Ships shown as registered at Leith in the Mercantile Navy List for 1940

British ships were registered at one of hundreds of ports of registry around Britain and what were then British colonies.

This page is an index of ships by their port of registry using data from the contemporary official sources such as the Mercantile Navy List (MNL) and the Appropriation Books.

For each port, it shows first a count of the entries by year. For a year selected from that list, it shows ship names and official numbers, sorted first by name, then by official number, with other details such as date of registration, and rig. For each record, links are provided to images of the source documents and to other data items such as holdings of crew lists.

For a full explanation of the records of British shipping, please see our information page, here: Records of British ships

How to search for ships by port

As described above, first select the port, then the year from the table of counts of ships.

For some ports, where there were other ports nearby, ships may have been registered at one of those ports. Where this is a possibility, the form provides facilities to switch to one of the other ports, or to see data for all the ports together.

Reading the results

The results show the names of ships registered at the port according to the records for that year. For record sets after 1855, the ship's official number is shown. The results show any other details from the source, and the exact reference for the source so that you can see where our information came from. The  icon links to images of the source.

For the pre-1857 data drawn from BT 111 and BT 162, there is a link on the right hand side Data post 1855 which will search the CLIP data for later years by name and port, looking for possible matches in the period 1855 to 1870. Beware! Because there were no official numbers for this period, these are only tentative suggestions, not exact matches. Some common names could result in many possibilities!

For post-1857 data, which has official numbers, there are also links to show holdings of crew lists for that ship, using the Maritime History Archive index and our own CLIP index.

The 'More...' link will show all the information that we have for that official number.

The records are initially sorted by the ship's name. For the pre-1857 records, the records can be sorted by year and number of registration; for the post-1857 data, they can be sorted by official number. To change the sort, click the small icon next to the column heading.

For data from BT 111 and 1850 (BT 162), there is a final column, Port no/PR no, shows port number and port rotation number combinations for that ship, which we have recorded or have interpolated from crew list records for the period 1845 to 1854 in BT 98 at TNA. These numbers were used in the records of seafarers such as BT 113 and BT 124.

For more details of port numbers, see Port numbers . For more details of port rotation numbers, see Port rotation numbers

The entries are colour coded.  nn/nnn  indicates data drawn from BT 98.  nn/nnn  indicates data interpolated from BT 98 data. Blank entries indicate where we have no data and are not able to interpolate data reliably, for example registrations pre-1845. Many early (and some post-1853) registrations may never have been allocated a port rotation number.

The link next to the data goes to the main port rotation numbers page for that registration.

Our thanks to James Canney for suggesting adding the port rotation number data.

Data sources

The sources of the data are:

Please see our general information page CLIP data for details on sources, methodology, the abbreviations we have used, and our acknowledgements.

Be aware! CLIP data is transcribed 'as seen' - we have not tried to interpret or correct it (but see note about BT 111 in the Data sources section). Where we have doubts about an item, or have edited it, we mark it with a  ? .

