Have uploaded what one might describe as an index of RN Officers who qualified as Masters in the Merchant Service circa late 1870s - Jan 1922 and about 500 Merchant Service Masters who were supplied with replacement Certificates during the latter decades of the 19th Century per BT-124-23-0-1 : http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Nbd/MN_Masters_for_RN_Officers.html#top Whilst ploughing through have found a few items of interest, IMHO, and the sort of material that is sometimes included, along with occasional reports of the death of a master, when his certificate was returned, or a replacement was issued following a shipwreck, or having been stolen etc., and the fact that during the latter part of the Century some 500 R.N. and R.I.M. officers were also certified ...in the nicest possible way, you will understand ;-) Lt W.W. C. Frith, RIM, Certificate No. 76692 : with reference to a letter mentioned at the same time, ref. 31094/19, ie probably of 1919, notes that William Frith was awarded an O.B.E. for valuable services as Chief Examination Officer to Tyne Ports since outbreak of war. Cdr R F Scott, RN, of Antarctic fame, qualified as a Master in the Merchant Service, 18 Jul 1901, at London, being appointed in command of the "Discovery," for the Antartic Expedition in 1901. Later died from exposure in Antarctic Regions about 29 June 1912, when he commanded the Antarctic Expedition "Terra Nova". Similarly Lt M Barne, also qualified as a Master 18 Jul 1901, having been appointed as Chief Officer of the "Discovery," for the Antartic Expedition in 1901, and Lt CWR Royds, RN, qualified 27 Jul 1901, for the same Expedition. And 10 years later Henry Robertson Bowers, who served in the R.I.M., and died from exposure in the Antarctic regions about 29 Mar 1912 when serving as 4th Mate on "Nerra Nova," O.N. 89090, when with Capt. Scott (above). BT-124-23-0-1 seems to include a lot of replacement certificates to Merchant Service masters, in addition to the award of certificates to RN and RIM officers, but from the notations of replacement of previous certificates, noted as PN, which usually accompany the replacement of a current certificate, the certificates for some qualified RN officers are noted in other pieces of BT 124.....but have yet to follow them up. And then there are the one or two members of the rogues gallery, whose exploits are mentioned. Paul