These two sets of Agreements and logs for the MOUNT STEWART (official number 98559) and CROMDALE (official number 98561) date from the period 1891 -1913. Built in 1891 by Barclay, Curle & Co Ltd of Glasgow for Donaldson, Rose & Co of Aberdeen, MOUNT STEWART and CROMDALE were sister ships of identical tonnage. These vessels were the last two sailing clippers built specifically for the Australian wool trade.

While the lists are mainly Foreign Trade, there are some corresponding Home Trade lists, covering for example, the return voyage to London or Leith from Hamburg where the cargo was unloaded. There are also some corresponding logs covering the voyage to Australia and back.

See item records for further information.

Administrative / biographical background
The Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (RGSS) was the department of the Board of Trade responsible for the registration of merchant seamen and for keeping the crew lists and logs required by law to be submitted at the end of a voyage (Foreign Trade) or twice yearly (Home Trade). In the postwar years the RGSS agreed to release some of the records for ships which had been built over 50 years before and some Agreements, Crew Lists and Logs therefore went into private ownership. These particular lists are considered separately from the Museum's main collection of Agreements, Crew Lists and Logs ( RSS/CL ) because they cover years which are not otherwise held by the Museum. For further information see Research guide C1: The Merchant Navy: Tracing people: Crew lists, agreements and official logs, available at: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers/library/research-guides/the-merchant-navy/tracing-people-crewlists-agreements-logs