archives, Memorial University of Newfoundland in a coded grid based on the vessels unique number.

LDS film : Agreements and crew lists of British merchant vessels, compiled at English sea ports, including names of ships and service records of crew members : with alphabetical and numerical index to ships, 1857-1860
Great Britain. Board of Trade. Mercantile Marine Department (Main Author) Microfilm of original records. Includes indexes. Publication: Ashridge Park, Hertford : Genealogical Society, 1970-1974 British Film  848097   Agreements & crew lists BT 98/Index + 1752 microfilm reels

Crewlists e.g. War Spirit
Overview

Maritime History Archive
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Tel:  709-737-8429
Fax:  709-737-3123

A large collection of crew lists and  agreements and official logs 1861-1938 are held at the Memorial University of Newfoundland.  If given the name of a vessel(s) vessel registration number, and an approximate year of interest they will search for a fee as they have a research and photocopying service. They cannot search for personal names. This also applies to the PRO, where there may also be crew lists of UK-registered vessels which operated in NZ. Refer to MHA web site for information on Crew Lists and Log Books.  These were originally held at PRO KEW.

An Index to the Agreements, Crew Lists and Official Logbooks of the British Empire, 1863-1912 1,610 pp, St. John's, Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1992. 3 bound volumes. Sold out. This index is out of print and they do not intend to have more reprinted.  It is not a nominal index. It contains official numbers of vessels and the years for which the MHA have crew lists or log books available.  It is not a listing of vessel names or crew members.   It is a useful tool for researchers who have the official numbers of vessels and would like to know the years for which the MHA have crew agreements and log books.

Examples at MHA:
- Agreement and Account of Crew - Opawa voyage to NZ returning to UK 1879
- ss  Ngatoro, built for and operated by the Blackball Coal Coy of Greymouth, NZ, a collier. The Blackball Coal Coy was a London-owned, thus Ngatoro was initially UK-registered. Crew list for her maiden voyage (1910) at MHA
- Isle of Erin crew list

Auckland City Libraries - Social Sciences Dept holds on fiche - A list of  Crew Lists and Agreements held at the Maritime History Archives, Memorial University of Newfoundland, in a coded grid based on the vessels unique number.

• Museum of Wellington City & Sea does have some crew lists for NZ vessels. e.g. ss  Ngatoro 1924

• State Records, NSW, Australia, holds a crew agreement for the USSCo ship ss Waihora (# 123842), dated 23 Feb 1914.

• PRO Kew, UK has the crew list for the Cressy (1850) Ref: BT 98/2600

• National Library of Australia
      Alumbagh(London - Auckland) 1875-1876
      Apelles (London - Canterbury) 1874-1876
      Duke of Athole (London - Wellington) 1878-1880
      Lady Jocelyn (London - Canterbury) 1879-1880
      Loch Ken (London - Wellington) 1879
      Rangitiki (London - Canterbury),1875-1876
      Rimutako (London - Canterbury) 1889-1890
      Soukar (London - Canterbury) 1879-1880

Archives NZ, Wellington and other repositories e.g. Christchurch & Auckland City Libraries, have 'Journals of the House of Representatives'  online searchable
JOURNALS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES  The "minutes" of Parliament. The Journals are a daily summary of the proceedings of the Parliament of New Zealand without the debates. All debates in the House are recorded and checked and then published in 'Hansard', the official record of what has been said. 'Hansard' gives a verbatim report, edited to remove repetitions and redundancies. Many of the documents tabled in the House are reprinted in the annual Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR). Copies of Hansard and the AJHR are available in major public libraries.

AJHR are in fact large books in their own right and don't 'appear' at the back of the Journals as we would normally expect to see an Appendix. APPENDICES TO THE JOURNALS : �Parliamentary papers.� Each year a number of papers are tabled in the New Zealand House of Representatives. These include reports of Government Departments and certain statutory bodies, a selection of international agreements and conventions involving New Zealand, Government financial statements, reports of commissions and Royal Commissions and reports of Parliamentary select committees.

