18th century Register Books
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The earliest Register Book was published in 1764, setting the template of a publication that has been published yearly 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.
About the early Registers
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.
18th Century Register Books
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
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 equipmentWhere available, the column also indicates the last two digits of the year of survey.
*The lowest class (3) is represented by the glyph below:
For more information on classification notations see Classification symbols 1764-1994 (Information guide 35).
Researching the earliest Register of Ships
This guide contains abbreviations and advice for researching the early editions of the Lloyd’s Register of Ships.
List of abbreviations
A complete list of abbreviations.