What are Merchant Seaman Records?
Each voyage by a seaman in the Mercantile Marine, often called the Merchant Navy, will have created a record of their presence onboard a vessel in the form of a ‘crewlist’. There could also be a ‘Seaman’s Pouch’ containing a list of the ships they sailed on and possibly ID cards.
Why would I need one?
To build a timeline of a merchant seaman’s working history one must find the vessels they served on and view the crewlists to verify their presence and what they were employed as.
What’s involved?
If I find a complete list of vessels within the Seaman’s Pouch, which is held at The National Archives, then it’s a process of visiting The National Archives or the National Maritime Museum to view the crewlists. However many crewlists are held at the Maritime History Archive in Canada and so a request must be made to them to supply electronic copies.
Without a full list one needs to indentify the final vessel that the seaman sailed on and then work backwards in time as the crewlist will show the name of the seaman’s previous vessel. A voyage may have begun and ended in the same port and the front page of the crewlist will show this but, luckily for us, within are all the ‘consulate stamps’ detailing the ports that the vessel visited.
A crewlist will also give a seaman’s address, which may be information that was not previously know to the descendants. There’s also other interesting information including the amount he was paid for the journey.
What do I get?
Once the timeline of the seaman’s history is complete I will create a report which will include the details found in the crewlist for each voyage such as where the vessel journeyed to and whether the seaman in question was onboard for the whole duration of the trip. Where possible I will include extra information such as photographs of the ships.
You will also receive downloadable copies of all the original documents that were examined.
What will it cost?
Producing a merchant seaman’s history can be quite time consuming and this time is multiplied each time we have to revisit an archive as we discover earlier voyages. In addition if I have to commission the Maritime History Archive this will attract a charge. Click here for an example mercantile marine commission that also shows the cost.