Dundee has long been a port city and owes much of its prosperity to its location on the Tay. Its small harbour was developed by the Council and then taken over by the Dundee Harbour Trust in the early 19th Century. It was then enlarged to accommodate more traffic and larger vessels. Many people in Dundee were then employed in industries at the harbour as well on the ships bound for foreign and British ports. This guide lists some of the records you can use to trace someone who served on board a ship. Please note that someone who was from Dundee may not have always served on a Dundee based ship.
Royal Navy Records
Records relating to the Royal Navy will either still be held by the Ministry of Defence or are accessible through the National Archives in London. The records available will depend on when the sailor served in the Royal Navy. This research guide details the records available for Royal Naval ratings (i.e. not officers) between 1853 and 1928. For someone who joined the Navy after 1928 you will need to apply to the Ministry of Defence. Information on this process can be found here. The National Archives has more guides about the Royal Navy and records available.
Seaman and Merchant Navy Records
If your ancestor sailed on a merchant or cargo vessel, they were probably in the Merchant Navy. Sadly not many records prior to the 1st World War have survived. Again most of the records that have survived are held by the National Archives in London. This handy guide explains what is available. If you are looking for someone who sailed after 1918, please see this guide.
People often ask us if there is a list of people who served on a ship. If these have survived they are also held at the National Archives in London. Please see this guide to the available records.
We do hold some individual records that belonged to sailors, these included certificates, apprenticeship indentures, correspondence and papers. These records have usually been given to us by a family member. The can be found under the “Maritime – Mariners A-Z” section our of Subject Index, available to download here.
Harbour Pilots
Pilots were small ships who guided larger ships into a dock or harbour. As the riverbed was not all the same depth it was important to ensure that the increasingly larger vessels did not run aground. Pilots in Dundee were employed by the Harbour Trust. There are lots of records relating to the running of the pilotage district and records such as pilot master’s reports in the Dundee Harbour Trust collection held here at Dundee City Archives (Ref: GD/DH). There are some records relating to the individual pilots, see the table below:
**Please note that some records less than 100 years old may be closed to the public – please contact us for more information.
| DH/9/7 | Licensing and Certification of Pilots | ||
| DH/9/7/1 | Applications and Examinations | ||
| F8/97 | Pilot Applications (see also F8/84) | 1920-1924 | |
| F8/84 | Applications for vacancies in Pilotage Service – now obsolete owing to applicants having reached age limit before being appointed and also applications from Pilots who have been appointed (see also F8/97) | 1921-1940 | |
| B4/34 | Dundee Pilotage Examination Papers | 1941-1946 | |
| Box 216 | Pilots Certificates – Examinations | 1962 | |
| F8/12 | Correspondence with Messrs D & J Nicol of Dundee re examination of Mr James Mitchell, mate of Steamer “Kinfauns Castle” for a pilotage certificate | 1906-1907 | |
| F8/29 | Opinions and advice from Board of Trade re eyesight tests for Masters and Mates applying for Pilotage Certificates | 1922 | |
| A8/8/2 | Production of Eyesight Certificates by applicants for pilotage certificates | c.1946 | |
| DH/9/7/2 | Certificates | ||
| B5/12 | Miscellaneous Register of Pilots’ Certificates | 1832-1838 | |
| B7/2 | Pilotage Certificates | 1900-1921 | |
| Pilotage Certificates | 1922-1968 | ||
| DH/9/7/3 | Licences | ||
| C5/1 | Guard Book of Pilots’ petitions and licences – not all years | 1838-1872 | |
| B7/3 | Pilotage Licences | 1885-1915 | |
| Box 322 | Licenses of Pilots | 1922-1961 |
There are also log books for some of the pilot ships (1915 onwards) as well as correspondence and more general files about the running of the pilot service.
Shipmasters and Captains
The Dundee Directories contain a list of all vessels registered at the port of Dundee. This contains information about the ship including its owner and the name of the captain at the time. Other records such as Shipping Registers (held at the National Records of Scotland) and Lloyds Register of shipping (we hold some printed copies, or some are available online) will tell you who the captain of a ship was. Not all of these records are indexed by the ship’s captains name so may take some time to search if you don’t know which ship they served on. The records are not going to tell you much about the captain, as they contain more information about the ship and its owners.
The National Maritime Museum holds Masters and Mate certificates 1850-1927. These are available to view online through ancestry.co.uk (you will need a subscription to access this). Newspapers are also a great source of information on ship masters. You can search by a ships name or the name of the person you are looking for. If there was an incident involving a ship, the master’s name is often recorded. You can search Dundee newspapers up to 1955 through the British Newspaper Archive (another subscription site – but you can use it for free at any Dundee Library or here at the archives) or you can view physical copies of newspapers at the Local History Centre in the Wellgate Library.
Sailors’ organisations
Dundee Sailors’ Home (62 Dock Street) was opened on 16th December 1881 by the Earl of Dalhousie and had ceased to operate by 1988. Dundee City Archives holds registers covering 1928-1966. Registers give list of entry, name, occupation, nationality, ship’s name or home address and destination; other trades such as travellers, labourers and organ tuners used this hostel. The records are listed in date order and there is no name index. The registers are closed for 85 years.
We also hold records of the Fraternity of Seamen (Ref: GD/Hu/SF). This includes an index of masters c.1785-1861 (Ref: GD/Hu/SF/10/1), pensions lists and vouchers, 1851-1922 (and some later). Pensions may have been awarded to widows or children of members of the fraternity.
Tracing a Ship
As mentioned above ships registered at the port of Dundee are listed in the Dundee Directories. The coming an goings of ships in the port are sometimes reported in the local press. You can search Dundee newspapers up to 1955 through the British Newspaper Archive (another subscription site – but you can use it for free at any Dundee Library or here at the archives) or you can view physical copies of newspapers at the Local History Centre in the Wellgate Library. Newspapers will also contain reports of accidents, sinkings and other notable events involving Dundee ships both near and far from the port.
In the Harbour Trust collection (Ref: GD/DH) we do hold some shipping arrivals and departure books for the docks but the earliest starts in 1916 and the coverage dates vary by dock/wharf. We do also hold much older registers of ships at the harbour in the Council collection, these cover 1580-1589 and 1612-1713.
There may be other sources available not listed in this guide. If you have a specific question about a Dundee sailor or ship, please contact us.
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