http://www.naa.gov.au/index.htm
For those searching for the birth, marriage or death of a passenger at
sea, the following information concerning what you may find in British
records, may be helpful.

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

1804- 1814 British Ships and part of their Crew

Alfred       GALE midshipman       With Haywood at his murder,injured 1806-1811

Alfred       HAYWOOD Wm. mast/mate Of Lichfield, murdered at Givet   1806-1811

Bassett      PHILLIPS Joseph  mate Of Penzance, died in France       xxxxx1804

Bassett      SAMPSON Thomas        Of Penzance, died in France       xxxxx1808

Blanch       LEVI Thomas Sir Capt. JTS got 1/3 from him at Melun     06Feb1814

Ceres        BOWDEN Thomas Capt    Met JTS at Mousehole, hospitality 09May1814

Dartmouth    SHORT John Tregerthen Went aboard off Paulliac          29Apr1814

Friendship   COGAR Thomas  A.B.    Died in prison at Givet, France   02Jan1804

Friendship   SINCOCK Josias mast/owDied as POW at Verdun             02Jan1804

Friendship   WILLIAMS Thomas       Apprentice, age 17                02Jan1804

Friendship   DUNNE George    mate  In crew when captured, prisoner   02Jan1804

Friendship   SINCOCK Josias mast/owSailed from St Ives for France    02Jan1804

Friendship   SHORT John Tregerthen Apprentice, age 19                02Jan1804

Friendship   SINCOCK William       Apprentice, son of Captain, boy 1202Jan1804

Friendship                         Crew arrived Givet                14Apr1804

Friendship   SINCOCK James         Cousin of J T SHORT, clothes to Fr29Mar1804

Friendship   SINCOCK Josias mast/owUncle of J T SHORT & Thos WILLIAMSxxxxx1801

Friendship   COGAR Thomas seaman   Of St Ives, died in France        xxxxx1811

Harwich Packt                      Crew detained at start of war     14Apr1804

Hussar HMS   O'BRIEN Donat Mr      Midshipman, later Rear-Admiral    14Apr1804

Hussar HMS   PELLEW Edward Sir     His despatch aboard when wrecked  14Apr1804

Hussar HMS                         Wrecked nr Brest, crew imprisoned 14Apr1804

Hussar HMS   WILKINSON Capt        Wrecked crew to Givet,had despatch14Apr1804

Hussar HMS   ANDREWS Joseph seaman Of Penryn, died in France         xxxxx1804

Hussar HMS   PENGELLY Henry seaman Of Cornwall, died in France       xxxxx1809

La BellePoule                      Captain helped them               30Apr1814

La Dolph                           Privateer brig took the Friendship29Mar1804

La Minerve                         HMS, Crew captured at Cherbourg   14Apr1804

La Minerve   BRADSHAW              Clerk to captain, big rascal      14Apr1804

La Minerve   WILSON    marine      Informed on HAYWOOD & GALE        1806-1811

La Minerve   BRADSHAW Mr W T       Acting clerk, caring for prisonersxxJan1804

La Minerve   BRENTON Jahleel Capt  Surrendered,11 men killed,16 woundxxJul1803

La Minerve   BRENTON Jahleel Capt  HMS, grounded blockade, Cherbourg xxJul1803

Ld Wellington                      Drafted aboard transport with 350 01May1814

Lisbon PacketJENKYNS William Capt  Of Clovelly, captured by La Dolph 29Mar1804

Margaret     CARTER George Capt    Of Exeter, captured by La Dolph   29Mar1804

Martial                            Gun-brig of homeward convoy       04May1814

Mary         KENDAL Edward seaman  Of Padstow, died in France        xxxxx1804

Nelson       CORNELIUS Richard carpOf Falmouth, died in France       xxxxx1805

Recovery     JOHNS Henry           Privateer of St Ives,crew imprison14Apr1804

Recovery     BLIGHT Henry          A crew member,friend of T WILLIAMS1804-1814

Recovery     DUNN Richard          Of St Ives, 4 years solitary      29Jun1812

Recovery     HEARN Robert seaman   Of Perran, died in France         xxxxx1804

Recovery     OSBORN Robert seaman  Of Penryn, died in France         xxxxx1804

Recovery     DAVIS Thomas  boy     Of St Just, died in France        xxxxx1804

Recovery     MAJOR Ephraim seaman  Of St Ives, died in France        xxxxx1809

Recovery     WILLIAMS Jos. prize maOf Portreath, died in France      xxxxx1810

Recovery     BURGOYNE William seam Of St Ives, died in France        xxxxx1811

Recovery     SIMONS William landsmaOf Perrans, died in France        xxxxx1812

Sir W DouglasEWIN Thomas           Told of shaft dug, the traitor!   18May1805

Spider       O'BRIEN Donat Mr      Escaped to Trieste, joined ship   07Nov1808

Spider                             Gun-brig in charge of convoy      24Mar1804

Spider                             Captured off Beachy Head by French28Mar1804

Suffolk                            Drafted aboard for journey home   03May1814

Unnamed ship STEVENS Henry Capt    Of St Ives captured with crew     1804-1814