WDYTYA Live 2011: Merchant Seamen Records

The first talk was by Janet Dempsy. She focused on what records are available at The National Archives (Kew) and pointed out that the records are for ALL personal serving on Merchant ships (women crew).

The prefix BT stands for Board of Trade. This is the Board responsible for collecting the rather patchy records. The records should be regarded as Employment Records, rather than the Service Records we would associate with the military. 

• 1835 to 1857 These records were systematically collected. 
• 1857 to 1918 No records remain. 
• 1918 to 1972 Records exist but they are no systematically collected in all instances and the records have been split into three groups;

1. 1918 to 1920 
2. 1920 to 1941 
3. 1941 to 1972

The National Archives website has a useful overview of the information available and it can be found here; 

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-subject/merchant-ships.htm?WT.lp=rg-5766

The main records are;

BT98 1747 to 1860. Agreements and Crew Lists, Series I. This provides Crew Lists for the Ships. However their survival is limited and will more often just provide the Master’s name.

BT100 1835 to 1999. Agreements and Crew Lists, Series III. This provides Crew Lists, with log books where they survive, for celebrated ships. 

BT112 and BT119 1835 to 1844. Register of Seamen, Series II. This record set is split into two parts. Part 1 (1835 February 1840) was arranged numerically and an index to this is found in BT119. Part 2 (December 1841 to 1844) was arranged (mostly) alphabetically by surname. Again this is indexed in BT119/28. 

There are NO RECORDS for the period between February 1840 and December 1841. 

BT113 and BT114 1845 to 1854. This is when the “Ticketing” System was in place. BT113 is arranged by Ticket Number.

BT113 may also hold records of Navy seamen as a ticket was required by ANYBODY who was working on a vessel.

BT114 provides an alphabetical index to the Register of Seamen’s Tickets, but it is not complete as some Ticket Numbers have no further information.

BT116 1853 to 1857. Register of Seamen, Series III. This collection starts in October and is indexed by Surname, Forename. If you do not know the Seamen’s Ticket Number it is possible to find it in this collection, and cross reference with BT113.

Using the Ticket Number you can find out what Ship was sailed on at either; www.findmypast.co.uk/specialist.jsp (Crew Lists 1861 - 1913) or at http://www.crewlist.org.uk/

BT120 1835 to 1836. Register of Seamen, Series I. An alphabetised list of Seamen.

BT165 1857 to 1972. Ship’s Official Logs. These often only survive if they have recorded items of note i.e. births, marriages and deaths at sea.

BT336 1893 to 1948. Registers of Changes of Master.

BT348 1921 to 1941. CR2 Cards. These are arranged by Discharge Number. CR2 Cards often show the Ship numbers the Seamen served on. To find the name of the Ship there is a list at www.crewlist.org.uk.

BT349 1921 to 1941. CR1 Cards. Alphabetically organised these records gave the “Discharge Number” that stayed with the Seamen through their careers. They were always being discharged from one ship to join another so they were not discharged from service. The Discharge Number can be used to find the Ship numbers in BT348

BT350 1918 to 1920. The records between 1913 and 1918 were destroyed. This set contains the CR-10 Cards of the Merchant Seamen. These are the record of their Identity Card being issued to them and due to the war all had portrait pictures attached as the Seamen were going on and off different ships.

BT351 1914 to 1925. Index of First World War Mercantile Marine Medals and the British War Medal. Alphabetised by surname. These medals did not need to be applied for. 

BT372 1913 to 2002. CRS 3 or Seamen’s Pouches. Arranged by Discharge Number within each series as follows:

Numbers (no prefix) = Various nationalities (mainly British)
A = India and Pakistan
BAR = Barbados
BG = British Guyana
B/HT = British - born in India
C/O = Bangladesh citizens
C or CAN = Canadian
E = Eire
F = Falkland Islands
G = Ghana
HK or Hong Kong = Hong Kong
I, Ind or India = Indian nationality
J or Jam = Jamaica
K = Tanganyika 

K/O = India or Pakistan
M or Malta = Malta
Mau = Mauritius
Nig = Nigeria
R = British seamen
S = Various (mainly British)
SA = South Africa
SE = Western Isles and Northern Ireland
SEY = Seychelles
SI = Singapore
SL = Sierra Leone
St L = St. Lucia
T & T = Trinidad and Tobago
Z or Zan = Zanzibar

BT382 1941 to 1972. This contains the CRS 10 Forms, or Docket Books. Everybody who went to sea during this timeframe will have had a Docket Book. The series is ordered alphabetically.

Abbreviations were used on these forms; some common abbreviations used were as follows:

MRNP; Merchant Navy Reserve Pool
AB; Able Bodied Seaman
EDH; Efficient Deck Hand
VG; Very Good
DR; Declined to Report
F; Foreign
H; Home

BT390 1939 to 1946. Merchant Seamen’s Service on Royal Navy Ships. This series includes Seamen’s Pouches of those serving on the Royal Navy vessels. It is alphabetised by Surname.

