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Types of Agreements and Accounts

Methodology Used in Creating Agreements and Accounts Codes:

During the 1970s the Maritime History Archive created an index for the Agreement and Account of Crew and Official Logbooks for British Empire Vessels, using a database on a mainframe computer. The organizers decided to arrange the index chronologically by year and official number. This meant for any year all documents connected with an official number were stored as one item. Because computer space was very expensive during those years, to minimize memory usage all the material in any one official number for any one year was described using only two characters.

The first character was a letter describing a particular document. Below are the characters and the documents to which they refer. The document names, such as A3 or Eng. 2 were usually taken from the document itself.

The second character was either a 1 or a 2, where 1 meant an official log was present, and 2 meant no official log was present.

Thus each code contained two characters. If for example an Eng. 1 existed along with a log, the code was E1. If a Schedule A existed with no log, the code was F2.

Coding Conventions

Also because of space limitations it was possible to enter only one type of document for each vessel in a given year. For some vessels there are a variety of different documents. So the organizers decided to enter the code for that document which contained the most information. To assist the coders in deciding which document to code the MHA created the priorities list shown below:

Description of the types of documents contained in the collection.

A1 — (A3.) Agreement for pleasure yachts. Official log present. 17 A1 coded files. (For a partial image of the first page of an "A" coded crew list see Code A2 below.)

A2 — (A3.) Agreement for pleasure yachts. No official log present. 1509 A2 coded files.
(103 KB)

B1 — Eng 2. Account of change in the crew of a foreign-going ship before final departure from the United Kingdom. Official log present. (For an image of the first page of an "B" coded crew list see Code B2 below.)

B2 — Eng 2. Account of change in crew of a foreign-going ship before final departure from the United Kingdom. No official log present.
(98 KB)

C1 — List C. & D. List of crew and other particulars of a foreign going or home trade ship. Official log present. (For an image of the first page of an "C" coded crew list see Code C2 below.)

C2 — List C. & D. List of crew and other particulars of a foreign going or home trade ship. No official log present.
(203 KB)

D1 — D & O.7. An official log book and account of voyages and crew of a vessel of less than 80 tons register exclusively employed upon the coasts of the United Kingdom. An additional official log present. (For an image of a "D" coded crew list see Code D2 below.)

D2 — D & O.7. An official log book and account of voyages and crew of a vessel of less than 80 tons register exclusively employed upon the coasts of the United Kingdom. No additional official log present.
(216 KB)

E1 — Eng 1. Agreement and account of crew of a foreign-going ship. Official log present. (For an image of the first page of an "E" coded crew list see Code E2 below.)

E2 — Eng 1. Agreement and account of crew of a foreign-going ship. No official log present.
(313 KB)

F1 — (A). Agreement for foreign-going ship. Official log present. (For a partial image of the first page of a type (A) "F" coded crew list see Code F2 (A) below) or:
           Schedule A. An agreement made between the master and the crew of a ship. No official log present. (For a partial image of the first page of a type Schedule A "F" coded crew list see Code F2 Schedule A below.)

F2 — (A). Agreement for foreign-going ship. No official log present.
(135 KB) or:
           Schedule A. An agreement made between the master and the crew of a ship. No official log present.
(141 KB)

G1 — Eng 6. (Replaced List D). Half-yearly agreement and account of voyages and crew of a ship engaged in the home trade only. Official log present. (For an image of the first page of an "G" coded crew list see Code G2 below.)

G2 — Eng 6. (Replaced List D). Half-yearly agreement and account of voyages and crew of a ship engaged in the home trade only. No official log present.
(277 KB)

H1 — H. Agreement or articles and account of crew of a Canadian foreign sea-going ship or Canadian home-trade ship. Official log present. (For an image of the first page of an "H" coded crew list see Code H2 below.)

H2 — H. Agreement or articles and account of crew of a Canadian foreign sea-going ship or Canadian home-trade ship. No official log present.
(285 KB)

I1 — (AC) Agreement and account of crew in a foreign-going ship. Official log present. (For an image of the first page of an "I" coded crew list see Code I2 below.)