Page 1 of 4.    Records 1 to 50 of 179. Select page: Next | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Last
Ship Sort by name Official number Sort by official number DetailsMNL Crew lists Link
ALBUERA1618241931, Steam View entry for ALBUERA in MNL 1940, page 7 MHACLIPMore...
AMULREE1643901938, Motor View entry for AMULREE in MNL 1940, page 446 MHACLIPMore...
ANILINE1482511925, Steam View entry for ANILINE in MNL 1940, page 14 MHACLIPMore...
ARIELLE164373Sail, Sloop View entry for ARIELLE in MNL 1940, page 903 MHACLIPMore...
ASCOG1049241896, Steam View entry for ASCOG in MNL 1940, page 20 MHACLIPMore...
AULD REEKIE1420181920, Motor View entry for AULD REEKIE in MNL 1940, page 459 MHACLIPMore...
BAROQUE1487801936, Auxilliary motor, page 464 View entry for BAROQUE in MNL 1940, page 464 MHACLIPMore...
Auxilliary motor, Cutter, page 910 View entry for BAROQUE in MNL 1940, page 910 
BARRA HEAD1483191931, Steam View entry for BARRA HEAD in MNL 1940, page 32 MHACLIPMore...
BENALDER1436021935, Steam View entry for BENALDER in MNL 1940, page 38 MHACLIPMore...
BENARTY1482561925, Steam View entry for BENARTY in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENAVON1618181930, Steam View entry for BENAVON in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENBECULA1643761937, Auxilliary motor, page 467 View entry for BENBECULA in MNL 1940, page 467 MHACLIPMore...
Auxilliary motor, Cutter, page 913 View entry for BENBECULA in MNL 1940, page 913 
BENCLEUCH1413021922, Steam View entry for BENCLEUCH in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENCRUACHAN1606521928, Steam View entry for BENCRUACHAN in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENDORAN1280231931, Steam View entry for BENDORAN in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENGLOE1370581920, Steam View entry for BENGLOE in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENLAWERS1618221930, Steam View entry for BENLAWERS in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENLEDI1618171930, Steam View entry for BENLEDI in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENLOMOND1459131938, Steam View entry for BENLOMOND in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENMACDHUI1233361932, Steam View entry for BENMACDHUI in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENMOHR1482701928, Steam View entry for BENMOHR in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENNEVIS1426091928, Steam View entry for BENNEVIS in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENREOCH1455581921, Steam View entry for BENREOCH in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENRINNES1458841938, Steam View entry for BENRINNES in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENVANNOCH1458911939, Steam View entry for BENVANNOCH in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BENVENUE1482651927, Steam View entry for BENVENUE in MNL 1940, page 40 MHACLIPMore...
BENVORLICH1420101919, Steam View entry for BENVORLICH in MNL 1940, page 40 MHACLIPMore...
BENVRACKIE1459751939, Steam View entry for BENVRACKIE in MNL 1940, page 40 MHACLIPMore...
BENWYVIS1606591929, Steam View entry for BENWYVIS in MNL 1940, page 40 MHACLIPMore...
BERWICK LAW1643741937, Motor View entry for BERWICK LAW in MNL 1940, page 469 MHACLIPMore...
BLACK EAGLE OF LEITH1126951935, Steam View entry for BLACK EAGLE OF LEITH in MNL 1940, page 43 MHACLIPMore...
BLUE HILLS1643871938, Motor View entry for BLUE HILLS in MNL 1940, page 475 MHACLIPMore...
BORTHWICK1420191920, Steam View entry for BORTHWICK in MNL 1940, page 46 MHACLIPMore...
BOUVET 11618321932, Steam View entry for BOUVET 1 in MNL 1940, page 47 MHACLIPMore...
BOUVET 21618331932, Steam View entry for BOUVET 2 in MNL 1940, page 47 MHACLIPMore...
BOUVET 31618341932, Steam View entry for BOUVET 3 in MNL 1940, page 47 MHACLIPMore...
BRANDENBURG1293851910, Steam View entry for BRANDENBURG in MNL 1940, page 49 MHACLIPMore...
BRITANNIA1449001924, Steam View entry for BRITANNIA in MNL 1940, page 51 MHACLIPMore...
BULLGER1259021934, Steam View entry for BULLGER in MNL 1940, page 56 MHACLIPMore...
CANTICK HEAD1460671938, Steam View entry for CANTICK HEAD in MNL 1940, page 63 MHACLIPMore...
CATHERINE1618301932, Auxilliary motor, page 495 View entry for CATHERINE in MNL 1940, page 495 MHACLIPMore...
Auxilliary motor, page 934 View entry for CATHERINE in MNL 1940, page 934 
CEDRIC104914Sail View entry for CEDRIC in MNL 1940, page 935 MHACLIPMore...
CORSICA1049171895, Steam View entry for CORSICA in MNL 1940, page 93 MHACLIPMore...
COURLAND1618281932, Steam View entry for COURLAND in MNL 1940, page 95 MHACLIPMore...
CRAIG ISLAND1618381933, Steam View entry for CRAIG ISLAND in MNL 1940, page 95 MHACLIPMore...
CRAMOND BRIG1455451921, Motor View entry for CRAMOND BRIG in MNL 1940, page 513 MHACLIPMore...
CRAMOND ISLAND1294001910, Steam View entry for CRAMOND ISLAND in MNL 1940, page 96 MHACLIPMore...
Page 1 of 4.    Records 1 to 50 of 179. Select page: Next | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Last
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