BT391 1944 to 1945. Merchant Seamen’s Pouches. This series detail the record of those Merchant Seamen who were engaged in the liberation of Europe (06 June 1944 to 08 May 1945). Alphabetised by Surname.

BT395 1946 to 2002. Database of World War II Medals issued to Merchant Seamen. This database can be searched via the National Archives website here. The search page also gives more information about the types of Medals, who was entitled to apply for the Medals and advise on how to interpret the results of the search.

T335 1939 to 1947. Second World Ward Merchant Navy Gallantry Awards. These are searchable via the National Archives here by Name of Individual or Name of the Ship. Details about why the award was given are also recorded. This may relate to actions dating from months or years earlier.

Podcast by Janet regarding Merchant Seamen Operational Records can be heard here

So Where Next?

I'm going to go back to Documents Online and see again if I can find any record of Arthur PARRY who was born in 1898 in Mold. According to family sources he served in the Merchant Navy during the war; I'm assuming that they mean the Second World War. There are many sources I didn't realise existed.

Who Do You Think You Are Live 2011

Back in January I told you all that I had booked my tickets for WDYTYA2011 and was very excited about it. Well yesterday was The Day, and what a day it was.

I got there, with my Queue Jump ticket for 9:45am, and waited anxiously to get in and have a look around all that was on offer. The extra money for the Queue Jump was definitely worth it and I'll be doing the same again next year. This year they were charging £2 for Show Guides (they were free last year), so I didn't bother getting one deciding instead that I'd wander around to get my bearings and find out where the Workshops were set up.


Ancestry.co.uk had their Members Area set up again this year, giving goody bags to members; a re-usable cloth bag containing some promotional material, 20% discount off next years subscription and a magnifying glass with a light (which I got silly excited over again). This year instead of doing free tea and coffee they were providing talks and demonstrating their new iphone / ipad app. Personally I'm waiting for the andriod version as I hate apple products.

Not the members area, just their GIANT stand

I didn't leave until gone 5pm and I was dead on my feet, with a load of purchases and a sore neck from carrying it all around. It was however worth it. I got myself subscriptions (plus free gifts) to a couple of magazines; at least one of them I will not be extending past the £3 for 3 issues or £5 for 5 issues but for £8 I get 8 issues and a better idea of what I want out the mags as I'm easily distracted / bored / disappointed with the quality and subject of the various articles. I also joined the Guild of One Name Studies as I'm debating whether or not to register STEERS.


The most useful thing, for me at least, was the talks. I attended three talks and found them all to be extremely informative and very well presented so I must pause to say Thank You to the Society of Genealogists for organising them all so well.


Over the next couple of days / weeks I'll be blogging my notes from these talks and making comment on where its going to take me and what my next steps will be.

Easily Excited?

I got my ticket yesterday for Who Do You Think You Are 2011 (WDYTYA2011) and I’ve booked myself into three workshops and a slot with “Ask the Experts”...now I have to figure out what to ask them.

I attended last year, on the Sunday and had a brilliant time but I didn’t attend any of the workshops and I decided that next year I would do it properly! So this year I am. I’m going on the Friday (day off work yey!)

The workshops I’ve booked myself onto are:

TNA- Merchant Seamen sea service records with Janet Dempsey

I know that one of my PARRY ancestors was a Merchant Seaman and I haven’t the foggist where to start to look for information about his career. I’ve read the leaflets and been to some of the websites but I’m still confused about what I can and can’t access, what was actually recorded and what, if anything I can find out from these records.

Stuck in London? Resources at the Library of the Society of Genealogists and Elsewhere with Elsie Churchill

I work in London. I live in Kent. Yes I’m a commuter and it took me a year, yes a WHOLE YEAR to realise that the Hyde Park LDS Centre is on my way home from work. The bus I get has a stop at Exhibition Road. Now I know it’s there I try to get there as often as I can.

I know that the SOG is based in London, I have been on their website and have a fuzzy idea of where abouts they are but other than this I don’t know what resources they have or how they would be of use to me. So I’m going to this workshop to find out.

Manx ancestry – genealogical research in the Isle of Man with Colin Chapman

I’m really hoping that by attending this workshop I’ll get some pointers about where I go next with my George Rice Price OWENS (PARRY). He’s the sod that started the PARRY line then disappeared without a trace. He’s the sod that I wish I could hijack the TARDIS for. Well him and his son who left his pregnant wife in the Poor House.  This workshop is for beginners so I should get lots of helpful tips and hints.

There’s quite a large gap between my booked “Ask the Expert” session and the final workshop so I may try to attend a few of the free workshops but I’ll more likely wander around the stall and spend my paycheck (the 25^th is my pay day; this probably isn’t a good thing!). At some point I’ll have to eat too.

So that’s one of the things I got excited about this week. 

