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Archiver > Mariners > 1999-05 > 0928066866


From: "Debbie Beavis" <>
Subject: [Mariners-L] Tracing British Fishermen
Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 13:21:06 +0100


TRACING FISHERMEN IN BRITISH RECORDS

Note that up until the Merchant Shipping (Fishing Boats) Act of 1883,
the records for general merchant seamen include records of fishermen.
You will normally find the Master/Captain of a fishing vessel referred
to as Skipper. The Mate may be referred to as Second Hand.

Skippers & Mates - Certificates of Competency and Service

BT129 - Registers of Certificates of Competency, Skippers & Mates of
Fishing Boats
BT130 - Registers of Certificates of Service, Skippers & Mates of
Fishing Boats

These registers are indexed by BT138 - Indexes to Registers of
Certificates of Competency and Service: Skippers & Mates of Fishing
Boats 1880-1917. The indexes give name, place and year of birth, and
certificate number. Certificates beginning with a 0 (zero) indicate
Certificates of Service. All others are Certificates of Competency.

Certificates of Competency give relatively brief information, largely
repeating the information shown in the Indexes. The Certificates of
Service include date when the Certificate was granted, and a note of
voyages to date as found in registers of ordinary seamen's service which
has been the subject of an earlier posting.

There is an overlapping source of information in BT352 recently prepared
for release at the Public Record Office in Kew, England.
http://www.pro.gov.uk

BT352 - Index to Certificates of Competency, Masters, Mates, Engineers
and Fishing Officers, Home & Foreign Trade 1910-1930

Records of crew of fishing vessels may often be located in BT348, 349
and 350, the Fourth Register of Seamen covering dates 1913-1941.

Records of Apprentices from 1824-1953 are held with the regular Merchant
Navy Apprentice records in BT150. Indentures for most years have been
destroyed. However, those for every fifth year have been filed as
follows:

BT152 - Apprentice Indentures, Fishing

AGREEMENTS & CREW LISTS

Agreements and Crew Lists for fishing vessels were filed as follows:

Before 1884, Agreements and Crew Lists are filed with the main series:

BT98 - Agreements and Crew Lists Series l: 1835-1860
BT99 - Agreements and Crew Lists Series ll: 1861-1938 and 1951-1989

>From 1884-1929 10 percent of Fishing Agreements and Crew Lists are held
at the PRO in:

BT144 - Agreements and Crew Lists: Series lV (Fishing Agreements)

Please see the Guide to Agreements & Crew Lists for a full explanation
of the various locations for these records.

RETURNS OF FISHING VESSELS

Fishing vessels were given official numbers, but from 1894 (following
the Merchant Shipping Act 1894) fishing vessels were required to be
lettered and numbered according to their port of registry. Each port had
a letter (or letters) assigned to it along with the fishing register
number allotted to the vessel. The letters used by each port - a full
list may be obtained via the PRO's website - usually were related to the
port name... Grimsby = GY; Folkestone = FE, Ramsgate = R (originally RE)
Certificate details and the vessel's letter and fishing number were
entered into registers by the Customs Officers at each port. Returns
were sent to the RGSS annually, but the original registers are all being
transferred to relevant local County Record Offices, a process now
almost complete.

The RGSS entered details into Statistical Registers of Fishing Vessels,
now held at the PRO in BT145. The first series covers the dates from
1893-1898, but thenceforth each form includes statistics for a five year
period. These registers include the Fishing register number and letter;
name, date of registration and reference, official number, tonnage etc
along with a description of the kind of fishing in which the vessel was
normally employed.... trawling, dredging, shrimping, cockling,
musseling.

There was an indication of the number of crew normally employed but
there is NO note of the names of any crew nor officer. These registers
do however make it a simple matter to compile a list of all fishing
vessels working out of a port at any particular time, and a systematic
search may then be made of all crew agreements in order to compile
records of a fisherman's service.

This is a brief overview of the records available for tracing British
fishermen and records of fishing vessels. Other records may be held in
local maritime museums and record offices and it is always worth while
contacting the nearest archive to the port to enquire about any locally
held records. Full information regarding records held at the PRO may be
obtained from the on-line leaflets at the Public Record Office's website
as above.

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