Web sites relating to maritime records

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These are links to selected sites which may be helpful. The links refer to the most appropriate page, not necessarily the home page for the site.

The  icon against some of the entries links to the site's search page for vessel details. We provide customized search facilities for most web sites on our ship search pages which you may find more convenient.

These links are constantly changing and we do our best to keep up. Please help us to maintain the site by letting us know of broken or incorrect links, or of any other sites which would be useful to researchers. Please use the contact link on the menu bar above.

General

Comprehensive and clear list of links to maritime history resources.
Details of the Southern Whale Fishery, 1775 to 1859, with databases of voyages and crew.
Details of the training ships which prepared boys for the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy.
Merchant shipping during World War 2, including details of convoys. Includes other useful information on earlier vessels.
The major links site for genealogists. Recently refurbished with a good selection of maritime links.
A wonderful collection of images and ephemera, many relating to shipping and immigration.
The Heritage and Education Centre pages provide an access point to the extensive archives of Lloyd's Register.
The site for the Mariners mailing list with a huge amount of useful information.To join the Mariners mailing list, send a message to: Mariners-L-request@rootsweb.com with the ONE word SUBSCRIBE.
Link to search page at Maritime Timetable Images web site.
Images of timetables for shipping companies dating back to the early 1900s.
Link to search page at Miramar web site.
Subscription site with details of larger steam and motor vessels world-wide.
Link to search page at Naval-History.net  web site.
Site with much detail on naval vessels which also includes some details of British merchant vessels lost in WW1.
Hosts many forums relating to shipping and seafarers.
Includes details of Merchant Navy memorials.
Masses of information, concentrating on passenger vessels and passenger lists. The Ships List appears not to be online - this is a link to captures on the Wayback Machine. Be patient while it loads
Link to search page at The Wreck Site web site.
Claims to be the world's largest online wreck database.
Link to search page at uboat.net web site.
Comprehensive details of WW2 U-boats, but also details of all Allied ships attacked.
Documents the whaling industry, both American and British.
Link to search page at WorldCat web site.
WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 10,000 libraries which participate in the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) global cooperative.

Archives

Link to search page at Maritime History Archive web site.
The Maritime History Archive collects and preserves documents relating to maritime history and holds 70% of the crew lists for British ports.
Link to search page at The National Archives web site.
The National Archives is home to millions of documents, files and images including extensive maritime records.

National

Link to search page at Archives Wales web site.
Archives Wales's online catalogue provides searchable information about more than 7,000 collections of historical records in the holdings of 21 archives in Wales.
These pages about World War I are just part of the People's Collection Wales site, which provides a wonderful forum for recording and presenting Welsh heritage.
Information about the gateway to America for countless migrants, including databases of personal names and the immigrant ships.
Link to search page at Historic Environment Scotland web site.
The Historic Environment Scotland site includes the Canmore database which includes wrecks in Scottish waters.
Link to search page at Irish Mariners web site.
An index of nearly 25,000 Irish born merchant seamen drawn from the CR10 seamens record cards at Southampton Records Office.
Link to search page at Irish Shipwrecks web site.
Irish Shipwrecks provides maritime researchers and wreck divers with information on shipwrecks in Irish Coastal Waters, with a searchable database of wrecks.
Link to search page at Library and Archives Canada web site.
Databases include immigration vessels and their passengers lists.
Link to search page at Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters web site.
Searchable database of records of ships, mariners and passengers arriving in New South Wales.
Access point for the French maritime museums and archives.
Link to search page at National Archives of Australia web site.
Australian government records, including shipping registers for Austalian ports and passenger arrivals.
Link to search page at National Archives of Ireland web site.
Data from crew lists held at the National Archives of Ireland.
Link to search page at PastScape web site.
Historic England's web site presents information from the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) for 420,000 sites, including wrecks in the waters around England.
Link to search page at RCAHMW web site.
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales site includes the Coflein database which includes wrecks in the waters around Wales.
Link to search page at Scottish Archive Network web site.
The project aims to provide a single electronic catalogue to the holdings of more than 50 Scottish archives.
Norwegian shipping.
The maritime history of the Netherlands.
Link to search page at The Exeter Local Maritime Archives Project (ELMAP) web site.
ELMAP has created a searchable online database of references to records with maritime and naval significance that are held in local record offices and other archives across England and Wales.
Norwegian shipping and seafarers, WW2
Link to search page at Welsh Mariners web site.
Dr Reg Davies' site has an index of 23,000 Welsh Master Mariners.

Museums

Link to search page at ANMM, Vaughan Evans Digital Library web site.
The site includes details of digital resources including copies of MNL and the Register of Australian and New Zealand Shipping.
Records of the Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital from 1826 to 1930 which are available via Ancestry.
Link to search page at Mystic Seaport web site.
The premier American maritime museum. The site includes several databases which are useful for researchers into British shipping.
Link to search page at National Maritime Museum web site.
NMM is the major British maritime museum so this site is a mine of information, including useful research guides.
Link to search page at Passengers in History web site.
The South Australian Maritime Museum's superb site with details of passengers, ships and ships logs.