Contents include:

Masters, Mates & Engineers, Certificates of Competency, 1866-1921 Gives name, rank, class of certificate, date of issue.
Estates of Deceased Seamen, 1887-1941. Gives name, balance to credit of estate, amount received, amount paid
Wrecks & Casualties to Shipping, 1866-1929, 1936-1939. Details include date, name of vessel, description, # of lives lost, decision of inquiry and name of master. 
Pilot Licenses, 1866, Gives name, place, date of issue.
Pilotage Exemption Certificates, 1867-1879. Gives name of master, name of vessel, ports included. 
River Steamers, Masters & Engineers, Certificates of Competency, 1876-1880. Gives name, rank, date of issue.
Colonial Pilot Licences, 1899-1921. Gives date of issue, name, port of residence.
Adjusters of Compasses Licences, 1899-1921 Gives date of issue, name, address.
Accidents to Seamen, 1902-1919. gives date, name of vessel, name of person, nature of injury, particulars of accident.
Amounts paid to Sick & Disabled Seamen, 1906-1919. gives name of seaman, name of vessel, nature of injury, amount paid.
Accidents to Waterside Workers, 1908-1919. Gives date, port, name nature of injury, particulars of accident.
Boys who joined T. S. Amokura, 1909-1919, 1921. gives name, date of joining, date of discharge, occupation on discharge.
Prosecutions re Fish & Oysters, 1910-1913, 1915. Gives name, offence, fine imposed.
Convictions of Seamen, 1908-1919. Gives name, position held, ship, offence, date of conviction, penalty.

• Registry of Shipping & Seamen
  Anchor House,
  Cheviot Close,
  Parc Ty Glas, Llanishen,
  Cardiff CF4 5JA
  Tel:  01222 747333
  Fax; 01222 74877
  From the early 1800's: Ships registered in UK and Commonwealth
  Careers of British seafarers
  Birth, marriages and deaths at sea.  Early records (19th century) held at the PRO
  Records of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen
  Records of Merchant Shipping and Seamen by Kelvin Smith, Christopher T. Watts and Michael J Watts
  
  
  2006: Series details: BT 388  1837-1987
  The Registers record the allocation of an official number to ships registered in the UK and Dependant Territories. They document the ship's official number; name of the ship; tonnage; steam/sail; port of registration and date of registration.
  The seven Registers will be brought to PRO in a single transfer. 
  The registers were created by staff at the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen to facilitate the identification of vessels known only by their official number.
  The series is structured in numerical order of ship's official number.
  Location of originals: Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen
  
  At the PRO> London: SS Hertford (Federal Steam Navigation Company) travelling from New Zealand to London. Embarking at Oamaru. Official Number: 144565. List of passengers disembarking at London. 30 Jan. 1929
  
• Mersyside Maritime Museum
  Pier Head
  Liverpool L3 1DN
  Marine history of Liverpool, particularly slave trade and emigration . Liverpool does not have any departure lists of any description until after 1891 and these can be found in the records of the Board of Trade in the PRO, Kew.
   

