New London Crew Lists, 1803-1878

To search for a crew member, use the search boxes at the bottom of each Crew column. Click or tap on a crew member’s name to see the corresponding Voyage.

Or, to search for a voyage or vessel, use the search boxes at the bottom of each Voyage column. To view the crew list (and any available scans of original documents) for a single Voyage, tap or click on the vessel name. (The row will turn red.)

Voyages

Customs	Rig	Vessel	Port	Departure	Destination	Master	Tonnage	in Whaling History	Notes	Images	Crewlist ID
Customs	Rig	Vessel	Port	Departure	Destination	Master	Tonnage	in Whaling History	Notes	Images	Crewlist ID

Crew

CrewlistID	Vessel	Date	Last name	First	Middle	Position	Birthplace	Residence	Country	Age	Complexion	Hair	Note	Height ft	Height in	CrewID
CrewlistID	Vessel	Date	Last name	First	Middle	Position	Birthplace	Residence	Country	Age	Complexion	Hair	Note	Height ft	Height in	CrewID

Crew List Documents

New London

Between 1803 and 1879 over 2500 voyages to foreign ports sailed from New London, Connecticut. Prior to sailing the shipmaster or captain of each vessel was required to file a crew list containing information about the vessel’s destination and its crew. This website provides an index to those crew lists. Containing over 37,400 names, it also provides access to crew members based upon age, complexion, birthplace and residence place.

Crew Lists

The Act of 28 February 1803 contained the first legal mention and requirements for keeping a Crew List as part of the ship’s papers. Before a vessel could depart on a foreign voyage, the master had to deliver a list of the crew, verified by his oath, to the customs collector at that port. The collector then supplied the master with a certified copy of the list, copied in a uniform hand, along with a Clearance Certificate, at which time the master entered into a four-hundred-dollar bond to exhibit the Crew List to the first boarding officer he encountered upon his return to a U.S. port. There he was required to produce the persons named and described in the Crew List to give account for any crew members who were not present. Notes certifying sickness, discharge or desertion, usually signed by a consular official, were often included with the original list in order to prove that individuals not present were legally accounted for.