Vessel Collection
Search the Vessel Collection using standard or advanced search.
Search the Vessel Collection using standard or advanced search.
What you can expect to find in the Vessel Collection
The Heritage Centre holds records, and references to, historic ships dating from 1834 to the early 1960’s. These records cover vessels classed by Lloyd’s Register during this period, and by other classification societies which amalgamated with Lloyd’s Register. The archive only covers ship surveyed from 1834 to the early 1960s, though references to ships classed before this time are included in the Lloyd’s Register of Ships from 1764.
Records for ships built, and classed by Lloyd’s Register, after the 1960’s are not currently held by the Heritage Centre. Access to these records, where available, can be granted by Lloyd’s Register in special circumstances (contactlr@lr.org). Digitised Lloyd’s Register of Ships can be consulted online, and the Heritage Centre is happy to assist with finding references to particular vessels.
Frequently asked questions
The Heritage Centre holds records for merchant ships that were historically classed and surveyed by Lloyd’s Register from 1834 to the early 1960’s. Documents include survey reports, ship plans and technical drawings, correspondence, certificates and sometimes photographs, linked to a ship under the vessel database. The list of vessels is not exhaustive, and it only references ships for which archival documents are available at the Heritage Centre.
The easiest way to search for a historic ship is to use the collections pages under “Vessel” or “Archive”. For best results, search by ship name and try and use the ship builder or build year where known. There can be many ships with the same name, built at a similar time, so you may have to cross-reference the vessel records against Lloyd’s Register of Ships.
The “Vessel ID” is an internal catalogue reference used to help you find the correct vessel record. This is not an official number or the LR number.
You can also search for multiple ships built in the same year or by the same builder by using the advanced search function.
Vessel records exist for ships classed by Lloyd’s Register between 1834 and the early 1960’s. Each vessel record should link to all relevant archive documents that have been catalogued and digitised.
We suggest you search for all previous known names for a vessel. Sometimes, multiple vessel records have been created accidentally and might need amending.
Please note that we are actively appraising, sorting and cataloguing records and not everything is currently digitised and available to browse online. Catalogue records will be updated occasionally because of this.
The information recorded for vessels can vary, and some vessel records only contain a small amount of information, but they usually include the ship name, build year, ship builder and place of build. Further information such as ship type, material, dimensions and the captain, can be found on the digitised individual survey reports and in the Register Books.
Some notable and famous ships have biographies on the record and include some information on their service and activities. This includes ships like the Cutty Sark, Thermopylae, Mauretania and Fullagar.
The Heritage Centre has further information recorded on ships that we are looking to incorporate into the catalogue or other resources. We are also updating catalogue entries and improving the information on the website, if you spot an error, please don’t hesitate to get in contact and we can amend it. Alternatively, you can report errors with records online using the “report an issue” function.