• Census England 1901
  		Birthplace 		Census place 			Occupation
  Charles Acton 	29 Timaru New Zealand 	Kent 				Lient R N R, Chatham Dockyard, Kent, Eng. Medway, Gillingham
  Charles Adams 	23 New Zealand Taronski Essex Chelmsford 		Marine Engineer
  Samuel Alder 	25 New Zealand 		West Ham 			Boatswain
  James Andrews 	29 Wellington New Zealand Essex 			Seaman
  Wm Blashek 	25 New Zealand 		West Ham West Ham 		Seaman
  Robert Boyle 	23 New Zealand 		Dorset 				Os Seaman
  Chas Cranford 	30 New Zealand 		West Ham West Ham 		Marine Engineer
  Charles Chant 	26 Wargue New Zealand 					Able Seaman
  Herald Clarke 	36 New Zealand Canterbury Middlesex Ealing 		Naval Officer
  Edgar Conyers 	25 New Zealand Lindsey incoln Cleethorpes 		Marine Engine Driver
  Frederick Cross 35 New Zealand British Subj Lancashire Bootle Cum Linacre Mariner
  Norman Culmora 	21 New Zealand 		Glamorganshire St Mary 		Able Seaman
  Rutherford Dodds 20 Dunedin New Zealand Cornwall 			Seaman
  John Donoghue 	26 New Zealand 		London 				Seaman
  Percy Ellis 	29 New Zealand Ancklaw London Shadwell 			Mariner
  James Graham 	40 New Zealand 		London 	Bromley 		Seaman
  Thomas Granaut 	24 New Zealand 		London 				Seaman
  Kenneth Hamphrey 26 New Zealand 	Middlesex London Bromley 	Engineer Mariner
  Frederick Hanson 23 New Zealand 	Dorset 				Seaman R N R
  J S Hausen 	18 Willington New Zealand Cornwall 			A B Seaman
  William Hildyard 26 New Zealand 	Glamorganshire Swansea 		Abel Seaman
  Peter Hobden 	19 New Zealand 		West Ham West Ham 		Seaman
  Reginald House 	38 New Zealand 		Middlesex Southgate 		Master Mariner
  Percy Hudson 	31 New Zealand 		Lancashire Waterloo 		Mariner Ships Steward
  Samuel Hughes 	30 New Zealand 		Devon Plymouth 			Merchant Seaman
  Albert Hunter 	21 Christ Church New Zealand 				Ord Sea
  Thomas Hutchinson 31 New Zealand 	Glamorgan Barry 		Fireman Seafaring
  Albert Hyde 	17 Christchurch New Zealand Kingston Upon Hull 		Ordinary Seamen
  James Janison 	38 New Zealand 		West Ham West Ham 		Mariner At Sea
  Frederick Jones 14 New Zealand 		Kent 				Training For Sea
  Harry Jones 	36 New Zealand Wellington West Ham West Ham 		Seaman Merchant Service
  Egmont Larpent 	30 New Zealand 		London St Paul Deptford 	Naval Warrent Officer
  Augustus Marsack47 New Zealand Canterbury Southampton Portswood 	Retired Master Mariner
  Francis McDo?ad 23 New Zealand 		Durham Throston 		Engineer Seasgoing
  Alexander McIntosh 26 New Zealand 	Durham 				Able Seaman
  William Morrison 23 New Zealand 	West Ham 			Mate
  R Munro 	37 Dunedin New Zealand Pembroke 			2nd Mate
  James Parkes 	23 New Zealand 		London 				Naval Officer 
  William Plank 	19 New Zealand 		West Ham West Ham 		Seaman
  Percy Poole 	21 New Zealand 		London 				Seaman
  J Ryan 		22 New Zealand 		West Ham West Ham 		Seaman
  John Schultze 	20 New Zealand 		London 				Seaman
  George Spooner 	32 New Zealand 		Surrey Kingston Upon Thames 	Naval Architect & Mec Engr
  Harry Thompson 	40 New Zealand 		Cornwall Stratton 		Mariner
  Henry Torlesse 	42 New Zealand 		Hampshire Portsmouth 		Commander Royal Navy
  William Wheeler 35 New Zealand 		Borough Of West Ham West Ham 	Master Mariner
  Earnest Williams 18 New Zealand 	Glamorganshire 			Ordinary Seaman
  Henry Williams 	23 New Zealand 		London 				Seaman

1901 England Census 
Name: Charles Acton 
Age: 29 
Estimated birth year: abt 1872 
Relation: Liset R N R 
Where born: Timaru, New Zealand 
Civil parish: Vessels 
Town: Chatham Dockyard 
County/Island: Kent England 
Source information: RG13/740 
Registration district: Medway, Gillingham 
ED, institution, or vessel: Perseus Folio: 35 


Name: Robert Coppell 
Age: 26 abt 1875 
Relation: Member Of Crew 
Where born: Lyttelton, New Zealand 
Civil parish: Vessels 
Town: Gibraltar 
County/Island: Royal Navy 
Country: England 
Source information: RG13/5328 
Registration district: Royal Navy at Sea and in Ports Abroad 
Sub-registration district: RN Ships 
ED, institution, or vessel: Minerva 
Folio: 27 Page: 23

Name: William E White 
Age: 21 abt 1880 
Relation: Members Of Crew 
Where born: Auckland, New Zealand 
Civil parish: Vessels 
Town: Great Bitter Lake, Suez Canal, Egypt 
County/Island: Royal Navy 
Country: England 
Source information: RG13/5328 
Registration district: Royal Navy at Sea and in Ports Abroad 
Sub-registration district: RN Ships 
ED, institution, or vessel: Ophir 
Folio: 127 Page: 25 

