CREW LISTS, AGREEMENTS, AND OFFICIAL LOGS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE 1863-1913.

The article focuses on crew lists, agreements and official logs of the British empire from 1863 to 1913. As a result of negotiations during the last five years, the Memorial University has now acquired a collection of some 22, 500 boxes of shipping records which were previously stored at Hayes, Middlesex, England, under the custody of the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen. These records are of two types, the Crew Lists and Agreements submitted by the masters of all merchant ships registered under the British Flag, and the Official Log Books of British Vessels. The Crew Lists, which form by far the greatest part of the collection, are basically the descendants of the ancient Muster Rolles submitted after 1730 by merchant captains. However, as a result of various pieces of legislation passed between 1835 and 1854, the method of recording and maintaining the agreements made between the captain and the crew was modified and improved, above all by the establishment of a registrar to supervise and have custody of the agreements once they had been signed. In 1854 the Merchant Shipping Act greatly improved the system of registering merchant vessels by allotting a distinct official number for every British merchant ship.