Search for vessel data by official number
This page is an index of ships by official number. Bear in mind that ships were often re-named so
there may be several different names for the same vessel. NB! Discrepancies between sources are common: we transcribe 'as seen'. It
is up to you to decide which you think is the definitive version.The source of the information is shown. This may be shipping and fishing registers, the Mercantile Navy List (MNL) or the Appropriation Books at the Registry of Shipping and Seamen (RSS), in which case the port or ports at which the ship was registered are shown. Known crew list holdings are also shown. If they are, see the crew lists at record offices and crew lists at TNA pages for more details. The index also returns any book references which quote the official number, showing the author's name first.
Please see the finding aids page for more details on sources, the abbreviations we have used, and acknowledgements.
The database includes every British registered ship from 1855 to the early 1950s with official numbers 1 to 200000.
It was last updated on 1 February 2012 and contains 564489 entries.