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Royal Naval Seamen (1853 - 1923)

You can now search and download the service registers of more than 600,000 seamen who joined the Royal Navy between 1853 and 1923.

Below are some points to help you understand more about these service records. Use the links below to jump to the topics you are interested in.

Introduction

Royal Navy rating 1902 (Cat ref: COPY 1/456)

You can find the service records for most ratings who joined the Royal Navy between 1853 and 1923 in the Registers of Seamen's Services (held in the series ADM 188) and the Continuous Service engagement books (held in the series ADM 139). Service details are only recorded up to 1928.

You can use this collection to find out details about your ancestor's birth, a description of their physical appearance, their occupation and which ship or ships they served on. In the ADM 188 documents next of kin details are not listed where parental consent was needed to allow boys to join the navy.

Service from 1853 to 1872 (series ADM 139)

Until the early nineteenth century the Royal Navy used impressment to man warships. However it created problems during times of war when there was an urgent need for more ratings to man the ships.

From 1853, all boys from the ages of 14-17 joining the navy had to sign an engagement to serve 10 years, from the age of 18. There was the possibility of serving further engagements, towards the 20 years required for a long service pension. This form of service was also extended to those joining aged 18 and over.

Existing ratings could opt to serve an initial 7 year continuous engagement, along with further engagements to qualify for a pension. For each engagement served, a continuous service number was issued. These numbers are also known as "CS numbers". So it is possible that a rating could have been issued with several continuous service engagement numbers throughout his career.

The covering dates relate to the opening of the registers.

Pieces 1- 220 of ADM 139 are currently available at DocumentsOnline, with the remainder being added in 2009.

Service from 1873 to 1923 (series ADM 188)

In the original documents there are three groups of service records covering the periods: 1873 - 1891; 1892 - 1907; 1908 - 1923.

If a rating joined the Royal Navy before 1873 and continued service after 1873, he might have a service record in both the ADM 139 and ADM 188 series. Also, some men may appear to have two accounts of service within ADM 188; firstly in the register and then continued in the Continuation Books ("new register"). We have linked these together, so both are attached to the same man's entry.

The covering dates, 1873 - 1923, relate to the opening of the registers. Entries can continue for many years, according to the length of service of each seaman.

While the last entrants were added in 1923, further entries were made to existing registers up until 1928. In 1928 the Royal Navy adopted an index card system instead. For help in researching service details after 1928 please see Why can't I find an entry? below.

The number systems are slightly more complicated. From 1873 an "Official Number" was allocated to all Royal Navy ratings. The General Number (or "O" number) was used from 1873 to 1907.

From 1894 the number system for entrants became more specialised. Blocks of numbers were introduced for six different classes of ratings.

By 1907 a similar numbering system was introduced with four different prefix letters to denote branches, or groups of branches. This revised scheme was used for new entrants from 1908 to 1925.

 

Searching the service records

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We have not digitised the name index volumes. Instead we have used any additional information from the index volumes to compile the searchable online index. For example, where an alias was recorded in the original index, it has been included here. So you can search on details from both the service records and the indexes, entering any or all of the following:

Where no date of birth was recorded in the original document, a date range appears in the search results.

What could these records help me to discover?

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This collection, from 1853 to 1923, includes:

From 1892 you can find greater detail in the records:

ADM 139 documents include details of any service in the merchant navy and may reveal official "ON" numbers (service numbers which can be traced to records of service in ADM 188).

ADM 188 documents may reveal continuous service "CS" numbers - service numbers which can be traced to records of service in ADM 139. You would find this in the "date and period of CS engagement" box, usually in the top left hand corner.

ADM 188 documents also include the service records of men who served in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) mainly during the First World War, denoted by service numbers prefixed with the letter "F".

How to interpret a record

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The documents themselves are straightforward. The first examples are from the record of George Smith (from ADM 139/3) who first served on HMS Victory.

The form in the first image shows that he volunteered on 10 June 1853 and gives his birthdate as 1 December 1838, along with a description of his appearance. The second image shows the form for the certifcate for men and for boys. Elsewhere in George Smith's file it reveals that the exact date of birth is not known (other than "it was about a fortnight before Christmas in 1838").

