Interpreting the Register Books

18th Century Register Books

The earliest Register Book was published in 1764, setting the template of a publication yearly published ever since. Although the information published in the early Register Books was much simpler than in the later editions, the lack of column headers may prevent the correct interpretation of the records. Discover hidden meanings exploring this page.

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Names and Ex-Names

This column contains the Name of the vessel.

For approximately the first twenty years the Register Book recorded ex-names. The ex-name quoted was the immediate former name, in this case Southampton. There also could have been previous names not quoted. 'Do.' stands for 'Ditto', used to mark vessels with the same names.

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Rig

The first column also indicates the type of rig of the vessel. Some early Register Books do not seem to differentiate between some similar rigs, for example brig and snow. Thus a ship seemingly becoming a snow may always have been so. This may also apply to early barques given as ship rig. The abbreviations are:

Bg Brig
G Galliot
H Hoy
K Ketch
S Ship
Sp Sloop
Sw     Snow

 

 

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Master's Name

This column contains the name of the ship's captain.

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Tonnage

This column contains the ship's tonnage, together with an indication of the number of decks.

SD    Single Deck
SDB    Single deck with Beams

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Place of Build

This column indicates the location where the vessel was built. If the place was unknown, the information was substituted with the ship's flag. The column also states if the vessel had undergone any modifications or repairs, with the following abbreviations:

DB, dbled    ship covered with extra planking due to wear
grp good repairs
lengthd lengthened
ND new deck
nuw new upper wales
rfd reinforced
rp repairs
srp some repairs
trp thorough repairs

 

The notation 8 4 refers to the presence of eight four-pound guns or carronades on board.

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Year of Build

This column contains the last two digits of the year of build. It also includes the year of repairs or modifications the vessel had undergone.

The notations old and ve. (very) old indicate that the year of build is unknown.

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Owner's Name

This column contains the name of the person owning the majority of the 64 shares of the ship (For more information see Infosheet no. 25).

The notations Capt., Capt. & Co, Cap. prt Owr (part owner), and similar mean that the Master of the ship is also her owner.

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Classification

In the first few decades following the establishment of Lloyd's Register as a society, the classification notations varied considerably. This is because the Society was still adapting and trying to find the best way to describe the conditions of the surveyed vessels.

The following table helps to navigate the initial notations (the extract page on the left illustrates the 1768 version):

1764:  A, E, I, O, U (A being the best class) for the ship's hull; G (Good), M (Middling), B (Bad) for the ship's equipment
1768:   a, b, c (a being the best class) for the ship's hull; 1, 2, 3* (1 being the best class) for the ship's equipment
1775:  A, E, I, O, U (A being the best class) for the ship's hull; 1, 2, 3, 4 (1 being the best class) for the ship's equipment 
1797:   Classification notations of the Underwriters Registers only: M, G, L, Q, Z (M being the best class) for the ship's hull; 8, 4 (8 being the best class) for the ship's equipment
1799:   Classification notations of the Shipowners Registers only: A, E, I, O (A being the best class) for the ship's hull; 1, 2, 3 (1 being the best class) for the ship's equipment

 

Where available, the column also indicates the last two digits of the year of survey.

*The lowest class (3) is represented by the gliph below:

3
 

 

 

For more information on classification notations see Infosheet no. 42.

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Voyages

The voyage details described in the last column of the early Register Books predominantly refer to foreign going vessels or or regular coasters (e.g. ‘Whitby/Scarborough collier’). The collier fleet, in the North and Irish Seas, was always large so it is reasonable to assume many were never in the Register before 1834, when all surviving British registered ships of 50 tons and over were listed. Mid 1780s–1834 the Register had a separate listing of Australian-bound ships with those carrying convicts marked.

Notations such as Liv.Afr.&c. (Liverpool to Africa etc, on the left) and C.Cst.C (Cape Coast Castle, in modern Ghana) refer to ships likely involved in the transatlantic slave trade.

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Edits

It is not uncommon to find handwritten additions, edits, and removals in the early Register Books. These usually refer to voyage updates (on the left), classification changes (below), name changes, or loss of the vessel.

A complete list of abbreviations can be downloaded here.

Organised shipping intelligence was first developed in the 18th Century. Ship owners, merchants, and underwriters met in coffee houses since commercial offices were almost nonexistent. They discussed news, business, and shared information. At the time, shipping cargo via sea was a risky endeavour.

Ships and their cargoes were lost frequently while disease and brutality reigned on board. Ocean voyages were marked by accidents caused by fire, falls, and overloading. To protect their businesses, merchants wanted to know which ships were fit to carry their goods across the oceans and were backed by the underwriters who wanted to minimise their losses.

The Society for the Registry of Shipping (later renamed Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping) was founded in 1760 to protect the commercial interests of all people involved in marine shipping operations. The Register Books reflected the willingness to provide the best possible information to merchants and underwriters on which they would have based their decisions, indicating the seaworthiness of vessels.

The Register Books were the first publication to provide this information on a regular basis. The hull and equipment of the vessels were inspected, and a 'class' (or rating) was applied to them. The subscriptions to the Register Books generated revenue which could be reinvested in the work of surveyors. This established Lloyd's Register as the first classification society.

For more information on the early Register Books see Infosheet no. 34.