How To Research Ancestors Who Were Lost At Sea

Researching ancestors who died at sea can involve more detective work and extra time for the amateur family historian compared to the more usual case of a deceased relative. The availability of definitive information for deaths at sea also varies significantly depending on the time period, the specifics of ship involved (type of vessel, where the death occurred, the ship's country of registration, purpose of the voyage etc) and the nationality or place of residence of the person of interest.

Nevertheless there are some general lines of research and specialist resources which will help you get started and, with luck, provide you with answers.

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Burials at sea

Burial at sea is a comparatively recent practice. In most ancient cultures land burial or other means of disposal of a body was preferred so the funeral rites of that culture could be observed. But as ships began ever longer voyages it was not possible to keep the bodies of the deceased on board for an extended period. Burial at sea was the only option^[1].

For steerage passengers and convicts or for anyone on board ship in times where the crew faced with dealing with multiple deaths, for example as a result of disease, burials at sea might be hasty affairs with little ceremony. But in other situations, for example where military officers or senior members of crew had been killed in battle or important persons were involved, such burials could involve significant solemnity and ritual. This reflected not only the perceived need to honour the deceased but also contemporary cultural values or superstitions. Specific actions were sometimes deemed necessary to "cleanse" the ship from evil spirits or protect the crew and any passengers from the risk of future trouble^[2].

From the 20^th century onwards, as ships became faster and increasingly had access to facilities such as refrigeration, sea burials became less common. In such cases even when a person died at sea the body could be kept until an appropriate port was reached, allowing for a final resting place on land.

How deaths at sea were recorded

As a very general rule deaths at sea would be reported by the ship’s surgeon or medical officer to the officer of the watch who in turn reported it to the captain. Common practice was for the exact position of the ship at the time of death would then be recorded in the ship’s log.

However this usual practice could vary considerably, depending on the time period and the circumstances in which the death occurred. For example aboard British-registered ships:

There was no obligation to keep records of births, marriages, or deaths at sea before 1854.
If the death occurred after the start of UK civil registration (July 1837 in England and Wales, January 1855 in Scotland, January 1864 in Ireland), a record had to be sent to the appropriate General Register Office (GRO). Which GRO depended on the nationality or place of residence of the deceased’s father. Records related to foreigners were, from 1875, sent to the GRO for England and Wales.
After 1854 recording births, marriages, or deaths at sea in ships’ logs became compulsory. When the ship next docked at a British port, the information from the logs was then passed onto the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (RGSS). In turn copies of the RGSS registers were periodically sent to the appropriate national GRO.

The type of ship or the location of the death could potentially affect the recording process, as different types of vessels (such as military ships, merchant ships, passenger ships, etc.) might have different reporting procedures.

Additionally, laws of more than one county may have operated. The laws might include those of the country where the ship was registered; those applicable to its next port of call; and those of the country of which the deceased was a citizen or normally resident.^[3]

Researching deaths at sea

Researching an ancestor who died at sea is likely to be time-consuming and involve specialist archives and databases-as well as a degree of luck. It is also important to recognise that where records of deaths at sea are available they were kept for reasons of state and commerce, not with future genealogical research in mind^[3].

The level of detail about the death which is accessible will also vary considerably. Only in limited circumstances can you expect to find comprehensive information about the circumstances of the death or official documentation, such as a death certificate (see below, under Australia, for one such example).

It will be very helpful if as you begin your research you at least have some basic details about the death. For example:

When did the death likely occur?
What was the name of the vessel on which the death occurred?
Was the person a passenger or a crew member on an ordinary commercial vessel? A crew member in the merchant marine? A military service personnel who died at sea, either by misadventure or in conflict?
What was the nationality and/or normal place of residence of the deceased?
What was the ship's country of registration? What was its shipping route (port of departure/destination) at the time of the death?
Is there evidence that, although the death occurred at sea, the body my have been held for later burial on land?

Any of this information will help you narrow your search. From there you can start by reviewing some country specific resources.

The examples below do not represent a comprehensive list; rather they aim to show examples of sources, both general and specialist, in a range of countries where relevant information on deaths at sea may be found.

Australia

Australian National Maritime Museum provide a guide on how to find information on a seafaring ancestor. This consists of books, digitised issues, and an index to the Australian Navy Lists for people serving in Australian waters, including those who died at sea.
The National Archives of Australia holds records about service in the Royal Australian Navy, including service cards for navy officers and petty officers from 1911 to 19702. All navy service cards have been digitised and are available to view online.
'The Warrior' convict-hulk at Woolwich, 1848. Such hulks held convicts prior to transportation to the Australian colonies. Many died on the journey.
Various Australian state registries of Births, Marriages and Deaths facilitate searching for deaths at sea through their online databases. For example you can narrow down searches for deaths at sea in the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages Index Historical records by entering ‘marine’ in the ‘District’ field of the search tool. This search is free but by purchasing a death certificate you can obtain other details which may include the date and cause of their death, the latitude and longitude of where their death occurred, their age, the place of their birth, their parents’ names, the name of the ship and which port the ship departed from. The State Library of NSW website has a good guide to this and other resources for researching deaths at sea of convicts and immigrants to the state.

