Board of Trade Crew Agreements, Lists and Logs.

From the 'Guide to the Records of Merseyside Maritime Museum', volume 1 by Gordon Read and Michael Stammers: Board of Trade Crew Agreements, Lists and Logs, 1857 Onwards. These are in effect contracts of employment for seamen serving on a particular ship and provide biographical details, position on board, last ship, rate of pay, rations to be issued and conduct on voyage. The log is not a navigational log but a form in which the master can record any incidents affecting crew, such as desertion or discharge through ill health or death. They were filed by the year of voyage and the official number of the ship. The latter can be found in Lloyd's Register or the Mercantile Navy Lists. Seventy percent of these records are held by the Maritime History Archives, Memorial University of Newfoundland, ten percent are at the PRO (together with a "celebrated vessels" series), ten percent at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and ten percent in local Record Offices with ports in their areas. The Liverpool City Record Office holds several hundred for Liverpool-registered ships. Some sixty more lists are in the Archives of the British and African Steam Navigation Company, see reference number OA/1565.