The other is to do with my partner’s ancestry. The STEERS, not STEER or STEARS but STEERS. He very kindly gave me permission to run off and investigate his ancestry, I’m not sure if he was interested or just wanted some peace and quiet. Either way I’m doing it now. The family, at first glance at least on the PATERNAL side, appears to be firmly rooted in London, mainly (and rather oddly) in the East End; Hackney, Stepney and in the West; Islington mainly. However their origins appear to be in HULL. Unfortunately I can’t find any Birth or Baptism information on the gent from HULL, who lived in Islington and worked making “fancy mats” and as a carriage cleaner for GNR. It’s another infuriating brick wall. I also found a relation who was born in Rock Ferry, Cheshire; this makes him much happier because he’s a Liverpool fan and now uses that for legitimacy issues down the pub!

I’ll write more about the STEERS as I’ve had some happy discoveries thanks to ancestry’s digitalisation of the London Metropolitan Archives’ Parish Registers. 

New Year, New Goals

I've been inspired by some of the bloggers who I follow to record what my goals for 2011 are, this way I might actually achieve some of them!! So here we go:

• Blog at least once a week.
• Take part in more of geneabloggers daily prompts.
• Take part in at least 12 "52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy" Challenge.

Ideally the blog will be different to the daily prompt or the 52 weeks challenge but realistically I know this will be difficult to maintain.

• Complete my free genealogy course - Introduction to Genealogy

I only have one module left before the exam so this should be achievable.

• Keep up to date with the blogs I follow that do not have RSS feeds

I find the ability to RSS blogs brilliant, it helps me keep on top of them and allows me to read them at work (where blog sites are normally blocked).

• Make sure that my DAVIES, PARRY, WRIGHT, DARLINGTON, ELLIS and ROBERTS pedigree's are fully sourced

This is going to be the most time-consuming aspect, however it is also the most important. I started this about a year and a half ago, its taking a lot longer than I anticipated because I made mistakes when I started out. Its annoying but at the same time its the reason I went back to the beginning.

• To get to the LDS Centre at Hyde Park on a more regular basis and continue to do look-ups.

I really enjoy going to the LDS and being able to give back to those that have helped me with look-ups in the past. Feel free to request look-ups via the comments section or head over to www.rootschat.com where you can PM me, my handle is LazyLover. You can also get a lot of help from the other members if you're looking for UK ancestors.

• Organise my hard copy records and back them up digitally where possible.
• Ensure my data is backed up at least once a month.

For this I use a programme called BackUp4All Lite. It came free with Your Family Tree Magazine. Its a nice little programme but a little chunky. I will be looking for something a bit more user friendly.

• Keep in touch with newly discovered and discovered cousins and, where possible, meet up with them to share information.
• Put more ancestors on Lost Cousins.com

This is a brilliant website, if you get chance head over there. You never know who you may find.

• Get to the Flintshire, Denbighshire and Cheshire Record Offices.

This is difficult for me to do as I don't come back up North all that often and when I do I have to make sure I spend time with my living relatives! However I did make it to Flintshire twice last year. Before I attempt Denbighshire and Cheshire I have to get my lists in order so I know what I'm looking for!

• Attend Who Do You Think You Are Live 2011

I already have the Friday booked off work, I just need to purchase my ticket. This year I'd like to go to some of the talks, but I'll have to have a look at the schedule. 

and a non-genealogical one, but an important one for me:

• Not to get frustrated with things that I cannot control or change.

From Snow to Genealogy

Due to adverse weather conditions your train to work isn't going to turn up so phone the boss and let her know. This is what my morning started like today, at 7am. After waiting for about 45 minutes on the platform I listened to that little voice in my head and headed home. Hurrah thought I, I can spend the day processing my record office finds, putting the details into my various databases and my online and offline trees.... but its now lunchtime and I'm only just getting started.

I've contacted someone on Ancestry who was looking for information on the COLECLOUGH family, into which my 3x Great Grandmother married, as I now have details about their gravestone, marriage, burials and baptisms of their children which previously I did not have. Its all about the sharing.

Next I'm going to go through my list of memorial inscriptions from St. Deniol's, Hawarden that relate to my family and add the details to my records. I don't know what I'd do without the internet / computers...oh yes I do I'd get horribly confused and loose every scrap of paper despite my best efforts, demand a room for me and me only and then become a hermit! Again, thank the lord for the laptop; allowing me to sit at the table with a cuppa and watch the boys and the better half playing on his xbox!

I would like to get onto actually putting stuff online today, but I don't know how successful that's going to be. I also need to order a marriage certificate for George WRIGHT and Elizabeth SHONE who married in a civil ceremony in 1878 so I couldn't view the record for free in the parish registers. George & Elizabeth are my maternal 3x Great Grandparents and I want to make sure that I have the correct George with his family in the Census returns before I chase them backwards.

I've also just booked a day off work so I can go to Who Do You Think You Are Live 2011 (WDYTYA2011) in February. They have a special offer on at the moment where you can buy two tickets for £20 (saving £24) but I'll be going on my own *sad face* on the Friday.

If I get chance later I'll post an update on my progress today, failing that it will be another weekend post. Damned work gets in the way!