Description

Admin History:

From the 1660s onwards a series of Navigation Acts required all ships to be registered in an attempt to encourage them to use British ships and British crews. The 1786 Merchant Shipping Act required the owners of any ship over 15 tons to be registered with customs officials at its home port and a copy of each certificate was sent to Customs House in London.

In 1825 a further Act required that ownership of each vessel be divided into 64 shares and any change in ownership of these shares or of the Master of the vessel had to be recorded and sent down to Customs House in London.

Both the Certificate of Survey and the Declaration of Ownership record details relating to the ship including its name, vessel number, where and when it was built and registered, the number of decks, masts and its rigging, with length of vessel and its tonnage.

The Certificate of Survey also includes details of the surveyor, whilst the Declaration of Ownership includes details of the owner, the number of shares they hold and confirmation that they are loyal to the Crown.

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