New London Crew Lists, 1803-1878

Search for a voyage using the search boxes at the bottom of each Voyage column. To view only the crew list for a single Voyage, tap or click on the Voyage. Or, search for a crew member using the search boxes at the bottom of each Crew column. Click or tap on a crew member’s name to display the corresponding Voyage.

Voyages

VesselID	Vessel	Rig	Destination	Departure	Tonnage	Images	ID
VesselID	Vessel	Rig	Destination	Departure	Tonnage	Images	ID

Crew

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

New London Crew Lists

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.