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Lloyd's of London Captains' Registers

Research Guide
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1. About this guide

This guide explains how to find a mariner who was active between 1869 and 1947 in the Lloyd's Captains' Registers.

From 1869, Lloyd's of London used information supplied by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman to create registers recording the voyages of holders of foreign-trade masters’ certificates. These registers were used by Lloyd’s members in assessing marine insurance risks.

Lloyd's Captains' Registers can be viewed at The London Archives. The rest of the Lloyd's Marine Collection is held at Guildhall Library.

2. Who appears in the Lloyd's Captains Registers?

You will only find a mariner in the Lloyd's Captains' Registers if they were active between 1869 and 1947 and held a foreign trade master's certificate of service or competency.

These certificates were issued by the Board of Trade from 1850 and are available to view on Ancestry.co.uk. See UK and Ireland, Masters and Mates Certificates, 1850-1927.

3. Registers

Lloyd's arranged the information in alphabetical sequence of masters' names.

The Lloyd's Captains' Registers are divided into three series:

There are also two supplementary card indexes:

4. Indexes

Captains' Registers, 1869-1911 have been indexed by volunteers. You can view the index by going to more search options in our catalogue and selecting indexes. Please contact the team for Letters H, R, S and T.

5. Abbreviations and codes

The registers include a lot of abbreviations and codes. Here are the most common:

Letter prefixes to master's certificate numbers

  • C - certificate of competency
  • S - certificate of service
  • CHT - certificate of competency for home trade passenger ships
  • SHT - certificate of service for home trade ships (1st, 2nd, or 3rd class refers to the voluntary examination passed between the years 1845 and 1850)
  • Col, Can etc - certificate was obtained abroad (ie Colonial, Canada, etc.)

Special qualifications

  • Ex - Extra Master (someone who has passed the Extra Master's examination and is qualified in higher navigation)
  • F & A - master for fore-and-aft rigged vessels only
  • Stm - qualified in the usages of the steam engine
  • Crown - before name denotes officer in Royal Naval Reserve

Destinations

  • A - West coast of Africa and adjacent islands
  • Aust - Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand
  • B - Baltic, Norway, White Sea, Gulf of Finland and Cattegat
  • C - China, Japan and oriental archipelago
  • Cp - Cape colonies, Ascension, St. Helena, Natal, Algoa Bay
  • Ct - Coasting trade, including Holland, Belgium, France from River Elbe to Brest
  • EI - East Indies, Burma, Mauritius, Red Sea
  • FPS - France (South of Brest), Portugal, Spain (outside Straits of Gibraltar) Azores
  • M - Mediterranean, Black Sea, Sea of Azoff, Adriatic
  • NA - British North America, Greenland, Iceland
  • NP - North Pacific and West coast of North America
  • NS - West coast of Denmark
  • SA - Brazils, River Plate
  • SP - South Pacific and West coast of South America
  • US - United States (East coast and Gulf ports)
  • WI - West Indies and Gulf of Mexico
  • For - Foreign (not further identified)

Casualties

Casualties are recorded in blue ink and include a cross-reference to the daily shipping newspaper Lloyd's List. This newspaper is available to view at Guildhall Library.

'Inq' or 'Inquiry' followed by a serial number means there was a Board of Trade inquiry into the incident.

A serial number composed of several digits enclosed within an oval refer to the Lloyd's Confidential Reports. Only reports with serial numbers 500-699 have survived and can be viewed at Guildhall Library in MS 36855.

Rank and movement

1851-1869 (pasted in entries):
Ship 's name in ordinary type - engagement as captain
Ship 's name in italics - engagement as mate
1869-1893:
Black ink - engagements
Red ink - discharges
Ship 's name not underlined - engagements as captain
Ship 's name underlined - engagements as mate
1894-1911:
Black ink - engagements as captain
Red ink - engagements as mate (engagements as 2nd/3rd mates in red ink with ship's name underlined)

1912-1947 (CLC/B/148/B/026/MS18570/001-012 only):
Red ink - engagements as mate (engagements as 2nd or 3rd mate have ship's name underlined)

6. Lloyd's Marine Collection at Guildhall Library

The main Lloyd's Marine Collection is held at Guildhall Library. Please see their brief guide to Merchant Navy material for further information.