Working with the UK National Archives, FindMyPast.co.uk adds 1 million Merchant Navy Seamen Records for 1918–1941. According to FindMyPast, this is the first time these records have been made available online.
The database is a collection of two-sided index cards for British citizens and foreign registered crewmen and women on all seagoing UK vessels with commercial interests traveling between the two world wars. The front side of each card outlines personal data such as name, year and place of birth, rank or rating, etc. However, initials were sometimes used for first names and abbreviations for places of birth. Place of birth was sometime altogether missing. The backsides varied in information, sometimes including a list of official vessel numbers and signing-on dates, also the seaman’s signature. Many cards included a photograph. Some records even carried personal and descriptive information such as noting birthmarks, scars, and other such features.
FindMyPast.co.uk plans on expanding the database in the future. Given these records are of relatively recent history and the young age of some mariners, it is conceivable to find a record for a parent or grandparent still lives. Either way, these records represent another great resource for the family historian.