This page provides details of the documents held at archives, split into Crew lists and Shipping registers. We have not attempted to list other maritime-related documents which an archive may hold.

For background details of these documents, please see: Crew lists Registration of shipping

How to search for documents by archive

Select the first letter of the archive name from the alphabetic list and then the name of the archive.

Be aware! Some archive names may not be obvious. We use the name that they themselves use, but the following may help:

  • Ayrshire - see Burns Monument Centre
  • Canada - see Library and Archives Canada
  • Flintshire - see North East Wales Archives
  • Grimsby - see North East Lincolnshire Archives

Reading and using the results

The results are displayed in two sections: Crew lists and Shipping registers.

Where possible, we link to the archive catalogue or The National Archive (TNA) catalogue.

Beware. Several archives have catalogues driven by software called DServe, or the ironically named CalmView, which is best described as 'user hostile'. It needs considerable patience to use, is often slow, or just locks up. Worse, the links often change as the archives try to make it work.

If all else fails, where neither CLIP nor the archive catalogue provide data, the archive name at the top of the page gives a link to their web site.

Crew lists

For crew lists, we list the ports for which the archive holds documents, and the years covered.

Where we have further details of the holdings for a port, we provide a link which provides a list of ships for that port.

The lists of ships are in alphabetic order sorted by ships name and show the ship's official number. Use the alphabet list at the top of the results to select by initial letter.

In many cases, the archive will hold documents for several local ports and occasionally stray documents for other ports. To obtain a complete list of all the documents held by the archive use the link at the top-right of the table.

Be aware! Some crew list documents for each port will be held at TNA (a 10% sample) and at the National Maritime Museum (NMM) (years ending in 5 and 1861 and 1862) and possibly the Maritime History Archive (MHA). Even in cases where the local archive obtained a large proportion of their documents, some were missed and made their way to MHA. Many archives only took a sample of the documents for their local ports and the remainder are at MHA. For other ports, including London, Norfolk and the Scottish ports, virtually all the crew lists are at MHA.

Documents at TNA, NMM and MHA are not included in the lists for the archive.

However,the known holdings for individual ships in all archives can be tracked down. Against the name of each ship are two links: The link shows their index page for that official number, which includes details of the MHA holdings and those at archives in Britain, but not TNA or NMM. The button shows our information on archive holdings for that official number, which includes the MHA, TNA and (some of) NMM holdings. There are further notes on that page.

A further link to the right links to the CLIP data page for the ship with that official number, including records in the Mercantile Navy List.

Shipping registers

For shipping registers, we list the ports for which the archive holds documents, and the years they cover.

You can see the list of registers for a port by clicking the link against that port or to see all the registers held at the archive, click

For some registers, we are able to provide further links to an index of the ships recorded in that register. This is accessed by clicking the against that register. This will list the entries in Folio order or they can be sorted by ship's name or by official number. Further notes are available on the index pages.

For the shipping registers held at Manx National Heritage Library, we are able to provide a transcript of each folio, including the names of individual owners, masters and builders. These names of individuals can be found by using the CLIP search page, here: People named in shipping registers

Data sources

The sources of this information are:

We are glad to acknowledge the work of Robert R Le Maistre who compiled a complete index to the shipping registers for Australian ports. This used to be available on the National Archives of Australia (NAA) site. We used it as the basis for the index available on this site, with corrections against CLIP data and added links to the images to the NAA site.

Crew lists held at Library and Archives Canada

Sorry, we have no information on any crew lists held at Library and Archives Canada

So far as we are aware, all crew lists for Canadian ships are held at the Maritime History Archive (MHA) in St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Links

Please use the link to the archive's web site on the heading of this page for more information.

Shipping registers held at Library and Archives Canada DetailDetails for all ports

