Victorian Genealogy
Finding People and Places in Victoria, Australia.
Also see Passenger Arrival Records and Passenger Departure Records.
Also see Sailors.
Also see Ports and Harbours.
MIRAMAR SHIP INDEX
This website is an index of ships and their histories, covering iron and steel sailing ships, powered merchant ships (over 100 grt) and warships, since the early 19th century.
https://www.miramarshipindex.nz/
ANCESTRY - PASSENGER SHIPS AND IMAGES
This database is an index to passenger ships. For each ship listed in this database there is a description of it, containing such information as:
For about one thousand ships there will also be an image of the ship. This is either a photograph or artistic rendering.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/8944/
ANCESTRY - NEW YORK PORT, SHIP IMAGES, 1851-1891
This database is an index to images (photographs and artistic renderings) of ships that arrived from foreign ports at the port of New York from 1851 to 1891.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/8644/
EQUASIS
This website holds worldwide information on ships and shipping companies.
https://www.equasis.org/EquasisWeb/public/HomePage
LLOYD'S REGISTER FOUNDATION HERITAGE AND EDUCATION CENTRE - LLOYD'S REGISTER OF SHIPS ONLINE 1764-1994
Volumes of the Lloyd's Register of Ships are fully accessible and searchable online. These digitised registers can be searched by any of the fields such as ship name, master, ship owner or place of build.
The Registers for 1930-1945 were digitised as part of the Plimsoll ship data project by the Southampton City Libraries and Archives Services in conjunction with Lloyd's Register's Heritage and Education Centre. The fields can be searched by ship name(s), year of build and gross tonnage.
https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/lloyds-register-of-ships-online
GOOGLE BOOKS - LLOYD'S REGISTER OF SHIPS
See Books.
THE INTERNET ARCHIVE - LLOYD'S REGISTER OF SHIPS
https://archive.org/details/@lrfhec?&sort=-publicdate&page=2
FINDMYPAST - LLOYD'S REGISTER OF MERCHANT SHIPS INDEX 1843
This index was created from the 1843 Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping and includes over 14,000 names.
https://search.findmypast.com.au/search-world-records/lloyds-register-of-merchant-ships-index-1843
CREW LIST INDEX PROJECT
The site provides information about the records of British merchant seafarers of the late 19th and early 20th century as well as ships, and access to the CLIP maritime database.
AUSTRALIAN JOINT COPYING PROJECT - BRITISH ADMIRALITY RECORDS 1693-1893
The British Admirality records relating to Australia have been digitized and can be seen at the Australian Joint Copying Project. These include records of His or Her Majesty's ships from 1673 to 1893. See British Government.
AUSTRALIAN JOINT COPYING PROJECT - CERTIFICATES OF REGISTRATION OF VESSELS REGISTERED AT PORTS IN AUSTRALIA. 1826-1854 (BT 107)
These include
See under British Government.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - PORT MELBOURNE SHIPPING REGISTRATION RECORDS 1839-1855 (B1231)
Register of British Ships: Main register prior to Merchant Shipping Act 1854, Port Melbourne. This has been digitized.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - PORT MELBOURNE SHIPPING REGISTRATION RECORDS 1855-1982 (A7609)
Register of British Ships: Main register subsequent to Merchant Shipping Act 1854, Port Melbourne. This has been digitized.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - PORT MELBOURNE SHIPPING REGISTRATION RECORDS, CONTINUATION REGISTER 1855-1981 (A7610)
Register of British Ships: Continuation register, Port Melbourne (The continuation registers are used to record any further transactions affecting the ownership of the vessels). This has been digitized.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - PORT MELBOURNE SHIPPING REGISTRATION RECORDS, INDEX 1965-1982 (A7555)
Register of British Ships: Index by Name of Ship, Port Melbourne. This has been digitized.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - GEELONG SHIPPING REGISTRATION RECORDS 1855-1981 (A7552)
Register of British Ships: Main register, Port of Geelong. This has been digitized.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - PORT FAIRY SHIPPING REGISTRATION RECORDS 1854-1895 (A7553)
Register of British Ships: Main register, Port Fairy. This has been digitized.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - PORTLAND SHIPPING REGISTRATION RECORDS 1961-1982 (A7554)
Register of British Ships: Main register, Port of Portland. This has been digitized.
