Records of Merchant Seamen

What Will I Find

Many of the records for Merchant Seaman (Mariners) are held at the National Archives at Kew. Some of the records have been filmed by the LDS and films can be ordered to view at the many LDS centres around the world. You can search their online catalogue.

Organised service records do not commence until 1835 when The Merchant Shipping Act of that year required masters of all ships to file Agreements and Crew Lists with the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen.

Trinity Pilots operated the lighthouses around Britain and were licensed by the Corporation of Trinity House. When a Pilot applied to be licensed, he had to have British nationality, have several years' experience as a watch-keeping officer of a ship, hold a foreign-going Master Mariner's certificate (or Naval certificate of service) and be under 35.

Records are held at The Guildhall Library, although these suffered from fire in 1666 and 1714 and from bombing in 1940; although the court minutes survive from 1660, many other series of records are only present from the 19th century. Staff at the Guildhall Library are unable to undertake searches.

The Functions Of Trinity House, as well as surviving records and how to access them, can be found at Trintiy House

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