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Some of you may know I have been searching merchant marine and crew lists information for a relative. No I’ve not solved the riddle however I have come across a small piece of information which may assist someone else who is searching the same subject.
There is a web site called CLIP (Crew List Index Project) and in answer to my query I received the following reply.
“……………………. The crew lists for the Orontes will give date of birth and place of birth, but not in more detail than you have. They may possibly show an address, depending on the form that was used, but this could well be just a temporary address, such as a boarding house near the docks. The crew list would also show any previous vessels on which he sailed, but it may well be that those were the only two voyages he made.
The crew lists for Orontes for 1915 are at the National Maritime Museum (NMM) in Greenwich. For years ending in 5, the only other possible place they could be is at The National Archives (TNA) but they're not there according to TNA's catalogue so must be at Greenwich if they have survived. The lists have not been indexed, but TNA and NMM have a project, which we are assisting with transcription facilities, which will transcribe the lists for 1915 (It's the only one of the WWI years for which there are complete crew lists held in the UK, and the centenary of WW1 is approaching). When the index is available, it will confirm that the Orontes lists are there and that he is on them. However, it will be some years yet before these indexes are available.
In any case, what you probably want is a photocopy or image of the lists. For that you will need to contact the Caird Library at NMM. Their URL is:
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers/library/ “
They operate on donations and help with transcriptions.
“CLIP is a not-for-profit private project.
We do not make any charge for responding to queries, but donations to support the project are most welcome.
Please see our web site at www.crewlist.org.uk/donation.html
Alternatively, how about helping with transcription - we need all the help we can get!
See our site at www.crewlist.org.uk/whatnext.html “
I then emailed them back and asked permission to let others know of their Project. This was the response.
“By all means pass on the address of our web site, but please ask people to note that we don't do individual research (except for eye-watering fees) and that any data we have is either on our site or available on findmypast.com. We like to think that the web site itself has everything we know, set out as clearly as we can. We're happy to help when, as with your query, we can add some information to what's on our site.
Best wishes Pete”
So if you would like to know all about researching merchant navy personnel and crew lists and how the information has been stored check out the CLIP site.
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Thank you for this information Aunty.
Although I don't have any Merchant Navy in my lines, at the moment, you never know when this will come in useful.
Thanks again
Chris
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Some more info on Crew Lists
Crew Lists from 1835 to 1856 are at Kew, filed by the initial letter of the ships name and by Port of Registration by year. Hence BT 98/2436 is a large cardboard box of ships crew lists starting with an S from Caernarvon for 1851.
From 1857 to 1860 they are still at Kew but the ships now have Official Numbers. These can be searched on-line via the Catalogue.
From 1861 they can be at the MHA at Newfoundland, which is the best place to start looking as they hold the most records. The Official Number of the ship is required to search their records on-line. The MHA carry out research, e.g. tracing a seaman back through many voyages. Their fees are $40 Canadian an hour plus a little extra for scanning the records and emailing the results. They are very efficient and very helpful.
If they are not at the MHA then they may be at Kew. Search the Catalogue with the Official Number to find whether they are there. It is also possible to get digital copies of the records at a cost, about £10, but they are not completed as well as they are by the Canadians. Kew is also easier to get to than Newfoundland.
The records may be at Greenwich, held by the Maritime Museum. Particularly for years ending in 5, e.g. 1915, 1925 etc. The service from Greenwich is poor. You can get copies but are photocopies on A3 paper or CD. These are worth giving a miss unless essential to get a particular record.
Lastly they may be at local record offices. These appear to be the ones covered by the CLIP project and are now available from FindmyPast. I expect that they are also viewable at the record offices themselves.
David
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Hi
I have been a transcriber for CLIP (Crew List Index Project) for over 2 years and it is a very interesting and helpful project.
Pete and Jan who run the site are a very nice and helpful couple.
The information is a great help in people tracing their sea faring relatives.
Lynn
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