Crew Agreements: What Are They and Where Can I Get Them?

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© By Steve Brew

This article was reproduced in the October 2000 edition of the magazine Australian Family Tree Connections.

What are 'Crew Agreements' and what information can one find in them ?

Crew Agreements are the documents for each merchant ship's voyage, listing :

• A description of the ship and it's owners
• Name of the ship's Master
• Voyage's port of commencement
• Voyage's destination and port of termination
• Daily meal provisions for the crew
• Rules or laws to be observed during the voyage
• Particulars of each member of the crew, including name (signature), age, place of birth, previous ship, place and date of signing, capacity (seaman, fireman, engineer, etc), Certificate of Competency number if any, when expected on board, pay for the journey, and crew's addresses
• Particulars of discharge (end of voyage, desertion, sickness, death, never joined etc)
• Ports visited (endorsements by British Consuls)

• Examples from the S.S. Castleton's Crew Agreements
• A List of a Seaman's Effects and Kit

Where can I obtain copies of Crew Agreements?

There are a number of places where copies of Crew Agreements can be obtained. It can mean a few hours searching, and a lot of photocopying, and if you don't do it yourself, it can become rather expensive. If you are searching for a particular person or ship, make sure you're armed with the name of the ship and person, and the year the voyage ended in, not when it started. You can approximate the year if you're not sure. Some of the information listed on the agreements is written in the original handwriting of the crew, and you should at least be able to see the original signature from your ancestor. The agreements are very informative and well worth the money for the invaluable data contained within. If you have an ancestor who was a merchant seamen, copies of Crew Agreements are a must. At the following addresses you should be able to find most of the information you are looking for regarding British, Canadian, New Zealand and Australian shipping. If not, try checking the local record office or library where the ship was registered.

• The Archivist, Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, A1C 5S7. Phone: 709-737-8428, Fax: 709-737-3123, E-mail: mha@morgan.ucs.mun.ca, Web Site: http://www.mun.ca/mha/ . Their research fee is CAD$35.00 per hour (This is also the minimum fee), photocopies are CAD$0.50 per page. They hold 70% of the Crew Agreements from 1863-1938, and 80% of the Agreements from 1951-1976. But they hold no agreements for 1875, 1885, 1895, or 1905.

• National Information Centre, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, England, SE10 9NF. Phone: 0181-858-4422, Fax: 0181-312-6632, you'll find their Web Site at: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/ . Their research fee is GBP£18.00 per hour, and postage is extra for overseas requests. They hold 90% of the Crew Agreements for the years 1861-1862, 90% of the Crew Agreements for the years ending in '5' from 1865-1935, and 90% of the years ending in '5' from 1955-1975, as well as many Mates and Masters Certificates of Competency and their applications.

• Reader Services Dept., Public Record Office (PRO), Ruskin Ave., Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England, TW9 4DU. Phone: 0181-876-3444, Fax: 0181-878-8905, Web Site: http://www.pro.gov.uk/ . They hold all the surviving documents from 1747-1860, a 10% sample of each year from 1861-1938, all official logs from 1902-1919, all papers from 1939-1950, a 10% sample of each year from 1951-1976, and all records pertaining to famous ships (e.g. the Titanic) from 1861-1938. The PRO will not conduct searches for you but rather will tell you to come and look yourself or use an official researcher from a list of many which they recommend.

In Australia, some records are held at:

• N.S.W. State Records, Western Sydney Research Room, 43 O’Connell Street, Kingswood, N.S.W., Australia. Tel: 02-9673-1788, Fax: 02-9833-4518, E-mail: srecords@records.nsw.gov.au, Website: http://www.records.nsw.gov.au I have had some luck locating several original agreements here which are not held in the above archives. They are worth a try if you know a ship visited or terminated a voyage in Sydney. State Records also holds the Sydney and Newcastle pilotage records. Located approximately 1 hour's driving time west of Sydney city, with free parking and helpful archivists.

Examples from S.S. Castleton's Crew Agreements of 1885 and 1886

Agreement and Account of Crew - Foreign-going Ship

• Description of the Ship and it's Owners

Name: Castleton, Official No. 81774, Port of Registry: Cardiff, Port No. and Date of Register: 15/1879, Registered Tonnage: Gross: 1751, Net: 1149, Horsepower: 200, Registered Managing Owner: M. Cope, Address: Cardiff, No. of Seamen for whom Accommodation is certified: 40.

• Ship's Master

William Henry, 38, Porthcawl, Certificate of Competency No. 92277

• Voyage's Port of Commencement

"Port at which Voyage commenced : Penarth" [Cardiff]

• Voyage's Destination

Penarth to St. Lucia "and/or any Ports or places within the limits of 75 degrees North and 60 degrees South Latitude the maximum time to be one year trading in any rotation and to end in the United Kingdom."