Name: Albert W Hunter 
Age: 21 abt 1880 
Where born: Christchurch, New Zealand 
Civil parish: Vessels 
Town: Sydney 
County/Island: Royal Navy 
Country: England 
Source information: RG13/5332
Registration district: Royal Navy at Sea and in Ports Abroad 
Sub-registration district: RN Ships 
ED, institution, or vessel: Royal Arthur 
Folio: 93 Page: 15 

Name: Thomas G King
Age: 25 abt 1876 
Relation: Member Of Crew 
Where born: New Zealand 
Civil parish: Vessels 
Town: Aden 
County/Island: Royal Navy 
Country: England 
Source information: RG13/5333 
Registration district: Royal Navy at Sea and in Ports Abroad 
Sub-registration district: RN Ships 
ED, institution, or vessel: St George 
Folio: 13 Page: 17 

Name: George Lake
Age: 19 abt 1882 
Relation: Member Of Crew 
Where born: Caversham, New Zealand 
Civil parish: Vessels 
Town: Gibraltar 
County/Island: Royal Navy 
Country: England 
Source information: RG13/5328 
Registration district: Royal Navy at Sea and in Ports Abroad 
Sub-registration district: RN Ships 
ED, institution, or vessel: Niobe 
Folio: 75 Page: 30 


Name: Leo Lance 
Age: 25 abt 1876 
Relation: Member Of Crew 
Where born: Wellington, New Zealand 
Civil parish: Vessels 
Town: Malta 
County/Island: Royal Navy 
Country: England 
Source information: RG13/5335 
Registration district: Royal Navy at Sea and in Ports Abroad 
Sub-registration district: RN Ships 
ED, institution, or vessel: Victorious 
Folio: 63 Page: 30

Transmigrants
Glasgow was a very busy passenger port. The port did carry a large volume of transmigrants (migrants passing through the UK en route for another country) and many of these migrants travelled originally through northern European ports to UK on "feeder ships", smaller vessels that did not make long ocean voyages. Many of them had arrived in Leith, Scotland but others had arrived at ports in north east England e.g. Hull and were shipped out through Glasgow.  Passengers sailing from Hamburg could choose the indirect route or direct route. Indirect was through Hull, Liverpool, Southampton, Rotterdam etc. and was cheaper.  Hamburg records are intact but Bremen records were destroyed until 1909. Norwegian emigrants often took the train from Hull to Liverpool to embark on the larger ships. Great Central Railway and Migration.

Scottish emigrants even when they lived quite near to a suitable port in fact often travelled south by train and picked up one of the larger, faster and perhaps more comfortable ships leaving from London. Often passengers disembarked at ports en route for Australia.  Passenger lists exist in Australia and New Zealand showing arrivals.  Many of them remained on board if the ship continued its passage as far as New Zealand and many of the New Zealand bound ships did call in to Australian ports.  Departure lists from the UK are rare before 1890. There are few resources for voluntary emigrants.

British Parliamentary Papers (1856 XXIV [2089], 402) : "Return of Ships and Emigrants despatched by Public Funds to New Zealand in 1854 and 1855." They were:
Gipsy, sailed 3 July 1854 with 112 passengers and 1 died on the voyage. (37 M, 32 F, children: 20 M, 23 F)
Josephine Willis, sailed on 7 Oct 1854 with 77 on board and no deaths on voyage. (25 M, 28 F, children: 12 M, 12 F)
Simiah, sailed on 27 Oct 1854 with 1 male passenger and no deaths on voyage.
Merchantman, sailed 23 May 1855 with 6 passengers and 1 death on the voyage. (2 M and 3 F with 1 M child)

• Guildhall Hall, London  holds The Lloyd's Marine Collection
• Beavis Online Maritime Databases
• Mark Howells' guide to Researching Ancestors from the United Kingdom using the LDS Family History Center Resources.
• St Catherine marriage index for SE England. The population of England and Wales in 1851 was 17,983,000. 
• Middle names from the IGI for the UK
• FreeBMD
• DocumentsOnline

Scottish Links

• GENUKI: Scotland
• CYNDI’S LIST - Scotland
• THE SCOTS LINK -The Scottish Family History Magazine
• National Library of Scotland
• Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry
• Scottish General Record Office (Scottish equivalent of PRO Kew)   New Register House, West Register Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3YT (Pay-per-view database)
• Register of births, deaths and marriages in foreign countries (1860-1965) Until the end of 1965 the GRO compiled a register of the births of children of Scottish parents and of the marriages and deaths of Scots, the entries being made on the basis of information supplied by the parties concerned and after consideration of the evidence of each event.
• Shire of Sutherland, extreme NW Scotland strays list

