Filed under Merchant Navy Records: A Method Guide
What should you look for first?
Track a merchant ship through its log, movement cards and shipping records, in date order. A ship's name was often reused, so match name with dates and official number where possible.
If you hold only a place, start with the records for that place, not with a surname search across the whole country. Place is a filter, and a strong one. One dated fact from a record outweighs three plausible details from a story, and the timeline should show which is which.
Making sense of what you find
Do not assume a modern map, a modern rank table, or a modern unit list applies to a record from another decade. Check the period source for the period entry. A name entered in a different hand, or in different ink, may have been added later, for a later purpose. Ask when an entry was made, not only what it says. An entry that gives a town but no county, or a camp but no town, is deliberately vague or locally obvious. Local knowledge, not a global search, usually settles it.
Common traps in this record type
A unit, ship or camp that cannot be fixed from the clues available is a reason to gather one more clue, not a reason to guess the most likely candidate. The common dead ends here are a shared name, a variant spelling, a thin record for the dates you need, and a unit that cannot be fixed from the clues available. When two sources disagree and neither can be preferred, keep both in the timeline with a note. A forced choice now will mislead every later step.
Working through it in order
The sequence below is a default, not a law. If a step produces a surprise, follow the surprise, and return to the sequence afterwards. Opening several records at once is how two people with the same name get merged into one timeline, so keep the work sequential and deliberate.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fix the seaman identity details, name and any discharge number, before opening ship records. |
| 2 | Use the discharge book to list ships and voyages in date order. |
| 3 | Open the crew agreement for each ship and voyage, and note its reference. |
| 4 | Test every ship movement against the discharge book before adding it to the timeline. |
What should you check next?
If you have reached the end of what this record type can show, say so in your notes, and name the record type that takes over from here. The cluster around this guide is a chain, not a shelf. Reading it in chain order, following the links at the foot of each page, keeps the person in view.
A next step that is easy is not necessarily the right one. The right next step is the one the timeline needs, and it is often the awkward one. A timeline that can be retraced, reference by reference, is the goal. Everything else, story included, is secondary to that.
Primary sources for this guide
This guide keeps its claims general and points to the official holders, so the holder itself is the place to check the current position. It is general educational information only, not personal professional advice, and it offers no record lookup service and no determination of any individual's service.