The Merchant Navy

Research guide C8: The Merchant Navy: Wrecks, losses and casualties

This guide outlines some ways in which you can trace information about merchant shipping wrecks, losses and casualties.

Introduction

There is no centralised source of information on shipwrecks and losses before 1741. Details for vessels lost before 1741 usually have to be researched locally, although some incidents can be traced through secondary sources (see below).

Lloyd's sources from 1741

The first surviving issue of Lloyd's List, dated 1741, gives a daily record of information on shipping casualties received in London (various indexes are available and are described on a separate information sheet, see Next Steps, below). As Lloyd's intelligence network grew, its information became increasingly comprehensive, not only for British vessels and ships wrecked in British waters, but for losses worldwide.

Lloyd's Register of Shipping, editions from 1775, are 'posted' with casualties, often showing the fate of a vessel, such as 'foundered', 'condemned', 'collision', and sometimes give dates.

Lloyd's Shipping Index, first published 1880, under various titles, gives shipping casualties up to 1920, when Lloyd's Weekly Casualty Reports began to be published.

Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, also known as Lloyd's Register Wreck Returns, cover ships of 100 tons and over, from 1900 to 1975, listed by categories such as 'burnt', 'collision', etc.

Lloyd's List and other records, including Lloyd's Missing Vessels Books, and losses during the First and Second World Wars, are described in full in A Guide to the Lloyd's Marine Collection and Related Marine Sources at Guildhall Library, by Declan Barriskill (London: Guildhall Library, 2nd edition 1994). 017.1(421 Guildhall:368Lloyd’s)

Parliamentary Papers from 1850

These papers, produced for the House of Commons, include:

The Admiralty Wreck Register, produced from 1850 to 1854, listing all wrecks around the British Isles involving loss of life.

The Board of Trade Casualty Returns succeeded the Admiralty Wreck Register from 1856, published under varying titles. After 1865, they also give details of wrecks in the waters of British possessions abroad and of losses of British vessels anywhere at sea. From 1873, even if there was no loss of life, details are given for British losses and wrecks in British waters. The Returns are still published, but from 1918 they detail statistics rather than individual losses.

The National Maritime Museum holds the Board of Trade Wreck Registers, 1855–1898 (also available on microfilm), and copies of the Board of Trade Casualty Returns for 1873–74/5, 1877/8–90/1, 1892/3–1901/2, 1904/5 and 1906/7–1912/13.

Reports on special types of casualty or loss were presented to Parliament at intervals, such as shipwrecks on the coast of South Africa, 1838-52, and coal-laden ships burnt or missing 1868–74. These can be found through general indexes to Parliamentary Papers.

The Guildhall Library, London, also has a leaflet detailing volume references for Admiralty Wreck Registers, Board of Trade Casualty Returns, and other useful sources.

Official Inquiries from 1856

From 1856 to 1876, reports of all official inquiries are published in Board of Trade Casualty Returns. Reports from 1876 to 1988 are held in the Maritime Collection of Southampton Central Library. It is impossible to trace a report unless the date of loss is known. From 1989 reports are published by the Marine Accident Information Branch (MAIB).

After 1856, inquiry reports were also published in newspapers, most notably Mitchell's Maritime Register, 1856–1884, the Shipping Gazette and Lloyd's List Weekly Summary thereafter. Annual indexes were prepared for these volumes, indexing law cases (useful for losses due to collision), general articles and, from 1865, official inquiries, but these are occasionally incomplete.

The National Maritime Museum copies are indexed for the following years: 1856, 1862–71, 1873–5, 1877, 1879, 1881–2, 1884–1901, 1903–5, 1908–9 and 1911–14. A digest of the judgments in shipping casualties delivered by the Wreck Commissioner 1876-1880, compiled by T F Squarey (London: Waterlow Bros. & Layton, 1882) covers some of the missing years and also includes a useful chapter on court of inquiry procedures. 656.61.085.3

If you know the name of the ship's master, you can consult Lloyd's Captains' Registers, 1869 to 1948, which recorded dates, numbers and findings of inquiries if they affected the master, such as 'no blame', 'certificate suspended', etc.

Details of inquiries are also frequently given in local newspapers. The more sensational can be found in national newspapers: indexes to The Times list shipping loss reports under 'Shipping News' and 'Wrecks', inquiry reports usually being under the latter.

The Mercantile Navy List from 1875

The Mercantile Navy List from 1875 to 1904 lists vessels removed from the British register while the current issue was going to press. Separate monthly returns, listing vessels added or removed, were also printed. The National Archives has bound volumes for 1875 to 1890, and Guildhall Library for 1890–1946. These are particularly useful for vessels not actually lost but hulked, laid up, or condemned as unseaworthy.

Secondary sources

There are many secondary sources of information about shipwrecks in the National Maritime Museum’s Library. They include:

Bateson, Charles, and Loney, Jack, Australian Shipwrecks 1622–1990, 5 vols, (various publishers, 1972–91). 656.61.085.3(94)

Berman, Bruce D, Encyclopaedia of American Shipwrecks (Boston: Mariners Press, 1972). 656.61.085.3(73)

Hocking, Charles, Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During the Age of Steam (London: Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1969). 016.656.61.085.3

Hooke, Norman, Modern Shipping Disasters 1963–1987 (London: Lloyd's of London Press, 1989). 016.656.61.085.3'1963/1987

Huntress, Keith, A Checklist of Narratives of Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea to 1860, with Summaries, Notes and Comments (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1979). This is useful because it covers the period before centralised records begin in 1741. 016.656.61.085.3

Ingram, C W N, and Wheatley, P O, New Zealand Shipwrecks 1795–1960 (Wellington: A H and A W Reed, 3rd edition 1961). 656.61.085.3(931)

Kennedy, R F, Shipwrecks On and Off the Coast of Southern Africa: A Catalogue and Index (Johannesburg: Johannesburg Public Library, 1955). 656.61.085.3(68)

Larn, Bridget and Richard, Shipwreck Index of the British Isles (London: Lloyd's Register, 1995–97). 656.61.085.3(42)

Books on losses during the First and Second World Wars are detailed on separate information sheets (see below).

Next steps

Other guides in the series which may be useful for researching the Merchant Navy are:

Research guide C1: The Merchant Navy: Tracing people: Crew lists, agreements and official logs
Research guide C2: The Merchant Navy: Tracing people: Master mariners, mates and engineers
Research guide C4: The Merchant Navy: Sources for enquiries
Research guide C5: The Merchant Navy: Sources for ship histories
Research guide C6: The Merchant Navy: The Mercantile Navy List
Research guide C9: The Merchant Navy: World War One
Research guide C10: The Merchant Navy: World War Two
Research guide C11: The Merchant Navy: The Handy Shipping Guide
Research guide C12: The Merchant Navy: Ship registration and Custom House records
Research guide C13: The Merchant Navy: Merchant seamen's records: Sources for information at the National Maritime Museum
Research guide E2: World War Two: The Dunkirk list
Research guide H1: Lloyd's: Lloyd's List: Brief history
Research guide H3: Lloyd's: Lloyd's Captains' register
Research guide H4: Lloyd's: Lloyd's List indexes
Research guide H5: Lloyd's: Registers held at the National Maritime Museum
Research guide H6: Lloyd's: Lloyd's Register survey reports

For general research help see:

Research guide A2: Principal records for maritime research at the National Maritime Museum
Research guide A3: Tracing family history from maritime records

Although care has been taken in preparing the information contained in this document, anyone using it shall be deemed to indemnify the National Maritime Museum from any and all injury or damage arising from such use

Last updated April 2006