Theme 3: Safety – Shipwrecks and Maritime Disaster
Learning from past maritime disasters to develop a global perspective and integrate lessons learned to advance maritime safety, resilience and sustainability.
Shipwreck records
This page is approximately a 3 minute read
About our shipwreck records
The Lloyd’s Register Foundation Archive contains valuable resources for researchers of shipwrecks. Although earlier records are sparse, as there is no unified source for shipwrecks before 1741, later records can be used to piece together accounts of shipwrecks around the world.
Key collections
- Lloyd’s Register of Ships. Losses have been recorded since the first volume was published in 1764. You can find editions, in which, vessels have been stamped ‘Collision’, ‘Foundered’, or ‘Condemned’. The Register Books have been digitised.
- Wreck Reports (LR/5/3/2). Since the 1890s, these reports have recorded details of a ship’s loss, acting almost as a ship’s death certificate. They would have been written by a Lloyd’s Register surveyor, sent to the Classing Committee, and then filed with the rest of the ship’s documentation. They can be found by searching our website, as they have been digitised.
- Wreck Books (LR/5/2/7). Distinct from Wreck Reports, these unpublished books were created from 1940 to 1969. They contain detailed information on total losses, cargo, and casualties. They include vessels not classed by Lloyd’s Register and have not yet been digitised.
- Casualty Returns (LR/5/1/7) were annual, then quarterly, publications that accounted for the total losses of ocean-going merchant vessels over 100 gross tonnes. They record losses according to flag and cause of loss. Later editions also show the year of build (since 1928) and ship type (since 1939). They have not been catalogued to item level but are available as PDFs on our website.
- An example of LRF’s photographic holdings comes from the Frank Strike Collection (FS). The collection is composed of lantern slides collected, produced, and used by Frank Strike. It includes images of shipwrecks around the Cornish coast taken by the Gibson family and others. Slides relate to Porthleven, lifesaving inventions, freedom of Helston, and Breage.
Key search terms
- Shipwrecks
- Marine Archaeology
- Maritime Disasters
- First World War
- Second World War
Other resources
Within the Library collection, there are volumes that complement LRF’s Archival holdings. These include Shipwreck Index of the British Isles, 7 vols (1995-2005) compiled by Richard and Bridget Larn and A Checklist of Narratives of Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea to 1860: With Summaries, Notes and Comments by Keith Gibson Huntress (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1979). They both provide comprehensive overviews of shipwrecks for their respective periods and localities.
Additionally, there are published Reports in the Library Collection, such as:
- Report of an investigation into the circumstances attending the loss of the steam ship 'Forerunner', on the coast of Madeira, on the 25 October 1854, and into the competency and conduct of the master and officers of the said vessel, with the minutes of evidence
- Report from the Select Committee on the Causes of Shipwrecks, pub. 1874. Includes lists of British wrecks for years 1867-1874
Finally, for a contemporary connection to our Archival holdings, please see Lloyd’s Register’s ongoing Potentially Polluting Wrecks (PPW) Programme.
External resources
- The Wreck Site (an online wreck database)
- Wreck Office Records, 1860-1950 (WKO), United Kingdom Hydrographic Office
- Nautical Archaeology Society
Related Content
Maritime Archaeology resources
The remnants of maritime culture on land as well as underwater form an endearing story of our global maritime and industrial heritage. Explore the archaeology resources that link together maritime collections in the UK.
Casualty Returns
The Casualty Returns, or Wreck Returns as they are sometimes referred to, record the total losses of vessels worldwide within incremental periods.