Ships shown as registered at Swansea 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 2.    Records 1 to 50 of 66. Select page: Next | 1 | 2 | Last
Ship Sort by name Official number Sort by official number DetailsMNL Crew lists Link
ADDIE1361501918, Steam View entry for ADDIE in MNL 1940, page 4 MHACLIPMore...
AMROTH CASTLE1289441913, Steam View entry for AMROTH CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 12 MHACLIPMore...
BEAUMARIS CASTLE1445311920, Steam View entry for BEAUMARIS CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 34 MHACLIPMore...
BENSON1279061923, Steam View entry for BENSON in MNL 1940, page 39 MHACLIPMore...
BLOOMFIELD1454691938, Steam View entry for BLOOMFIELD in MNL 1940, page 44 MHACLIPMore...
BRECON CASTLE1361351916, Steam View entry for BRECON CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 49 MHACLIPMore...
BRIKA1439981929, Steam View entry for BRIKA in MNL 1940, page 50 MHACLIPMore...
BRITISH SCOUT1439791922, Steam View entry for BRITISH SCOUT in MNL 1940, page 53 MHACLIPMore...
BRITISH TOMMY1439711921, Steam View entry for BRITISH TOMMY in MNL 1940, page 54 MHACLIPMore...
BROCKENHURST1354931939, Steam View entry for BROCKENHURST in MNL 1940, page 54 MHACLIPMore...
BRYNYMOR1440081936, Steam View entry for BRYNYMOR in MNL 1940, page 56 MHACLIPMore...
CAERPHILLY CASTLE1360871928, Steam View entry for CAERPHILLY CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 59 MHACLIPMore...
CAMBORNE872341920, Auxilliary motor, page 489 View entry for CAMBORNE in MNL 1940, page 489 MHACLIPMore...
Auxilliary motor, Schooner, page 930 View entry for CAMBORNE in MNL 1940, page 930 
CAMERATA1440021931, Steam View entry for CAMERATA in MNL 1940, page 61 MHACLIPMore...
CANADA1021271938, Steam View entry for CANADA in MNL 1940, page 62 MHACLIPMore...
CANFORD CHINE1361471917, Steam View entry for CANFORD CHINE in MNL 1940, page 62 MHACLIPMore...
CARDIFF CASTLE1360861928, Steam View entry for CARDIFF CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 65 MHACLIPMore...
CASWELL1361431917, Steam View entry for CASWELL in MNL 1940, page 68 MHACLIPMore...
CLYNE CASTLE1439971929, Steam View entry for CLYNE CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 85 MHACLIPMore...
CONWAY CASTLE1361341916, Steam View entry for CONWAY CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 90 MHACLIPMore...
DALE CASTLE1289051909, Steam View entry for DALE CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 101 MHACLIPMore...
DUNRAVEN CASTLE1361441917, Steam View entry for DUNRAVEN CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 115 MHACLIPMore...
ELFIN607781935, Motor View entry for ELFIN in MNL 1940, page 542 MHACLIPMore...
GLEN HELEN1388731933, Steam View entry for GLEN HELEN in MNL 1940, page 153 MHACLIPMore...
GLEN SPRAY1432701939, Steam View entry for GLEN SPRAY in MNL 1940, page 153 MHACLIPMore...
GROSMONT CASTLE1439421920, Steam View entry for GROSMONT CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 162 MHACLIPMore...
GUELMA1439891928, Steam View entry for GUELMA in MNL 1940, page 162 MHACLIPMore...
HARLECH CASTLE1361361916, Steam View entry for HARLECH CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 167 MHACLIPMore...
HARRINGTON1180511938, Steam View entry for HARRINGTON in MNL 1940, page 168 MHACLIPMore...
HERCULANEUM1279661938, Steam View entry for HERCULANEUM in MNL 1940, page 173 MHACLIPMore...
JOSEWYN1431041939, Steam View entry for JOSEWYN in MNL 1940, page 198 MHACLIPMore...
KATHERIA128928Sail, Cutter View entry for KATHERIA in MNL 1940, page 1050 MHACLIPMore...
KELLWYN1435261939, Steam View entry for KELLWYN in MNL 1940, page 203 MHACLIPMore...
KELPIE I128909Sail, Cutter View entry for KELPIE I in MNL 1940, page 1051 MHACLIPMore...
KILGERRAN CASTLE1442931920, Steam View entry for KILGERRAN CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 206 MHACLIPMore...
LIMESLADE1361551919, Steam View entry for LIMESLADE in MNL 1940, page 228 MHACLIPMore...
MAJESTIC1098121934, Steam View entry for MAJESTIC in MNL 1940, page 244 MHACLIPMore...
MEDJERDA1439831924, Steam View entry for MEDJERDA in MNL 1940, page 254 MHACLIPMore...
MEWSLADE1361371916, Steam View entry for MEWSLADE in MNL 1940, page 257 MHACLIPMore...
OYSTERMOUTH CASTLE1361121914, Steam View entry for OYSTERMOUTH CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 292 MHACLIPMore...
PICTON CASTLE1439931928, Steam View entry for PICTON CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 300 MHACLIPMore...
POINTZ CASTLE1361131914, Steam View entry for POINTZ CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 302 MHACLIPMore...
POWIS CASTLE1361421916, Steam View entry for POWIS CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 306 MHACLIPMore...
QUEENFORTH1452011930, Steam View entry for QUEENFORTH in MNL 1940, page 313 MHACLIPMore...
RADNOR CASTLE1442781920, Steam View entry for RADNOR CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 314 MHACLIPMore...
RAGLAN CASTLE1361521919, Steam View entry for RAGLAN CASTLE in MNL 1940, page 314 MHACLIPMore...
ROGER BECK1439841924, Steam View entry for ROGER BECK in MNL 1940, page 325 MHACLIPMore...
RONWYN1423221939, Steam View entry for RONWYN in MNL 1940, page 326 MHACLIPMore...
ROTHERSLADE1444291920, Steam View entry for ROTHERSLADE in MNL 1940, page 328 MHACLIPMore...
Page 1 of 2.    Records 1 to 50 of 66. Select page: Next | 1 | 2 | Last
Navigation up arrow