Registry of Shipping and Seamen: crew agreements

Crew agreements for ships registered in Neath; crew agreements for ships registered in Port Talbot; crew agreements for ships registered in Swansea.

The crew agreements held by the Archive Service cover the period 1863-1914 and fall into two main types, depending on whether the vessel was engaged in the home or foreign trade. One type was filed by the master of foreign-going vessels on returning to port. The other type of returns were made by the masters of vessels engaged in inland coastal trade and were filed every six months, giving the voyages and crew for the preceding half-year.

Arranged into subfonds by port of registry, then into series by year of return, then in numerical order by official number.

No restrictions

A hard copy catalogue is available at West Glamorgan Archives.

Usual copyright regulations apply.

Accruals are not expected.

The Archive Service only holds crew agreements for ships registered in Swansea and Port Talbot. Crew agreements from the period 1747-1860 are held at the National Archives in London, while those for the years 1861, 1862, 1865, 1885, 1895 and 1905 are held at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. A randomly-selected sample of each year is also held at the National Archives in Kew. Crew agreements for ships registered in many other parts of the UK, including all records for the period 1914-1938 and 1951-1976, are held at the Maritime History Archive, St John's Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada. See www.mun.ca/mha for information on their collections and research fees.