Irish Links

• National Archives of Ireland
• Donegal
• Assisted immigrants from Donegal, IRE to Lyttelton 1855 - 1874
  

Departure Ports for Emigrants ships heading for New Zealand

Ports
London, England - outport Gravesend
Liverpool Harbour Marjorie P. Kohli site. 1870s. Merseyside, England
Glasgow, Scotland - outport Greenock, Renfrew Co. on the south shore of the Firth of Clyde, about 22 miles (40km) west from Glasgow by rail.
Plymouth, England. Located on the s. Devon coast. Steamers use to leave here regularly for NZ.
Deal, England. East Kent.
Portsmouth, located on the s. coast of England.
Bristol located on the w. coast of England at the head of the Severn Estuary that runs into the Bristol Channel. The Port Authority railway lines connect with the main railroads to all parts of England and Scotland. Outport Avonmouth.
Southampton, England. Near the English Channel, 123km from London.
Leith - outport for Edinburg, Scotland. Located at the s. bank of the Firth of Forth on the e. coast of Scotland
Queenstown, Ireland (1849 -1922) renamed to Cobh, subport of Cork which is the principal port on the s. coast of Ireland being a natural sheltered deepwater harbour.
Hamburg, Germany. Situated on the River Elbe 121km from the open sea.

In the 1860s a family from Scotland probably would travel by coastal steamer to London, to catch a larger sailing ship to the antipodes. Rail travel possible then, but steamer is down the coast is likely.

Passenger Acts

The 1835 Passenger Act was introduced by the British government to eliminate some of the evils associated with the transport of emigrants. Provisions included sufficient provisions to be carried, a surgeon was appointed if there was than one-hundred or more passengers on board.  A list giving the name, age and occupation of each passenger was to be given to the chief custom officer before sailing.  Should the ship not sail on the day arranged for, the emigrants had to be provided for or an allowance of a shilling per day given each day.  Emigrants had the privilege of remaining onboard for forty-eight hours after reaching the port of landing.  Provisions was made for inspecting the ship as to her seaworthiness.  The amount of space to be provided per passenger was laid down.  Emigration officers were appointed to superintend the embarkation of emigrants at British ports to protect the emigrants against carelessness and greed of shipmasters.  In 1837 they were stationed at these ten ports. London, Liverpool, Bristol, Leith (Scotland), Greenock, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Belfast and Sligo. Reference: Emigration from the British Isles W.A. Carrothers 1929. 1966.  For more details on Passenger Acts see the "Strathallan" page last section and the "Isabella Hercus" page for a list of the food and water provisions.

"Liverpool on her stern and bound to go"
A truism amongst seamen in the 1850s referring to speedy passages

TOP

What historical documents can you expect to find for a ship?
Building plans  (elevation plans and deck plans, rigging plans)- hull number
Offset table - set of horizontal and vertical calculations determining the lines of her hull. found in the building company's Offset Book, listed under hull number.
List of Charges
Builder's Certificate - notes tonnage, dimensions, number of decks and masts, construction materials and fittings, the amount of iron used, wages paid.
Certificate of British Registry
Official Log
Survey Reports by Lloyd's Surveyor's
Lloyd's List of Movements and Causalities
Lloyd's Register of Ship and Shipping 
Newspaper reports - launching, shipping news, shipping line advertisements, 
Passenger lists, passenger contract ticket (if applicable)

Crew Agreements - required by law, sanctioned by the Board of Trade and completing a crew agreement was one of the requirements for clearance to leave port. Appended to each agreement is a copy of the "Regulations from Maintaining Discipline" as outlined by the Merchant  Shipping' details the responsibility of the master of the vessel and the crew as well as punishable offences and there penalties. Unsigned copies had to be available for review by the crew. Someone read and explain the agreement before a seaman could sign as many seamen were illiterate and many placed an "x" and someone else printed in their full name. About 8 pages in the 1870s. At the end of the voyage when the crew is discharged the form is completed, certified and handed over to the port superintendent.

