Merchant ships of the First World War era are fascinating. This was a period when the goods of the world were transported across oceans to and from teeming ports full of noise and people. Steam ships were taking over from sailing ships although there were still many of these in operation. The shipyards that built the ships were working at full capacity to meet the war-time demand (especially given the numbers that were sunk by U-boats) and the ships they built were magnificent feats of engineering. Two thousand, four hundred and seventy nine merchant ships were sunk in the war and much can be discovered about them by using the sources given below.

The most useful website to go to in order to find out about all aspects of merchant vessels is the Crew List Index Project (CLIP) website. It is a not-for-profit volunteer project, set up to assist research into the records of British merchant seafarers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is an amazing site, which has the most information on ships (and seafarers) in any one place. It is the first ‘port of call’ for any searches because as well as providing the information that it holds, it gives links to other sources of information in other places. Databases that can be searched include:

• Ships by name
• Ships by official number
• Ships by port

These databases draw on original records that include the following sources.

• Registrar General of Shipping – Appropriation Books

From 1855, British ships were given a unique official number when they were first registered. The number stayed with the ship throughout her life, even if she was re-registered or the ship’s name was changed. It was frequently carved or welded onto a substantial part of the ship’s structure.

The official numbers were allocated by the Registrar General of Shipping. At each Port of Registry the numbers were recorded in the Shipping Registers and also in the Appropriation Book for that port. Copies of register entries were sent to the Registrar General of Shipping who maintained the central Appropriation Books, which formed the single complete definitive list of British registered vessels and their official numbers.

CLIP  has made images of the six volumes of these books and data from them forms the basis of the CLIP official number index.

• The Mercantile Navy List

First published in 1849, from 1857 the annual Mercantile Navy List (MNL) listed the official number of every British registered ship afloat at that date, giving details of registry and ownership, and physical details of the ship. It continued until 1977, with a gap during the Second World War. It is by far the most useful record of British registered shipping, because it is comprehensive – including all ships of any tonnage over 15 tons

• Lloyd’s Register of Shipping

This is the annual list of ships insured at Lloyd’s of London. It included official numbers from 1872 and continues to the present. Lloyd’s Register is not comprehensive: only ships registered with Lloyd’s are included, so many smaller ships are not there.

A ship’s page on CLIP

Once you have found the page for the ship that you are interested in on the CLIP website, all the information held on that ship is linked on the ‘sources’ column. Click on these links to bring up this information. For example, the page for the DERBENT on the CLIP website has a list of sources with links. Clicking on the ‘Appropriation Book’ link brings up a scanned page of the original Appropriation Book showing the entry for the DERBENT. Clicking on the ‘MNL’ link brings up a scanned page of the original Mercantile Navy List, 1915, showing the entry for the DERBENT.

Example: search results page for the DERBENT on the CLIP website.

Example: scanned page of the original Appropriation Book showing the entry for the DERBENT.

Example: scanned page of the original Mercantile Navy List, 1915, showing the entry for the DERBENT.

The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich has a series of research guides for those who want to look further. These include where to find information on shipbuilding, including where to find ship’s plans, ship’s movements and cargoes and ship’s company’s records.