
                    **********************************
                          PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE 
                    RECORDS INFORMATION Leaflet No: 65
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  [Note: this and all other PRO Records Information leaflets are (c)
  Crown Copyright, but may be freely reproduced except for sale or
  advertising purposes.  Copies should always include this Copyright
  notice -- please respect this.]   (c) Crown copyright, November 1990.

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                      RECORDS RELATING TO SHIPWRECKS

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Information is available among the Public Records about shipwrecks only to
the extent to which the British Government was interested in them and able
to inform itself. Before the nineteenth century this extent was always very
limited, and seldom covered foreign ships lost in any circumstances, even
in British waters. Losses of merchant ships were always of less interest
than those of warships. The location of the wreck, even in general terms,
was often unknown and seldom of great consequence to those who compiled the
records, unless salvage was contemplated. The contents or cargo of the ship
were even less likely to be recorded. There is no official register of
wrecks among the Public Records. As a rule, therefore, the records in the
Public Record Office will almost never reveal the position of a shipwreck
with sufficient accuracy for it to be located by divers, though they may
assist in the identification of a wreck which has already been located. In
many, probably most, cases it will be necessary to combine (and precede)
research in the PRO with work in other archives and in libraries.


WARSHIPS

Reports from flag officers or captains describing the loss of ships under
their command will be found among other official letters to the Admiralty
in ADM 1 from c.1698. Before 1793 there is no subject index to these
records, and to locate a report it is necessary to know the name and
station of the writer. From 1793 the Admiralty Digest, (ADM 12), provides
a nominal and subject index to the class. [See How to Use the Admiralty
Index and Digest].

Similar reports from c.1850 may also be found in ADM 116, to which there
is a subject index with the class list. Letters addressed to the Navy
Board, or by that board to the Admiralty, (in ADM 106, to 1832)
occasionally deal with wrecks, particularly those which occurred in the
vicinity of the dockyard ports, or of which the salvage was attempted.
There is a Digest (ADM 106/2153-2177) covering the years 1822-1832 only;
before 1822 it is essential to know the date and place of the loss to have
much hope of locating any records. Occasional references to ships lost may
be found in Station Records, of which there are lists in Information 3, 43
and 49.

Among the records used by the Official Historians of the First World War
at sea (ADM 137) are many reports dealing with the loss of H.M. or enemy
ships, (including some transports, auxiliaries and merchantmen under naval
escort) generally giving the position of loss with such accuracy as was
possible.   ADM 137/3089-3832 is a particular collection of such reports.
For further information about this class see Information 49]. Similar
records for the Second World War are in ADM 199 [for which see Information
43].

The logs of H.M. ships from the 1660s are in ADM 51-54, arranged
alphabetically by name of ship. These may provide the most accurate known
position of a loss, but of course the log was often lost with the ship, and
many ships were wrecked precisely because their officers did not know where
they were. It may sometimes be useful to consult the logs of ships in
company which survived. Other records which may be used to establish the
stations and movements of H.M. ships are listed in Information 3 and 43

It was customary in the Royal Navy for the loss of ships to be enquired
into by a court martial on the captain or surviving officers. These trials
were often omitted in the case of losses to enemy action, or when no
officers survived, but the records of those which were held will be found
in ADM 1/5253-5494, 1680-1839, and thereafter in the ADM 1 'General Series'
for each year. These records are often the most detailed narratives of a
loss available, but the court's concern was to establish the circumstances
of, and the blame, if any, for the loss, which did not necessarily lead it
to take an interest in the exact position of the wreck.

Maps and charts are preserved among the Admiralty records, and a few of
them bear on records to do with the loss of warships, but the largest
collection of printed Admiralty charts is held by the Map Library of the
British Library, and of both printed and MS charts by the Hydrographic
Department of the Ministry of Defence in Taunton. These charts may often
help to establish the precise location of a wreck, but not usually to
identify it.

There are very few records in the PRO or elsewhere which detail the stores
or equipment aboard particular men-of-war, and none which would help to
identify the personal effects of officers and men. Lists of guns and
warlike stores aboard H.M. ships in the seventeenth and early eighteenth
century may be found in WO 55 (Ordnance Office Miscellanea) .


MERCHANT SHIPS

Although many classes of records contain incidental references to the loss
of merchantmen, almost no systematic attempt was made before the nineteenth
century to collect information about them. The registration system
established by the Merchant Shipping Acts of 1786, 1825 and 1854 required
the fact of a ship's loss to be officially recorded. The Transcripts of
Registration transmitted to the Registrar of Shipping, 1786 onwards (BT
107, BT 108, BT 110, indexes in BT 111), which are described more fully on
pages 1 and 2 of Information Leaflet 5, show when the registry was closed
on a vessel, that is, when it was lost or missing. The date the registry
closed is given, and the nineteenth century records often also include the
date and place of the incident.

The 1854 Act empowered the Board of Trade to conduct enquiries into the
loss of British merchant ships, which power was used very sparingly. The
records of the Board of Trade Marine Department in MT 9 contain such
reports of these enquiries as have survived, but have been heavily weeded
for the nineteenth century. Registers and Indexes to these papers are in
MT 85 and 86. The out-letter books of the department are in MT 4, indexed
by MT 5. Other reports of enquiries into losses and accidents from 1867 are
in MT 15.

The records of the Ministry of Shipping, 1917-1921, contain references to
war losses, and include a complete list of 'British Merchant and Fishing
Vessels sunk or damaged by enemy action' 1914-1920 (MT 25/83-85).  The
records of the Ministry of War Transport for the Second World War (MT 59)
are concerned with policy and strategy rather than individual ships. The
records of the Trade Division of the Naval Staff, 1939-1945, (ADM 199/2073-
2194) contain much material on the losses of individual merchant ships,
including interviews with survivors (ADM 199/2130-2148) and convoy lists
(ADM 199/2184-2194), but a high proportion of these losses were to enemy
action on the high seas, and the wrecks lie in deep water.

Reports and depositions concerning shipwrecks may be found among the
correspondence of Collectors of Customs (CUST classes, arranged
geographically) and of consuls and other British diplomatic or colonial
officials abroad (FO and CO classes, chiefly arranged geographically).
Papers dealing with the Coastguard Service, including its responsibility
for the saving of life and the prevention of shipwreck, are in MT 9 up to
1906, and in BT 166 thereafter.  Papers dealing with the circumstances
surrounding the passing of the Bahamas Wrecking Act, 1858, are in BT 210.

The chances of finding any particular merchant shipwreck mentioned in these
papers are poor, and the searcher would generally be best advised to start
work with local sources, especially local newspapers, and with other
printed sources such as Parliamentary Papers. Knowing the exact date, place
and circumstances of the wreck, and preferably having reason to think that
the government mounted an enquiry or at least took an official interest in
it, the enquirer may stand a better, or at least a less poor chance of
finding information about it.


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The records described in this leaflet may be seen only at the PRO, Kew.

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  Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LR.
  Public Record Office, Ruskin Avenue, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU.
  Tel: +44 (0) 181 876-3444

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  holidays and for annual Stocktaking (normally the first two full weeks
  in October). 

  Admission is by reader's ticket which will be issued on production of
  proof of identity, such as a (UK) driving licence or passport.
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