Tattoos were commonly noted on seafarers’ register tickets, but once those were abandoned, in 1857, seafarers moved between vessels and voyages without an identity document that made reference to physical appearance. With the Continuous Discharge Book, introduced in 1900, the physical description was reinstated and soon after photographic imaging was used, though not for Discharge Books, but for the so-called “Seamen’s Pouches”(BT 372, TNA). These were kept by the RGSS. The attempt at resurrecting a permanent register of seafarers, after nearly sixty years, was possibly connected with the increase of non-British seafarers. As for the Crew Agreements and the tokens of personal identification provided, photographs occasionally survive from Chinese crew. Their signatures in any case required translation for their English-speaking employers. This points to increased attempts at surveillance.