Crew list and logbook for the tea clipper 'Cutty Sark'
A list of the crew on board the Cutty Sark for a voyage to Sydney, Australia commencing April 1891 under the command of Captain Richard Woodget (Mss ref: CL 63557 1870), and a logbook recording a voyage from London to China in 1870 under the command of Captain Moodie (Mss ref: MSS/94/002). The NMM holds the Cutty Sark’s official logs for the years 1870-1895 and crew lists for 1870-74.
The 'Cutty Sark'
The famous tea clipper Cutty Sark was commissioned in 1868 and launched in 1869 by London ship owner John Willis. She was built for speed and to directly challenge the Thermopylae, who was regarded as the fastest tea clipper of the age. At the time it was fashionable to drink the freshest tea and the first tea arriving back in Britain could command a premium price. It was thus imperative for tea clippers to be as fast as possible.
The Cutty Sark made her name transporting tea and other cargoes from China but it was as early as 1877 that she carried her last tea cargo. The introduction of steam to power ships made clippers redundant, as they could not compete with the speed of the new ships. The Cutty Sark carried on trading as a general cargo vessel until 1883 when she entered the wool trade, transporting wool from Australia. She was still renowned for her speed and her voyage from Newcastle, NSW to London in 83 days was the best passage of the year, beating every other ship by at least 25 days.
Eventually steam became too profitable and the Cutty Sark was sold to Messrs Ferreira of Lisbon for £2100 in 1895. She was renamed Ferreira and used to carry miscellaneous cargoes between Lisbon and North and South America. There remained a great interest in the Cutty Sark in Britain throughout this period and she eventually returned to Britain in 1922 after Captain Dowman bought her for £3750 in 1922 – well above her commercial value.
Following her arrival in Falmouth she was used to market the town as a tourist destination, opening to the public several years before HMS Victory or USS Constitution. She was also used as a training school for young boys entering the Royal Navy and Mercantile Marine.
In June 1938 she was presented to the Incorporated Thames Nautical Training College and was moored at Greenhithe throughout the Second World War. In May 1953 she was handed over to the Duke of Edinburgh on behalf of the Cutty Sark Society. Work began on a purpose-built dry dock in Greenwich; the Cutty Sark finally moved to her new home in 1957 and was formally opened to the public by the Queen.
Crew lists and logbooks
Crew lists or agreements constitute a detailed contract between a seaman and his employer. Each member of the crew was required to sign on and off at the start and end of each voyage. They were introduced with the Merchant Shipping Act in 1835 and the completed lists were required to be filed with the Register Office of Merchant Seamen. The information within the crew lists was used to create a register of seamen that could be called upon to serve in the Royal Navy during times of war.
Crew lists can provide biographical and employment information for merchant sailors so are an invaluable resource to modern family historians. In addition, crew lists can provide information on migration patterns, literacy levels and the age and marital status of seamen.
Official logs were introduced with the 1850 Merchant Shipping Act and required Masters to keep an account of the voyage. Unfortunately there is only a 20% survival rate for the logbooks and usually only those recording a birth or death have survived. The logbook acts as a ‘Parish Register’ of sorts and provides an account of the voyage, as well as recording any incidents. For example, any births, deaths or marriages that occurred during the voyage are noted, as are any disciplinary matters or desertions amongst the crew. A description of each seaman’s conduct is also included, although it was general practice to simply give each man a V.G. (very good) rating. All surviving logs are kept with the corresponding crew list.
Surviving crew lists have been divided amongst several locations. The NMM holds those for the years 1861, 1862, 1865 and then years ending in a ‘5’ up until 1975.
Those for World War II, including 1945, are held at the National Archives, Kew. The National Archives also holds crew lists prior to 1860 and a random 10% sample of crew lists from all years.
The Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, holds the remainder. A small amount were removed and taken to various County Records Offices, Libraries and other repositories.
If you would like to order crew lists from the NMM please contact the manuscripts department supplying the name of the ship, its official number and the year in which the voyage was completed. Please note that at least two weeks notice is required to view crew lists.
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