Meant to add the web site where I found the information: http://www.pro.gov.uk/pathways/FamilyHistory/gallery1/britons.htm <http://www.pro.gov.uk/pathways/FamilyHistory/gallery1/britons.htm> sorry. Christine Northamptonshire, England www.highlandhearts.com www.sutherlandheritage.com -----Original Message----- From: Christine Stokes [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 21 October 2002 20:30 To: suth list Subject: dying at sea Thought this might help the person who last week was looking for information of a sea man who died at sea. Since an Act passed in 1854, masters of British ships have had to compile official log books of births, marriages and deaths of passengers at sea, which up to 1874 were sent to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen in Cardiff. Later, their reports of births and deaths on board ship were periodically passed on to the Registrars General of England and Wales, of Scotland and of Ireland as appropriate. The registers of entries up to about 1890, extracted from these logs, are in PRO classes BT 158, BT 159 and BT 160. These are mostly indexed. >From 1852 until 1890, there was a separate log recording deaths of seamen, the registered entries being in PRO class BT 153, indexed in BT 154 by personal name, and in BT 155 by ship. In 1891 the logs merged, births and deaths of crew and passengers up to 1964 being recorded in BT 334. These registers are indexed to 1960. There is a single volume relating to marriages from 1854 to 1972. Births, marriages and deaths of Britons on some foreign-registered ships are included in PRO classes RG 32-35 Search the GRO indexes of marine deaths first, which start in 1837, and then look at the relevant volume of the PROs records. From 1961 you will need to search these anyway, and for births and deaths after 1964 purchase a certified copy of the entry in the registers kept at Southport Christine Northamptonshire, England www.highlandhearts.com www.sutherlandheritage.com --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.404 / Virus Database: 228 - Release Date: 15/10/2002