• Daily Meal Provisions for Crew

These are the actual provisions for the crew for the above trip, dated 12 October 1886. An additional note states: "At the Master's Option - No Spirits Allowed".

• Rules or Laws to be observed during the Voyage

I quote: "And the Crew agree to conduct themselves in an orderly, faithful, honest, and sober manner, and to be at all times diligent in their respective duties, and to be obedient to the lawful commands of the said Master, or of any Person who shall lawfully succeed him, and of their Superior Officers, in everything relating to the said Ship and the Stores and Cargo thereof, whether on board, in boats, or on shore : in consideration of which Services to be duly performed, the said Master hereby agrees to pay to the said Crew as Wages the Sums against their Names respectively expressed, and to supply them with Provisions according to the above scale."

And: "No Cash shall be advanced abroad or liberty granted other than at the pleasure of the Master."

Several possible offences are listed along with their fines, such as:

"Drunkenness, First Offence.....Five Shillings",

"[Drunkenness] Second and for each subsequent Offence.....Ten Shillings", and

"Striking or assaulting any person on board or belonging to the Ship (if not otherwise prosecuted).....Five Shillings".

• Particulars of each member of the Crew

To give the example of my great great grandfather, John George Brew:

Name: John G Brew [signature] - Age: 36 - Town or County where born: Woolwich - Ship in which he last served: Same - Date and Place of signing this Agreement: 1886 12 Oct, Penarth - In what Capacity engaged, and if Master, Mate, or Engineer, No. of Certificate: 12854, 1st Engr. - Time at which he is to be on board: 5.a.m. Thursday 14 Oct / 86 - Amount of Wages per Calendar Month: £16 - Amount of Monthly Allotment: £10 - Address: 49 Exeter St. Gateshead.

• Particulars of Discharge

As this particular voyage ended in the foundering of the Castleton in a severe gale and the deaths of the entire crew, there is logically no discharge information, but a voyage from Cardiff on 20 July 1886 to Las Palmas, arriving back in Bristol, via Baltimore, USA, on 1 October 1886 shows the following information:

- Lewis Phillips, 41, 20 July 1886, Penarth, sick.

- Sidney Jones, 30, 9 September 1886, Baltimore, deserted.

- Thos. Johns, 25, 20 July 1886, Penarth, never joined.

Most discharges are of the normal kind, that is, at the end of a voyage, and the column simply states 'Discharged'. However, you may come across some interesting information regarding, for example, gaoling of members of the crew for offences, or deaths while at sea or in port:

"Mercantile Marine Office Bristol - Oct. 7 1886 - H. Larsen late B.S. died at [unreadable name] Fever Hospital, on 5th October 1886 from "Typhoid Fever" - E. A. Atwood Superintendent."

In the Crew Agreements from S.S. Nereid, in 1878, appears this comment against the name of Thomas Patterson, 21, of Newcastle:

"25/2/78 Cardiff - Sent to Gaol for 4 Wks for refusing duty"

• Ports visited and Endorsements by British Consuls

On arrival in a foreign port, it was necessary for a British ship to be registered with the Consul. The logs were passed to him for the duration of the stay and returned for departure. Usually the endorsements by Consuls on Crew Agreements will state the day of arrival of a particular ship in port and the date of departure. Here is an example from the above voyage Cardiff - Las Palmas - Baltimore - Bristol, from the 1 week stopover in Baltimore:

"British Consulate Baltimore

Articles deposited September 4th 1886

Do. returned September 11th 1886

I hereby certify that the within named Sidney Jones has been reported to me as having deserted at this port, taking his effects and upon inquiry I have found the allegation to be true.

I also certify that I have sanctioned the engagement of Francis C Short upon the within written Agreement which he has signed in my presence with a full understanding of its terms.

For H.M. Consul, W.H. Wilson, Consular Clerk, September 11th / 86"

A Seaman's Kit - A List of Effects

• S.S. San Domingo - Henry Smith, aged 43, ship's cook, died 5 October 1877.

Henry Smith's effects give us a good idea of what a seaman's kit was made up of.

"1 Reefer Jacket - 1 Large Jacket - 3 Pairs of Trousers - 2 pairs of Dungareys [sic] - 2 Vests - 2 Singlets - 1 Guernsy [sic] Frock - 3 Shirts - 4 pairs Stockings - 2 Aprons - 1 Towel - 1 Blanket - 1 Rug - 1 Bed - 1 pair of Braces - 2 Caps - 1 Scarf - 1 pair Slippers - 1 Bag"

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