France

There does not appear to be any specific resources devoted to research on deaths at sea of French nationals. In their absence more general databases may provide some relevant information:

Departmental Archives of the specific French department where persons of interest lived may have records which include details of deaths at sea.
Obituaries or death notices in French newspapers might provide information about individuals who died at sea.
Local Archives in individual France cities or towns may hold records related to maritime activities of persons of interest who were born or resided there, including deaths at sea.

United Kingdom

As outlined above access to information about deaths at sea on British-registered ships depends on the time the death took place. In this regard:

The National Archives provide a guide on how to find records of births, marriages, and deaths of British citizens at sea or in other countries. They also have a specific collection for maritime deaths records from 1781 to 1968.
Free UK Genealogy (FreeCEN) is a charity bringing together volunteers online to transcribe the General Register Office (GRO) indexes for England and Wales. In particular FreeCEN can help identify which vessel a sea-going ancestor worked on if they were at sea during the previous UK census which can narrow down the search of relevant National Archives series.
The website of the Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) includes a very helpful research guide on tracing family history from maritime records, including deaths at sea. The National Maritime Museum, which forms part of the RMG, holds information on UK Merchant Seaman Deaths, 1939-1953. These consist of records of around 50,000 merchant seamen who lost their lives during and just after the Second World War^[4].
National Records Scotland has made a complete record of the deaths of Scottish seafarers from late Victorian times until 1974 online through its ScotlandsPeople website. NRS records available online also include Returns of Deaths at Sea for the years 1902-1905, listing Scottish seamen and fishermen who drowned as well as emigrating Scots who never reached their destination.
The Families In British India Society (FIBIS) is a self-help organisation devoted to members researching their British India family history and the background against which their ancestors led their lives in India under British rule. Its website includes a detailed page listing a variety of British sources which provide information of deaths at sea on British registered ships.

United States

There are several ways to research an American ancestor or migrant heading to the United States who died at sea:

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) includes both general and specialist material on deaths at sea:
Most Customs Passenger Lists, used from 1820 to about 1891, included a separate column for recording deaths at sea.
A more specific example of the available information through NARA on death to sea covers the up to two million Irish sailed to North America during the great Irish Famine (1845-52). Many were transported on cargo vessels hastily outfitted with makeshift passenger accommodations. Tens of thousands of starving, disease-weakened immigrants died in the dark holds of what came to be known as “coffin ships.” Among those who survived the journey, still more died at dockside quarantine stations^[5].
In the 20^th century, some individual “Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry” available through NARA were used to record shipboard deaths and were appended to a particular ship’s passenger list. Alternatively a deceased passenger’s name might be annotated on the list, with more details included at the end of the list.
Some deaths of U.S citizens at sea can be found in U.S. consular records of the Department of State. For example these records include details of 333 casualties of the 1913 sinking of the steamship Titanic whose bodies were recovered after the sinking^[6].
Regional historical associations, especially those in traditional seafaring towns, might hold useful information. For example the Nantucket Historical Association has identified over 1,100 seafarers lost aboard Nantucket whaling, fishing, and trading vessels, from 1724 to 1896. The NHA website provides a searchable database listing their names and available information about these individuals.

Births and marriages at sea

It is worth noting that, in addition to proving information related to deaths at sea, the resources and techniques described in this article are likely to be helpful in searching for other family events that occurred at sea, such as births and marriages. These events are often recorded in the same databases as deaths.

Explore more about researching ancestors who died at sea

Within the Immigration and Travel section, MyHeritage includes over 35 million individual records in 95 different collections. These cover passenger arrival records, naturalisation records, border crossings, emigration records, passports, convict transportation records for many countries. If you suspect that a person you are researching may have died at sea it's a worthwhile starting point to search through these records for possible information.
MyHeritage's Newspapers section includes over 14 billion articles in over 100 individual collections across multiple countries. Death notices or obituaries may include details of deaths at sea if relevant. OldNews, a MyHeritage website specialized in historical newspapers from around the world, and contains more than a dozen billion records available for research as well.
The MyHeritage Knowledge Base includes an introductory article on Vital Records: How to Find Birth, Marriage & Death Records. Importantly the article highlights that while records are considered "primary sources" because they are usually recorded shortly after the event in question and by people who witnessed it firsthand. However a degree of caution is also required as the records may not always be accurate. This warning applies even more so to information gleaned from secondary sources such as manual transcriptions of ships' logs.

References

[1] Staff, byTMP, Staff, T., says:, T. C., Byadmin, & Admin. (2021, August 4). Burial at sea- things you might not know. The Maritime Post.

[2] Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, November 7). Burial at sea. Wikipedia.

[:0-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Research guide A3: Tracing Family History from maritime records. Royal Museums Greenwich. (n.d.).

[4] VE Day 2020: Searching second World War Merchant Navy Records. VE Day 2020: searching Second World War Merchant Navy records | Royal Museums Greenwich. (n.d.).

[5] National Archives and Records Administration. (n.d.). Ireland’s Famine Children “born at sea.” National Archives and Records Administration.

[6] Research tips to tracing American ancestors overseas. a3Genealogy. (n.d.).

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