In the early 1800s around the time of the 1812 war the US was 2nd in merchant shipping had over 10000 vessels 69000 seamen and shipped over 1 million metric tons a year.

Merchant ships 1800s. These records come from The National Archives record series BT112 BT113 BT114 BT115 BT116 BT119 and BT120. The Register provides information about all sea-going merchant ships including their condition. Much of the stock came from the fleet of 1000-ton East India Company ships bringing prized commodities like tea spices textiles furnishings and bullion from Bengal and China.

But toiling on a merchant ship was hard and dangerous and many seamen were malnourished and disillusioned. The contents of the records vary but they usually include name age place of birth register ticket ship names and dates of voyages. It had a wide balloon-like hull rounding at the stern and bow and a very narrow high stern.

Merchant frigates from the West Indies imported tobacco sugar rum cotton and mahogany. The Sofia is a three-masted schooner-rigged steam yacht of 230 tons built by White of Cowes. Picture taken in 1894.

Passages 48 53 55 Margaret snow 1835 204 Margaret sch 1866 207 Margaret Porter 94. Two passenger cabins engines 65 horse power nominal two-bladed screw. Consult the Crew List Index Project CLIP website which has information about merchant ships from 1861 to 1913.

Early in the fifteenth century many merchants were ship owners most often in the form of owning shares in one or several ships though sometimes owning a whole ship. Muster rolls exist for 17471851 but prior to 1800 only those for Bristol Dartmouth Liverpool Plymouth Shields and Scarborough have survived. 185 feet long 27 feet beam drawing 16 feet aft and 9 feet forward built of oak and teak.

All surviving muster rolls and crew agreements for British-registered merchant ships up to and including 1860 are held by The National Archives. The Registers for 1930-1945 were digitised as part of the Plim soll ship data project by the Southampton City Libraries and Archives Services in conjunction with Lloyds Registers Heritage Education Centre. REF 639280994 DIC If you ancestors were whalers this may prove very useful as it details whaling voyages to Australia listing ships with a short profile of the vessel and in some cases information about the crew.