Hi Carol -- First, a word of warning. One of the favorite stories foisted on unsuspecting genealogists by the "professional genealogists" of several decades ago is the shipwreck story. My own Kimsey line supposedly arrived via shipwreck off the coast of NC -- my grandfather had hired one of those genealogists who provided the information. Needless to say, subsequent solid research has proven that story a complete myth. I have a number of Scots lines where the same story appears, and know other Scots researchers who have had the same experience. (I wonder what standard story they put out for English, Irish, Germans, etc.<G>) If you hear that the "one other person who might have survived" was a brother of your ancestor, beware. That said, there certainly were many shipwrecks in the early days, particularly off the coast of NC. People certainly survived those wrecks, and maybe your ancestor was one of them. From my own research, there seems to be a dearth of ship's data for the 1746-56 time frame -- that's when my ancestors came over, and I still haven't figured out how. I'll try to answer your questions below. > > > From 1700-1800: > > 1. did these ships have passenger lists? Most did, but certainly not all > 2. where are they kept? only as records/documents or as books? The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Eng. probably has > the best records for those sailing from England. Keep in mind that a number of Scots went through these ports as prisoners of > war, particularly after the Covenanter and Jacobite uprisings. In the U.S. many of the maritime county ports in MD, VA and > the Carolinas have some of the old records > 3. where can I best see them: in person, in book form, microfiched or on the internet? Try the following sites ISTG -- Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. A work in progress, but a lot of data available. > Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet -- Cyndi has a category on Ships & Immigrants. Check that, and be sure to go > to the Olive Tree site. > 4. how reliable are the records/ship transcriptions on the net? As reliable as transcriptions can be. Use it as a starting > point, but eventually, go for photocopies of the original document. > 5. were there very established ports of call for these three states at that time? can i limit my search to a few ports? did > scottish immigrants only come into one or two ports? > I'm not sure about SC. In NC,Wilmington in New Hanover Co. was a major port. I know there was one other port during this > era, but can't remember where. In VA, Jamestown. Again, I think there were a couple of others. Hopefully, another > researcher will come up with those names. > > 6. were there very few recognized ship lines so i can search each company? Great question!!! Hope someone answers it!!!