Here are some examples from 1873 - 1923 (ADM 188). They are on pre-printed forms, with the details listed in headed columns.

Entries can continue for many years, according to the length of service of each seaman. The series includes eight volumes described as "Continuation Books" (held in pieces 83-90). These continue the entries appearing in earlier registers.

While the last entrants were added in 1923, further entries were made to existing registers up until 1928. In 1928 the Royal Navy adopted an index card system instead. For help in researching service details after 1928 please see Why can't I find an entry? below.

The number systems are slightly more complicated. From 1873 an "Official Number" was allocated to all Royal Navy ratings. The General Number (or "O" number) was used from 1873 to 1907.

From 1894 the number system for entrants became more specialised. Blocks of numbers were introduced for six different classes of ratings.

By 1907 a similar numbering system was introduced with four different prefix letters to denote branches, or groups of branches. This revised scheme was used for new entrants from 1908 to 1925.

Why can't I find an entry?

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Continuing your research

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Royal Naval College Gymnasium, Greenwich (Cat ref: ADM 195/47)

Wills of Royal Naval Seamen from 1786 to 1882

The Royal Naval seamen's wills are original wills of Warrant officers and seamen. Most of them are written on printed forms.

Certificates of service from 1802 to 1894

For men who served before 1894, it may be worth checking the certificates of service (for example, if they went on to apply for a pension). These certificates of service are held at The National Archives, Kew, in the series ADM 29/1-96. Many of these records can be searched by name using the Catalogue.

Logs

Having discovered which ship(s) your ancestor served on you might be able to look up specific ship logs. Captains' Logs, 1669-1852, are informative and sometimes include crew lists. These logs are held in the series ADM 51, available at The National Archives. Masters' logs, 1672-1840 are in ADM 52; Masters' supplementary logs, 1808-1871 are in ADM 54; ships' logs, 1799-1979, are in ADM 53; ships' logs (supplementary), 1757-1904 are in ADM 55. Usually ships' logs contain details about ship's movements, weather conditions and routine duties. These logs can be searched by ship's name using the Catalogue.

Another possible source of information is in the series ADM 101, Surgeons' Logs, 1785-1963. Again, these records can be seen at The National Archives.

Census

Since 1861, officer and crew details were listed in special naval schedules, recording servicemen and any passengers. Vessels were enumerated in home and foreign waters. The schedules note the name, rank or rating, marital status, age, and birthplace, as well as location at the time of the census. In the later schedules of 1891 and 1901 name, relation to vessel (whether a member of the crew, etc.), marital status, age last birthday, occupation, birthplace, and "whether blind, deaf or dumb" were noted, along with the location. You can search the census returns by going to Census records and following the links. If you are visiting The National Archives you can view the census 1861 - 1901 free of charge.

The Battle of Trafalgar

If you are researching the Battle of Trafalgar you might be interested in The National Archives Trafalgar online exhibition, the Trafalgar ancestors database (individuals who served in Nelson's fleet) and the DocumentsOnline French Muster Rolls collection.

World War One

If your rating was awarded any campaign medals in the First World War for service in the Royal Navy, you may find details of his medal entitlement in the medal rolls held in ADM 171, pieces 94 to 119. You can view these records at The National Archives.

You can search and download service records of ancestors who served in the Royal Naval Division and Women's Royal Naval Service.

Reading old documents

Although nearly all of these documents are written in English, you might be unused to some older forms of handwriting. If so, you might find this free online Palaeography tutorial helpful.

The National Archives Bookshop

If you would like to read more on using naval records, these books are available from The National Archives bookshop:

Ancestors magazine

There are helpful articles in these back issues of Ancestors:

Research guides

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You can search and download Royal Naval Division service records.

For more information on other Royal Navy, Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), Royal Marines, Coastguard and Merchant Navy records, click on the links to see the relevant research guides. However please note that these records are not available from DocumentsOnline.

The Royal Navy

Records of airmen serving in the RNAS after 1 April 1918

The Royal Marines

The Coastguard service

The Merchant Navy