Ships' crew lists. Schedule G was a list of crew members (including Apprentices) on sailing for foreign-going voyages, giving their ticket numbers, full names, wages, last ship. 

Names and distinguishing Number of the REGISTER TICKETS, of the CREW  now serving on board the ____ of the Port of ____ of the burden of____ Tons, on taking departure from the Port of ____ in the UNITED KINGDOM, bound on a Voyage to____.  Name, Capacity, Number of Register Ticket.

Agreement for Foreign Going Ship, signed in 1856, states the crew are to be served daily 1lb bread, 1.5 lb beef, 1.5 lb pork, half lb flour, third pint peas, 3 qrts water, 2 oz sugar, half oz tea, half oz coffee and rice is to be served once a week. No Spirits are allowed, and the Captain may provide substitutes.
She carried 12 Crew - Mate, 2nd Mate, 3rd Mate, 4th Mate, Carpenter, Steward, Cook, Passenger's Cook, Blacksmith and Sailmaker. They were assisted by 27 Able Bodied Seamen and 11 Other Souls. The Agreement gives all the names, ages, places born, and wages they were engaged at.

The Agreement signed was on a voyage from London to Melbourne, thence if requested to any other Ports and Places in the Indian, China Seas, Straits, North and South pacific Oceans, and Australian Colonies for any period not exceeding two years and back to the final Port of Discharge in the United Kingdom or Continent of Europe.

Certificate of Discharge, Certificate of Character

Clip Crew List Index Project
Crew Lists and Articles wayback
Crew Lists
Info

There is a crew list and log book for a 'Light Brigade', official number 45775, of London, nrt 1244, at the Maritime History Archive of the Memorial University, Newfoundland, for a voyage ending in 1864.  This ship sailed from Calcutta on 7th November 1863 to Rangoon. At both ports, British troops were picked up to bring to New Zealand .She sailed from Rangoon on 1st December for Auckland, arriving about 18th January 1864. The ship's official number was found by typing the name into the search engine of the Mariner's List website. The existence of the crew list was found by typing the official number into the MHA search engine. The minimum charge for a search is 35 Canadian dollars, plus copying and postage.

Ships outside of British territorial limits were not enumerated for the census.

The Star Saturday 16th June 1900
A1 at Lloyd's
Lloyd's is the headquarters of all engaged in marine insurance and business associated with shipping matters. It is the London Society of Underwriters. Lloyd's coffee-house, on Turner Street, kept by Edward Lloyd, became the headquarters the headquarters of those engaged in marine insurance. In 1692 he removed his house to the corner of Lombard and Abchurch Lane. With venturous energy he went so far as to produce, in 1696, a news sheet called "Lloyd's News," This paper was published three times a week. In 1721 the "Lloyd's News" made way for "Lloyd's List" which has appeared uninterruptedly from that time to the present day. Brokers and underwriter engaged in legitimate business formed themselves into an Association in 1770. In 1773 removed their headquarters to the Royal Exchange, while still retaining the name 'Lloyd's." 

"Lloyd's" Register of Shipping, issued annually in July, is a prodigious work, containing particulars of every ship in the United Kingdom. This book contains the names, classes and detailed information concerning the ships classed by Lloyd's Register and the British Corporation Register.  Appendix to Lloyd's Register Book is issued in January.  This volume contains list of changes of ships names, company names, ships of 500 tons arranged nationality in tonnage divisions, deadweight, capacity, speed &c. of cargo and tankers. Statistical tables, list of ship builders with existing ships they have built, marine engine builders and boiler makers, dry and wet docks, telegraphic address and codes used by firms, Marine, Insurance Companies. While its "Captain Register" consist of a biographical dictionary of all the 24,000 certificated commanders of the British mercantile marine.

Lloyd's does not insure as a body, the business is done by individual members. These members split the risk. The names of these members are indorsed on the policy, together with the amount of risk undertaken. These signatures are written on the policy one under the other - hence the term "underwriter." In a policy for 100,000 there is a long column of sixty-nine names underwritten - the amount of risk taken by each individual varying from 2000 to 500. In case of all the ships had been wrecked, and cargoes become total losses, no single individual would have to pay more than the value underwritten by him. Probably some of these members again underwrote their shares with other members, until the risk had become very small and diffused.