Port Years Reference Links
Aklavik, NWT 1952 - 1955 R184-53-3-E DetailDetails
Amherst 1874 - 1907 R184-59-4-E DetailDetails
Annapolis, NS 1869 - 1938 R184-60-0-E DetailDetails
Arichat, Cape Breton Island 1839 - 1937 R184-61-2-E DetailDetails
Baddeck, NS 1858 - 1883 R184-62-4-E DetailDetails
Barrington Passage 1875 - 1984 R184-64-8-E DetailDetails
Bathurst, NB 1906 - 1995 R184-63-6-E Sorry, no details
Bowmanville, Ontario 1888 - 1905 R184-65-X-E DetailDetails
Brockville, Ontario 1874 - 1908 R184-66-1-E DetailDetails
Campbellton, NB 1920 - 1951 R184-68-5-E DetailDetails
Canso 1906 - 1995 R184-67-3-E Sorry, no details
Charlottetown, PEI 1833 - 1948 R184-52-1-E DetailDetails
Chatham, NB 1860 - 1947 R184-70-3-E DetailDetails
Chatham, Ontario 1922 - 1980 R184-71-5-E DetailDetails
Cobourg, Ontario 1874 - 1933 R184-72-7-E DetailDetails
Deseronto 1866 - 1933 R184-73-9-E DetailDetails
Digby, Nova Scotia 1849 - 1953 R184-74-0-E DetailDetails
Dorchester, NB 1874 - 1909 R184-75-2-E DetailDetails
Dunnville, Ontario 1850 - 1874 R184-76-4-E DetailDetails
Erieau, Ontario 1951 - 1957 R184-78-8-E DetailDetails
Gaspé, Quebec 1835 - 1927 R184-79-X-E DetailDetails
Goderich, Ontario 1847 - 1874 R184-80-6-E DetailDetails
Guysborough, NS 1849 - 1918 R184-81-8-E DetailDetails
Halifax, Nova Scotia 1817 - 1903 R184-83-1-E DetailDetails
Hamilton, Ontario 1846 - 1896 R184-84-3-E DetailDetails
Isle Verte, Quebec 1856 - 1856 R184-85-5-E DetailDetails
Kincardine, Ontario 1927 - 1935 R184-86-7-E DetailDetails
Kingston, Ontario 1846 - 1908 R184-87-9-E DetailDetails
La Have, NS 1906 - 1995 R184-88-0-E Sorry, no details
Lindsay, Ontario 1898 - 1910 R184-260-8-E DetailDetails
Liverpool, NS 1840 - 1919 R184-89-2-E DetailDetails
Lunenburg, NS 1827 - 1926 R184-90-9-E DetailDetails
Magdalen Islands 1856 - 1950 R184-91-0-E DetailDetails
Maitland, NS 1874 - 1923 R184-92-2-E DetailDetails
Medway, Nova Scotia 1874 - 1890 R184-93-4-E DetailDetails
Miramichi Bay, NB 1828 - 1874 R184-95-8-E DetailDetails
Moncton 1878 - 1912 R184-96-X-E DetailDetails
Montreal 1832 - 1954 R184-97-1-E DetailDetails
Napanee, Ontario 1875 - 1890 R184-98-3-E DetailDetails
New Carlisle 1856 - 1902 R184-99-5-E DetailDetails
New Westminster 1899 - 1913 R184-101-X-E DetailDetails
Newcastle, Ontario 1880 - 1889 R184-100-8-E DetailDetails
Oakville, Ontario 1850 - 1874 R184-102-1-E DetailDetails
Ottawa, Ontario 1879 - 1965 R184-103-3-E DetailDetails
Owen Sound, Ontario 1882 - 1953 R184-104-5-E DetailDetails
Parrsboro, NS 1850 - 1951 R184-105-7-E DetailDetails
Peterborough, Ontario 1900 - 1984 R184-106-9-E DetailDetails
Picton, Ontario 1851 - 1907 R184-107-0-E DetailDetails
Pictou, NS 1840 - 1964 R184-108-2-E DetailDetails
Port Arthur, Ontario 1886 - 1913 R184-109-4-E DetailDetails
Port Burwell, Ontario 1846 - 1962 R184-110-0-E DetailDetails
Port Dover 1846 - 1930 R184-111-2-E DetailDetails
Port Hawkesbury 1884 - 1990 R184-112-4-E DetailDetails
Port Rowan 1851 - 1899 R184-113-6-E DetailDetails
Port Stanley, Ontario 1878 - 1918 R184-114-8-E DetailDetails
Quebec 1787 - 1965 R184-115-X-E DetailDetails
Richibucto, NB 1880 - 1937 R184-116-1-E DetailDetails
Sackville, NB 1874 - 1925 R184-117-3-E DetailDetails
Shelburne, NS 1859 - 1919 R184-118-5-E DetailDetails
Sorel, Quebec 1930 - 1964 R184-124-0-E Sorry, no details
Southampton, Ontario 1888 - 1945 R184-119-7-E DetailDetails
St Andrews, NB 1823 - 1892 R184-120-3-E DetailDetails
St Catherine's, Ontario 1855 - 1875 R184-121-5-E DetailDetails
St John's, Newfoundland 1843 - 1983 R184-123-9-E DetailDetails
St John, NB 1824 - 1943 R184-122-7-E DetailDetails
Sydney, NS 1788 - 1932 R184-125-2-E DetailDetails
Toronto, Ontario 1874 - 1958 R184-126-4-E DetailDetails
Truro, Nova Scotia 1873 - 1914 R184-127-6-E DetailDetails
Vancouver, BC 1890 - 1988 R184-128-8-E DetailDetails
Victoria, BC 1867 - 1908 R184-129-X-E DetailDetails
Wallaceburg, Ontario 1857 - 1966 R184-130-6-E DetailDetails
Weymouth, NS 1906 - 1995 R184-131-8-E DetailDetails
Whitby, Ontario 1867 - 1936 R184-132-X-E DetailDetails
Windsor, NS 1845 - 1917 R184-133-1-E DetailDetails
Windsor, Ontario 1853 - 1874 R184-134-3-E DetailDetails
Winnipeg 1875 - 1897 R184-135-5-E DetailDetails
Yarmouth, NS 1840 - 1906 R184-136-7-E DetailDetails

Sources

Archive catalogue

Links

Archive catalogue

Notes

The archive site has an online index to the registers, which can be searched by ship's name, official number, port of registry, etc. It provides information about the microfilms (see below) but no direct links.

Images of the shipping registers for Canadian ports are available on the Canadiana site. Where possible, our list of registers for each port provides direct links to the images for a register.

The links to archives' web sites and particularly their catalogues are often broken by changes or malfunctions at the archives, or they simply disappear.

We do our best to keep up, but please accept our apologies for broken links. The link to the archive's web site on the heading of this page provide more information.