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Description

This image shows the cover of the magnificently-bound volume of proformas recording vessels registered at the Port of Cardigan between 21 January 1850 and 30 April 1855. Each page contains detailed information about individual vessels:

1) port registry number and date of registration
2) name
3) names of masters
4) where and when it was built or when it was captured as a prize of war its ownership conferred to Britain by court Admiralty
5) names, occupations and addresses of owners
6) type of vessel
7) number of decks and masts with their rigging
8) length, breadth and depth of hold measurements
9) tons burden of cargo carrying capacity
10) what material the hull was made from

The ownership details contained in shipping register entries often provide an insight into the way that financial risk in seafaring ventures was spread amongst local people in coastal communities.

Ownership is traditionally divided into 64 equal shares (64 being an easily divisible prime number). The origin of this practice has not been definitely established. One theory is that it dates back to reign of Queen Elizabeth, when vessel owners were taxed to pay for naval protection. To secure this tax the Crown took 36 of the original 100 shares in each vessel, leaving the owner with 64 shares.

The registration of ships in Wales began with a series of Navigation Acts from the 1660s onwards (during reign of King Charles II) which attempted to ensure that British goods were carried only in British ships. Ships were registered by collectors of customs dues and taxes who would ensure that the ship was also owned by British nationals.
Registration was made compulsory by the Shipping and Navigation Act 1786 which established the Registrar General of Shipping, under the Board of Customs.

The Merchant Shipping Act 1786 required the owners of any British ship with a deck and of more than 15 tons burden to register it with the Customs officers in its home port. Each certificate of registration was numbered in an annual sequence, entered into a registration book and copied: the copies or Transcripts were then sent to the Registrar General of Shipping and Seaman in London.

An Act of 1825 laid down that the ownership of any vessel must be divided into 64 shares and that details of ownership and changes in ownership, known together as Transactions, and any change of master be endorsed on the Transcripts held in the Customs Houses. As a consequence, the bound volumes of Shipping Registers conserved in the Welsh network of county archives usually include both the Register volumes (as this one from Cardigan shown above) and volumes containing slightly different proformas recording all the subsequent changes in ownerships, the Transactions Books. This can make the tracing the full history of a vessel rather complicated, especially as vessels were often registered more than once and changed ports of registry during their service lives.

Each registry page usually contains a handwritten note directing to the subsequent register entry or the transactions book. Each registrar had their own note system, again sometimes adding complication to tracing a ship across multiple entries.

Do not be daunted - following the trail across these glorious volumes brings Welsh maritime history to life as you step into the daily lives of customs officer, mariners and shipowners. Kind archives staff are always on hand to help.


Follow these links to find out more about ship registration:
National Archives, Kew, Research Guides
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/merchant-ship...
Royal Museums Greenwich (National Maritime Museum) Research Guides
http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/library/research-guides/the-merchant-na...
Liverpool Plantation Registers 1774-1773 and 1779-1784:
http://www.microform.co.uk/guides/R96481.pdf
Mercantile Navy List
http://www.maritimearchives.co.uk/mercantile-navy-list.html

Below are the locations of Welsh Shipping Registers within the Welsh Archives Network (arranged north to south around the coast):

Flintshire Record Office: Port of Chester

Gwynedd Archives, Caernarfon Record Office: Ports of Beamaris, Caernarfon, and Pwlhelli

Ceredigion Archives: Port of Aberystwyth (plus one transactions register for Cardigan)

Pembrokeshire Archives: Port of Cardigan and Milford Haven

Carmarthenshire County Record Office: Ports of Carmarthen and Llanelli

West Glamorgan Archive Service: Ports of Port Talbot and Swansea

Glamorgan Archives: Port of Cardiff

Gwent Archives: Ports of Chepstow and Newport

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