Hi, further to my message yesterday about this subject, I have had a reply today from the GRO about the nature of the certificates which are issued when you apply for an "Overseas" > "Marine" death, giving details about them. It might be of interest to anyone who wants to apply for a certificate. I told them that I had been shown a certificate (thanks to David on this list) which was entitled "Certified copy of an Entry in the Marine Register" and it had the following columns.... Name of Ship Official Number Date of Death Place of Death Name and Surname of Deceased Sex Age Rank etc Nationality Last place of Abode Cause of Death Passenger or Member of Crew but I wasn't sure if this was the "Death Certificate" per se. I was informed by the GRO Overseas section today that yes, this "Certified copy of an Entry in the Marine Register" is what is issued if you apply for a death certificate from the "Overseas" "Marine" index. The certificate uses whatever the captain has sent to the RGSS (Register General of Shipping and Seamen) out of his Log. He is required to do this once he gets back to the country of the ship's registration. Therefore the quantity (and accuracy!) of the information depends on the captain. In my own research case of some deaths at sea, I have already seen a copy of the handwritten record which the GRO made on receipt of the information from the RGSS. It is so scant, and inaccurate for some of the names and ages of the family who drowned, that I was hoping that the 'actual' death certificates for them might be much better. The GRO also told me that forces sea deaths are sometimes very brief and there are no next of kin contained in these death certificates (by which I presume they mean all of these death certificates, irrespective of whether they are forces or otherwise). In my own case, the ship went down in 8 minutes, so I am not surprised that the information is inaccurate... and really I wonder if in fact the Captain might have been in such a hurry to get off that he didn't have time to grab the Log book. He and the great majority of the crew survived. 12 people drowned. I have concluded that it isn't worth my money to send for any of these death certificates because they won't tell me anything more than I already know. If anyone has cause to email the Overseas GRO you could use this address: [email protected] Again, apologies if any of this is inaccurate, or not true in certain cases. Sally