INTERNET ARCHIVE WAYBACK MACHINE, FLOTILLA AUSTRALIA - AUSTRALIAN SHIPPING LINES
This website has information on Australian shipping lines including photographs. It also includes troop transport ships. Snapshot is dated 14 February 2022.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220214143527/http://flotilla-australia.com/
For troopships see Army Records.
INTERNET ARCHIVE WAYBACK MACHINE, FLOTILLA AUSTRALIA - AUSTRALIAN SHIPPING LINES
This website has information on Australian shipping lines including photographs. It also includes troop transport ships. Snapshot is dated 14 February 2022.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220214143527/http://flotilla-australia.com/
See Navy Records.
FRIENDS OF CERBERUS - SHIPS OF THE VICTORIAN NAVY
This website includes Harbour Trust vessels, Customs vessels and government vessels.
http://www.cerberus.com.au/contemporary6.html
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - NAVY CREW AND SHIPS RECORDS
The following is Fact Sheet 31 from the National Archives of Australia.
https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/fs-31-Navy-crew-and-ships-records.pdf
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - THE SINKING OF HMAS SYDNEY, NOVEMBER 1941
On 19 November 1941, HMAS Sydney, a light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy was lost following a battle with the German raider HSK Kormoran in the Indian Ocean off the Western Australian coast. The loss of the Sydney with its full war complement of 645 remains Australia's worst naval disaster. The following is National Archives of Australia Fact Sheet 111.
FRIENDS OF CERBERUS - SHIPS OF THE VICTORIAN NAVY
This website includes Harbour Trust vessels, Customs vessels and government vessels.
http://www.cerberus.com.au/contemporary6.html
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - PORTS, SHIPS AND AIRPORT RECORDS
Records relate to the Port of Melbourne, Port of Geelong and Port of Portland. Other ports include Port of Western Port, Port of Anderson's Inlet, Port of Corner Inlet and Port Albert, Port of Gippsland Lakes, Port of Snowy River, Port of Mallacoota, Port of Hastings and ports at Queenscliff, Barwon Heads, Lorne, Apollo Bay and Warrnambool. Also included are airports owned by the state government. Some records may be digitized.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - PORTS, SHIPS, PLANES AND AIRPORTS-PHOTOGRAPHS, DRAWINGS, PLANS, DESIGNS AND MAPS
These are state government records. Some records may be digitized.
Victoria was the Port Phillip District of the Colony of New South Wales from 1788 to 1851.
FAMILYSEARCH - NEW SOUTH WALES, INWARD SHIPPING LISTS 1837-1925
This includes an alpha-chronological index to ships arriving. Original records filmed at the Mitchell Library in Sydney, New South Wales.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/108357?availability=Family%20History%20Library
ANCESTRY - NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA, UNASSISTED IMMIGRANT PASSENGER LISTS, 1826-1922
These are provided in association with State Records Authority of New South Wales.
These are searchable and may be browsed.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/1210/
FINDMYPAST - AUSTRALIA ASSISTED EMIGRATION 1811-1856
These are provided in association with the State Records Authority of New South Wales. They include the following:
These are searchable and may be browsed.
https://search.findmypast.com.au/search-world-Records/australia-assisted-emigration
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - LISTS OF SHIPS CLEARED AND GOODS EXPORTED, AND ACCOUNTS OF OFFICERS AND COMPARATIVE TABLES, VICTORIA 1836-1844 (B4793)
These have been digitized.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - INWARD SHIPPING INDEX 1839-1900 (VPRS 13)
This is an alphabetical index of shipping arrivals in Victorian ports. Each arrival of the ship is then listed in chronological order by date of arrival. Entries include name of vessel, tonnage, master, port of embarkation and date of arrival. It is not online.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - REGISTER OF INWARD SHIPPING (OVERSEAS AND INTERCOLONIAL PORTS) 1846-1852 (VPRS 22 Unit 29)
The register records the arrival of ships in the Port of Melbourne between January 1846 and December 1852. It appears to record the arrival of all ships, whether from British, foreign or intercolonial ports, during this period.
Entries are listed chronologically by date of ship's arrival.