In classifying and registering ships Lloyd's uses various marks or signs; thus ships in the first class are denoted by the mark A1, the first letter referring to the quality of the ship, and the first numeral to that of the equipment. wooden ships are classed A1 when they are sound and well fitted, and they are subject to obtain annual surveys; so only the best vessels are classed A1, and they only retain this so long as they are in a fit and efficient condition.

The figure 1 denotes that the vessel is well found with stores. Vessels subject to an annual survey and to half-time surveys are classed A1 in red
Vessels fit to carry perishable cargoes on short voyages are classed AE
Those fit only for the conveyance of cargo not subject to sea damage are classed E

iron ships are classed A1 with a prefix as 100A1, 90A1 and also *Aa1, Ab1 and Ac1, the asterisk before the letter signifies that the vessel was built of heavier plating than the rules require
a Maltese cross signifies that the vessel was built under special survey

Lloyd's also has abbreviations for wood of which ships are built such as
A ash
BB black birch
Bh beech
cedar
Cha chestnut
E elm and so forth

An antonym "a-at Lloyd's" is used by to denote that the vessel is not in good order., and is scarcely desired by the owner of the vessel.

Southern Cross, 24 August 1874 page 3
The United States barque William Gifford, having been purchased by Mr Bouman, of Lyttelton, has now hoisted the British flag. She has been re-measured by the Custom authorities, and will be registered at this port, Auckland. She sailed on the 20th under the command of Captain Bishop, for Newcastle, N.S.W. She has been re-classed in German Lloyds, and has been placed on the first letter for four years. A survey had been previously held by Captain Anderson, local surveyor for German Lloyds. It was considered necessary that the vessel should receive a fresh classification here after being purchased from a foreign firm. She was previously classed A1 for three years in American Lloyds. We understand that English Lloyds will not classify a vessel in the colony.
Port of Auckland

Men of Invention and Industry
Beginnings of English Ship Building
Practical introducer of the Screw Propeller
Inventor of the Marine Chronometer

Crew Culture by Neill Atkinson. Published by Te Papa Press. ISBN 0909010757.

A sailor was in the Royal Navy,
A seaman or mariner was in the merchant navy.

New Great Britain from London to Bluff 1863.
After tea I had a talk with one of the Sailors he told me he was a Norwegian belonging to Bergen had been 3 years in the English Trades and had gone the same route before. After engaging to work with this Ship he got no wages only 1/- per week but his passage free and he would claim his discharge on being 48 hours in any port of New Zealand. Their was Several others of the Sailors on the same footing. Some of them were going to the Diggins.

Otago Witness Wednesday 28 November 1900 page 54 c2
A full rigged-ship, 14 miles N.E. of the heads, was reported from the signal station and the tug was despatched to tender her. She proved to be the Greta, from Glasgow, consigned to Messrs Murray. Roberts and Co., of this city.  She is a fine looking iron ship of 1115 tons net register, built at Whitehaven in 1874, and owned by Messrs W. Lowden and Co., of Liverpool, and is classed 100 A1 at Lloyd's. She is on her first passage to the colonies. She brings 1900 tons of dead-weight cargo, of which the bulk, 1700 tons, is for Dunedin, and the remaining 200 tons for Wellington. On her arrival it was found that she had six foreigners in her ship's company, and these men were called aft to the cabin and the provisions of the Undesirable Immigrants Act explained to them by Captain Grey, the surveyor of customs, at whose desire they each copied papers in their native language very proficiently, and satisfying the requirements of the act, they were passed in on the ship's papers.

Timaru Herald Saturday 15 October 1881 pg2
The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company have finally decided to embark their outgoing passengers at Gravesend, and on and after the 4th October the departures from Southampton will altogether cease. The Rome, which sails on the day mentioned, will be the first steamer by the new route. Arrangements are made with the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway for the despatch of a special train from the Liverpool street station to Tilbury at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays. From thence a river steamer will be chartered to convey passengers to the Company's vessels. The homeward-bound steamers will call at Plymouth for the convenience of passengers wishing to leave the ship at that port.

Otago Witness June 25 1883 pg15
The loss of the Waitara. Collided with the Hurunui in the Channel. 20 lives lost. Both were heading for New Zealand. [A direct result of this loss was that passenger embarkation was shifted to Plymouth.]

'Food for genealogist - Fiche and Ships'