Local archives

Link to search page at Dumfries and Galloway Shipping Registers web site.
A searchable database of the Shipping Registers of Dumfries (1824 to 1904), Kirkcudbright (1824 to 1841), Stranraer (1824 to 1908) and Wigtown (1836 to 1920).
Link to search page at Hull History Centre web site.
Catalogue includes Hull fishing vessels and their crews, which can be searched by ship's name or seafarer's name.
Link to search page at Medway Council City Ark web site.
Online catalogue for Medway Council Archives Service with details of their holdings of crew lists and shipping registers, including images of shipping registers for Rochester.
Link to search page at North East Lincolnshire Archives web site.
Online catalogue includes Grimsby crew lists. When it is working, it is searchable by personal name and vessel name.
Link to search page at State Records Authority of New South Wales web site.
Shipping records include index of arrivals at Sydney 1837 - 1925.
Online catalogue includes a partial (1863 to 1880) catalogue of their holdings of crew lists, searchable by personal name and vessel name.

Local

Glamorgan shipping. It also has much useful maritime information, and an extended list of links.
Details of Grimsby trawlers.
Details the martime history of Dundee, including a section on whaling.
Link to search page at Fleetwood Online Archive of Trawlers (FLOAT) web site.
Images, details and stories relating to trawlers from Fleetwood, Grimsby, Hull and many other European ports.
A downloadable account of the history of Fraserburgh written in 1913, with details of the port and shipping.
Details of Hartlepool ships, shipbuilding and shipwrecks. Includes image of shipping register entries, 1845-1855.
Part of Raymond Forward's site with much maritime information, including lists of Cornish shipping registers, fishing registers and crew lists.
Porthleven fishing and fishing boats.
Part of the Lowestoft History site provides details of the Lowestoft fishing industry and ships.
Link to search page at Milford Trawlers web site.
Details and images of the trawlers and men who sailed from Milford.
Includes lots of details and photos of shipping and seafarers relating to Llyn, North Wales.
Link to search page at Shipping of Goole web site.
Records of ships owned or built in Goole.
Link to search page at Swansea Mariners web site.
Bryan Richards' site has 108,000 entries from Swansea crew lists and records of Swansea vessels.
Link to search page at Thames Tugs web site.
Thames tugs from 1833 to 2010.
Run by the Fleetwood Maritime Heritage Trust, providing details of Fleetwood trawlers.
Link to search page at The Sunderland Site web site.
Sunderland shipping and shipbuilders.

Shipping companies

Records and images of shipping companies which are part of the British and Commonwealth Shipping Company
GG Archives list of shipping lines. Their details are unusual in showing the source of their information.
Link to search page at The London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) Encyclopedia web site.
Includes details of ships operated by the various north-eastern railway companies.
The Ships List page listing shipping companies, with links to fleet lists. Captured by the Wayback Machine - be patient while it loads.
Wikipedia's list provides links to further details for many of the companies

Ship building

Link to search page at Aberdeen Built Ships web site.
Records of 3,000 ships built in Aberdeen since 1811 and related objects held at Aberdeen Maritime Museum.
Details of shipbuilding at Berwick-on-Tweed from 1751 to 1979.
Details of ship builders in Britain and Ireland
Details of shipbuilding in Brixham.
Shipbuilding at Birkenhead
Grace's Guide is a major resource for the history of industry and manufacturing in Britain
The history of Harland & Wolff shipyard, with a list of ships.
Part of Chris Michael's suite of pages relating to shipping in Merseyside, North Wales and Lancashire
Shipping records held at National Records of Scotland including Upper Clyde Shipbuilders
Link to search page at Scottish Built Ships web site.
Details of Scottish built ships.
Details and list of ships built and registered in Shoreham from mediaeval times to the 20th century.
Ships built at Sunderland and on the River Wear
Link to search page at Tees Built Ships  web site.
Details of ships built on the River Tees, Hartlepool and Whitby.
A history of Tyne shipbuilders and the ships that they built.
A history of Tyne tugs, their builders and owners.

Newspapers

Subscription site providing access to British Newspapers
Link to search page at British Newspapers via Findmypast (£) web site.
British and Irish newspapers
Link to search page at Cambrian Index web site.
Index of the Cambrian, South Wales Daily Post and the Western Mail from which a Ships and Shipping classification can be selected.
Canadian newspapers are available on a subscription site
Subscription site providing access to Irish newspapers
Link to search page at PapersPast web site.
Over a million digitised images of New Zealand newspapers courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand including shipping news.
Details of the National Library of Scotland's newspapers collection, some of which have been digitised
Link to search page at Trove - Australian newspapers web site.
Searchable images of Australian newspapers from 1803 to 1954, which include shipping movements and other maritime information.
Searchable images of Welsh newspapers from 1804 to 1919, which include shipping movements at Welsh ports.

Pictures

Link to search page at Historical Collections of the Great Lakes web site.
Material relating to the Great Lakes, including on-line databases of shipping, ports and people.
Link to search page at Passenger and Emigrant Ships to New Zealand and Australia web site.
Index of pictures of sailing vessels with New Zealand and Australian connections.
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