I2 — (AC) Agreement and account of crew in a foreign-going ship. No official log present.
(124 KB)

J1 — List C. Account of crew of foreign going ship, to be delivered at the end of the voyage to the shipping master at the "above" port. Official log present. (For a partial image of the first page of a type List C "J" coded crew list see Code J2 List C below.) or:
          Schedule C. A list of the crew (including master and apprentices) at the time of departure from a port in the United Kingdom. Official log present. (For a partial image of the first page of a type Schedule C "J" coded crew list see Code J2 Schedule C below.)

J2 — List C. Account of crew of foreign going ship, to be delivered at the end of the voyage to the shipping master at the "above" port. No official log present.
(130 KB) or:
          Schedule C. A list of the crew (including master and apprentices) at the time of departure from a port in the United Kingdom. No official log present.
(98 KB)

K1 — Eng 1. Office copy of agreement and account of crew of foreign-going ship. Official log present. (For an image of the first page of an "K" coded crew list see Code K2 below.)

K2 — Eng 1. Office copy of agreement and account of crew of foreign-going ship. No official log present.
(335 KB)

L1 — (O). Official log book for either foreign-going or home trade ship. Log only.
(195 KB)

M1 — (M). Release at the Termination of a Voyage. A form signed by the crew that released the ship, the master and the owner(s) from any claims for wages or otherwise. The form had columns for the crews' signatures and their addresses. Official log present. (For an image of a "M" coded crew list see Code M2 below.)

M2 — (M). Release at the Termination of a Voyage. A form signed by the crew that released the ship, the master and the owner(s) from any claims for wages or otherwise. The form had columns for the crews' signatures and their addresses. No official log present.
(71 KB)

N2 — Colonial Articles. No official log present.
(147 KB)

O1 — Eng. 2A. Account of Changes made in the crew of a foreign-going ship at a port out of the United Kingdom. Official log present. (For an image of a "O" coded crew list see Code O2 below.)

O2 — Eng. 2A. Account of Changes made in the crew of a foreign-going ship at a port out of the United Kingdom. No official log present.
(200 KB)

P1 — Office copy of agreement and account of crew of a yacht. Official log present. (For an image of a "P" coded crew list see Code P2 below.)

P2 — Office copy of agreement and account of crew of a yacht. No official log present.
(237 KB)

Q1 — (B.) Agreement for home trade ship. Official log present. (For a partial image of a "Q" coded crew list see Code Q2 below.)

Q2 — (B.) Agreement for home trade ship. No official log present.
(114 KB)

R2 — List D. (Fishing.) List of crew of a fishing boat. No official log present.
(182 KB)

S2 — Running agreement, account of voyages and crew and official log book of a fishing boat of 25 tonnage or upwards. No additional official log present.
(78 KB)

T2 — Office copy of running agreement, and account of voyage and crews of a fishing boat of 25 tonnage or upwards. No official log present.
(64 kb)

U1 — List D. Account of voyages and crew of home trade ship, to be delivered half-yearly to the superintendent of a mercantile marine office. Official log present. (For a partial image of a "U" coded crew list see Code U2 below.)

U2 — List D. Account of voyages and crew of home trade ship, to be delivered half-yearly to the superintendent of a mercantile marine office. No official log present.
(69 KB)

V2 — Eng 7. Running agreement and account of voyages and crew of a ship in the sea fishing trade only with official log attached. No additional official log present.
(275 KB)

X1 — Eng 5. Special half-yearly account of voyages and crews of home trade ships when the crews are to be employed in several vessels belonging to the same owners. Official log present. (For a partial image of a "X" coded crewlist see Code X2 below.)

X2 — Eng 5. Special half-yearly account of voyages and crews of home trade ships when the crews are to be employed in several vessels belonging to the same owners.
(74 KB)

Y1 — Eng 6A. Special half-yearly agreement and account of voyages and crew of ships engaged in the home trade only and belonging to the same owners. Official log present. (For an image of a "U" coded crewlist see Code Y2 below.)

Y2 — Eng 6A. Special half-yearly agreement and account of voyages and crew of ships engaged in the home trade only and belonging to the same owners.
(279 KB)

Z1 — Miscellaneous agreements and accounts not included in other codes. Official log present.

Z2 — Miscellaneous agreements and accounts not included in other codes. No official log present.

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