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Explore 260 Years of Maritime Heritage

Discover the Heritage Centre, home to the world’s largest open-access maritime archive. Our mission is to preserve and share maritime and engineering history to shape a safer, sustainable ocean economy. Access millions of digitised documents, ship plans, and stories from across the globe all free and available online.

+1,100,000 +1,100,000

documents, ship plans and survey reports freely available online

Explore our collections
£7,000,000 £7,000,000

of grant funding invested in 28 organisations across 12 countries worldwide.

View our partnerships
+200,000 +200,000

active users access Heritage Centre resources annually.

Popular resources

Old Lloyd's Register books on a wooden table, including volumes from 1834, 1855, and 1972-73.

Lloyd's Register of Ships online

Digitised historic editions of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, spanning 1764-2000. Explore over 260 years of maritime history with searchable records by ship name, master, owner, and build location.

Rusted shipwreck tilting in coastal waters near rocky cliffs in misty conditions.

Casualty Returns

The Casualty Returns, or Wreck Returns as they are sometimes referred to, record the total losses of vessels worldwide within incremental periods.

A row of vintage green bound "Lloyd's Register of Yachts" books with gold lettering and anchor emblems.

Lloyd's Register of Yachts online

Explore 110+ volumes of the Lloyd’s Register of Yachts 1878–2001 online. Search yacht names, owners, construction details, dimensions and more.

Digital collections and guides

Digital resources

The Heritage Centre's digital resources offer a unique resource portal, ideal for researchers from diverse disciplines, including maritime historians and economists.

Research guides

Navigating mixed collections and catalogues can sometimes prove difficult and dauting, the Heritage Centre has compiled the useful research guides below to help steer you in the right direction. Some of these are arranged by themes, whereas some focus on specific materials or types of records.

Information guides

Discover a comprehensive collection of information guides designed to support maritime and historical research. Topics range from shipwreck sources, classification societies and passenger lists to the addresses of maritime organisations and institutions.

Alex Stitt Director of the Heritage Centre

This centre holds information on how the ocean economy has shaped our world from 1760 to today – evidence we can use to address the challenges of our future. This new website is the latest step in our goal to share this heritage on the global stage.

Alex Stitt headshot

Latest stories

Green emergency exit sign showing two exits: 150m left and 100m right, with a running figure.

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Guiding to safety: Maritime safety signage

Safety signage is easy to overlook, yet in an emergency at sea, it can mean the difference between life and death. From strict international regulations to lessons learned from disasters, maritime safety signs are far more complex and consequential than most passengers ever realise.

Learning from the Past Maritime History Safety
Black-and-white photograph of a flooded city street, with people navigating by rowing boat past submerged buildings and trees.

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Shipwrecks, fires and flooding in the port of La Boca, Buenos Aires

Nestled at the mouth of the Riachuelo river, Buenos Aires' La Boca port has faced centuries of floods, fires, and shipwrecks. By revisiting landmark disasters, including the catastrophic 1940 flood and the 1984 Perito Moreno tanker fire, this project asks: have we truly learned from the past?

Vintage black-and-white photograph of railway flatcars loaded with grain sacks beside towering stacked sacks.

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Grain cargoes: Keeping the world fed

Grain has shaped human history as one of the world's most vital traded commodities. From ancient Rome to modern shipping, transporting grain has posed unique challenges, including cargo shifting, spoilage, vermin, and strict safety regulations, while also inspiring legendary "grain races" among rival sailing ships.

Learning from the Past Maritime History Safety
Dimly lit ship's bridge with crew at navigation consoles, ocean and sunrise visible through windows.

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A Day in the Life of Marine Pilot Captain Kate Delisky

Captain Kate Delisky, a Marine Pilot at the Port of Townsville, offers a glimpse into her dynamic career. With over two decades of maritime experience, Kate's story reflects both the technical demands and quiet rewards of life on the water.

Equity & Transparency Learning from the Past

Latest blogs

Vintage photograph of a large ocean liner with four funnels leaving port, accompanied by smaller tugboats.

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A town in mourning: Southampton after Titanic

In April 1912, the Titanic's sinking devastated Southampton, home to nearly 700 of the 1,500 crew members lost. Beyond the headlines, ordinary families faced grief, financial hardship, and lasting consequences — ultimately driving landmark changes to international maritime safety law.

Learning from the Past Maritime History Safety
Pastel drawing of labourers carrying a heavy beam, with other workers visible in the background.

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Frank Brangwyn and the lost Lloyd’s Register artworks

Discover the story of Frank Brangwyn's lost masterpieces, commissioned for Lloyd's Register's iconic headquarters at 71 Fenchurch Street. From celebrated dock worker panels to their mysterious disappearance in the 1960s, this is a fascinating tale of art, history, and rediscovery.

Collection Maritime History
Vintage black-and-white photograph of a lifeboat on shore surrounded by crew members at a coastal harbour.

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Frank Strike Collection: Cornish shipwreck lantern slides

In November 2023, Lloyd's Register Foundation acquired the Frank Strike Collection - 341 rare magic lantern slides documenting Cornish shipwrecks, rescues, and salvage operations from the 1890s to 1960s. Curated by coastguard and local historian Frank Strike, this remarkable archive offers unique insight into maritime history, lifesaving technology, and coastal communities.

Collection

Our partners

Collaboration is at the heart of the Heritage Centre. We work with a diverse network of organisations across industry, academia, and the heritage sector to preserve maritime history and advance knowledge for a safer world.

Our partners include leading maritime associations, museums, research institutions, and global initiatives that share our commitment to safety, sustainability, and education.

Together, we digitise archives, develop learning resources, and champion projects that connect the past with the future of engineering and maritime.

Find out more about this partner at https://icmm-maritime.org/ Logo of the International Congress of Maritime Museums featuring a blue seahorse silhouette
Find out more about this partner at https://www.lr.org/ The logo for Lloyd's Register Group, shown as a teal square block with the LR silhouette internally.
Find out more about this partner at https://oceanfdn.org/?supporter=lloyds-register-foundation Logo of The Ocean Foundation featuring a stylized wave symbol and blue text.
Find out more about this partner at https://www.rmg.co.uk/ Logo for Royal Museums Greenwich featuring a stylized 'G' symbol with a circle and vertical line.