Genealogy - http://maxpages.com/ourlostfamily/BMD_at

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES & DEATHS OF PASSENGERS AT SEA

The General Register Office's Marine Registers record births and deaths at
sea on ships registered in Great Britain or Ireland from 1 July 1837. These
are available through LDS libraries everywhere. The IGI covers events 'at
sea.' Less well known however are the records held at the Public Record
Office in Kew, England. If the name you are seeking does not appear in the
Marine Registers of the GRO, then you should consider a search in the
records held at Kew.

Briefly, the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854 required masters of UK
registered ships to deposit logs of their voyages with the Registrar
General of Shipping and Seamen. Details of births, marriages and deaths of
passengers were extracted, entered into registers, and the details
forwarded periodically to the GROs of England (and Wales), Scotland and
Ireland. (Note however that marriages were not recorded by the GRO who hold
no marriage records in the Marine Registers.)

They are held in the following series of records:

1. BT158 Births, Deaths and Marriages of Passengers At Sea 1854 - 1890

These have been filmed and may consequently be available through your LDS
library. Note that marriages were recorded only up to 1883 and births only
up to 1887.

2. BT159 Registers of Deaths of British Nationals at Sea 1875-1888
2a BT160 Registers of Births of British Nationals at Sea 1875-1891

These have also been filmed and may be available through your LDS library.
These registers also include deaths of seamen.

3. BT334 Registers and Indexes of Births, Deaths and Marriages of
Passengers and Seamen at Sea, 1891-1972

In an ideal situation, all these entries should appear in the GRO Marine
Registers but in practice there are many omissions as records were not
always forwarded. The GRO Marine Registers themselves began much earlier
than the BT records mentioned above but again there are many omissions in
the early years. As stated, marriage records are not recorded in the Marine
Registers. It will be seen therefore that in order to search for a record
of an event at sea, it may be necessary to search all of the above sources.
Recognise also that until the Registration Act of 1874, Masters were not
required by law to notify the RGSS of births and deaths on board and
although the events should have been entered into the log this was not
always done.

Finally there is also a class of miscellaneous returns at the PRO:

4. RG32 General Register Office: Miscellaneous Returns of Births, Marriages
and Deaths.

These record births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials of British
subjects, nationals of the Colonies, Commonwealth and countries under
British jurisdiction, on British and foreign ships.

These records are available on film, are indexed in RG43 also filmed, and
may therefore be available through the LDS library system.

This is just an overview of the most likely sources for locating
information of events at sea. You may wish to view the information and
on-line leaflets at the PRO's website http://www.pro.gov.uk

If after extensive searching in all the above sources you are still unable
to confirm the birth, marriage or death of your ancestor as expected, you
may have to consider whether this story was just a romantic notion...
always check the normal GRO registers of birth, marriage or death if you
are unsuccessful in the marine registers - you could be surprised.

There were no marriages on Belgian ships, the captain did
not have that authority. Thus we have only Births and Deaths.

There is no central register for births and deaths at sea on
Belgian registered ships. Unfortunately, nothing like the two
British Board of Trade and GRO series.
The captain had to record these events in the ship's logbook
and on arrival at the next port declare them at the nearest
Belgian consulate. If it was on the voyage to Antwerp, then
directly to the Waterschout (that is the harbour master, who
was responsible for the emigrants). The recorded B's and D's
from the consulates made their way back to Antwerp, then
through various channels eventually to the place of origin of
the person.

The records seem to be kept in Belgium in one of these two places:
- Nationaal Scheepvaartmuseum, Steenplein 1, 2000 Antwerpen
- Rijksarchief, Kruibekesteenweg 39, 9120 Beveren-Waas.

I don't know which ones are where, nor if all are preserved.

The main Belgian shipping line carrying emigrants was the
Red Star Line. It should be remembered that their ships were
almost randomly under Belgian, British or American registry.

Also the procedure outlined of passing the record to the place
of origin would hardly work for the Eastern European immigrants
who comprised so much of the passenger load.

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Page Updated Sun May 28, 2000 8:02am EDT