Maritime deaths 1794-1964
About the maritime deaths
Here you can search approximately 949,890 records of maritime deaths.
This is a varied collection of records from The National Archives, which contains vital information about your maritime ancestors' deaths. The records cover the period 1794-1964 and include many different record types from various TNA record series.
Please note that some of the records in this series show births and deaths together on the same or consecutive pages – sometimes 'births' is handwritten in red on a deaths page.
Find out more about the records included in this collection
What can a maritime death record tell me about my ancestor?
The information listed varies, but these records will usually include a combination of the following details:
- Your ancestor's name
- Date and place of death
- Cause of death
- Age
- Place of birth
- Occupation or rank
- Last place of residence
These records are unique to findmypast.co.uk and could provide you with detailed new information to add to your family tree.
How do these records relate to the existing deaths at sea records?
Most of these records are different to the deaths at sea which are already on findmypast.co.uk, although some records are the same.
There has never been a mandatory single centralised register of deaths at sea. Some records of deaths at sea were deposited with the General Register Office, some with The National Archives, and others elsewhere. Some of the records in this series appear in multiple record sets, so there will be some duplication within the maritime deaths and also between the maritime deaths and the GRO indexes.
The publication of the maritime deaths means that there's more chance than ever before that you'll find you ancestors at sea.
It's important to note that these records are deaths associated with seafaring occupations, not necessarily deaths which took place at sea. You'll find records of merchant seamen, as well as Royal Navy and Royal Marines.
If you can't find who you're looking for, it's worth searching these records:
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Search tips
How to search the death records
We only need the last name of an ancestor to start searching these records for you. This is the only required piece of information, everything else is optional.
It's always best to start searching with basic information, like your ancestor's first and last name. If there are too many results, you can refine your search and add more detail.
You can click the 'refine search' button on the search results page to return to this search box and add more information.
What a death record will tell you
The information listed varies, but these records will usually include a combination of the following details:
- Your ancestor's name
- Date and place of death
- Cause of death
- Age
- Place of birth
- Occupation or rank
- Last place of residence
Can't find who you're looking for?
- Try selecting 'all regions' in the 'region' field. Your ancestor may not have died in the place you would expect, so you could be excluding relevant results by selecting the wrong region.
- Don't select a year range, or make the year range wider. The year you think your ancestor died may not be accurate, so you could be excluding relevant results.
- Keep the 'include variants' boxes underneath the name fields ticked. This means your search results will include spelling variations of the names you've entered.
- If your ancestor's name could be easily misspelled, try using a wildcard search. Just use a * symbol in place of a letter or multiple letters. For example, instead of searching for Jennings you could search for Je*ngs or *enning*.