Hi Peter The pertinent part of the passage from the National Archives is "Any record made" There are many pitfalls in the system Deaths at sea (and other life events) were supposed to be recorded and passed on but often they were not or were subsequently missed In theory if a man died at sea, it should not be in the local indexes but in a separate deaths at sea index, again in theory if its in the local index he died onshore or his body was washed up But as in many things, where humans get involved they have great capacity to make a pigs ear of it Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 29/03/2015 11:42, Peter Enlund wrote: > Dear List > > From the National Archives web site > > Any record made of a birth or death at sea from 1837 onwards was sent > directly to the General Register Office and recorded in the Marine Register. > > I have men who died at sea and got the certificate from the GRO. In > addition, there are registers at TNA of deaths at sea, apart from the > index but theses records in BT156 and BT157 do not extend beyond 1890 > > I suggest that there is nothing unusual about the death being recorded > in the local registry > > For more on this, the book “My Ancestor was a Merchant Seaman” is > the authoritative reference on these and should be in local genealogical > society libraries > > Regards, Peter in Melbourne