Basic information is given about each ship, its movements, passengers and cargo. Between January 1846 and October 1847 passengers are named. However it is not known how complete the lists are for each ship. When a distinction is made between cabin and steerage passengers the latter are rarely designated.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/E89C65EB-F1B1-11E9-AE98-7D9121803C53?image=1
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - INWARD SHIPPING ARRIVALS 1880-1924 (VPRS 953)
This is a self indexing chronological record of ship arrivals at Victorian ports. Entries include name of vessel, tonnage, master, port of embarkation and date of arrival. It is not online.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - ALPHABETICAL CARD REGISTER OF SHIPPING OVERSEAS VESSELS 1930-1990 (VPRS 8003)
The registers contain brief information about each overseas vessel (tonnage, length, oil or coal burner), records arrival and departure dates, where berthed and for how long, charges made for port services and vessel's agent. It is not online.
FAMILYSEARCH - SHIPPING INDEX INWARDS, VICTORIA 1839-1924 (VPRS 13, 953)
The index is sourced from Public Record Office Victoria. It is an alphabetical index of all ships inwards to Victorian ports, cargo and passenger. The index gives name of vessel, tonnage, master, port of embarkation, and date of arrival.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/243085?availability=Family%20History%20Library
ANCESTRY - VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, SELECTED TRIAL BRIEF AND CORRESPONDENCE REGISTERS AND OTHER IMAGES, 1837-1993
These are provided by Public Record Office Victoria. These records are not indexed but can be browsed by description and range. They include:
https://search.ancestry.com.au/search/db.aspx?dbid=60672
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - NAME INDEX OF SHIPS ARRIVING IN THE PORT OF MELBOURNE 1924-1964 (B4425)
These have been digitized.
LOG OF LOGS VOLUMES 1, 2 AND 3 BY IAN NICHOLSON
A catalogue of logs, journals, shipboard diaries, letters, and all forms of voyage narratives, 1788 to 1998, for Australia and New Zealand, and surrounding oceans.
https://zenodo.org/record/6901
ANCESTRY - UNITED KINGDOM, ROYAL NAVY MEDICAL JOURNALS, 1817-1856
The journals in this database were kept by ships medical officers, who were required to keep a record of patients, treatments, and outcomes during a voyage. This collection includes 671 volumes. The majority are convict ships bound for Australia.The journals are searchable and may be browsed.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/2318/
FORCES WAR RECORDS - UNITED KINGDOM, ROYAL NAVY MEDICAL JOURNALS 1817-1856
This collection contains images of medical journals from 19th-century British ships (1817-1857), which include names of patients and other passengers and crew aboard. The journals in this database were kept by ships' medical officers, who were required to keep a record of patients, treatments, and outcomes during a voyage. This collection includes 671 volumes, each from a single ship and covering a particular time period. The majority are convict ships bound for Australia or Van Diemen's Land.
https://au.forceswarrecords.com/publication/960/uk-royal-navy-medical-journals-1817-1856
https://www.fold3.com/publication/960/uk-royal-navy-medical-journals
UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUDLAND MARITIME HISTORY ARCHIVE - CREW LISTS AND LOGBOOKS 1857-1942
The Maritime History Archive holds approximately 75 percent of the surviving crew lists (also called crew agreements) and official log books of British registered vessels for the periods 1857-1942 (predominantly 1863-1938) and 1951-1976. The crew lists and logbooks for voyages terminating in the years 1857-1942 are indexed and can be searched here. The crew lists for the years 1951-1976 have not been indexed.
https://mha.mun.ca/mha/holdings/searchcombinedcrews.php
ANCESTRY - ALL LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, CREW LISTS 1861-1919
This collection of crew lists held by the Liverpool Record Office includes records for 912 ships whose home port was registered as Liverpool, England. The lists contain information on ship voyages, crew members, and apprentices. Many of the records are grouped together as agreement booklets or ships' logs.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/2364/
ANCESTRY - DORSET, ENGLAND, CREW LISTS, 1863-1914
This database contains various crew lists for ships associated with Dorset ports. Log books are included.
https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/2211/
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA - NAVY CREW AND SHIPS RECORDS
These include logbooks. The following is Fact Sheet 31 from the National Archives of Australia.
https://www.naa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/fs-31-Navy-crew-and-ships-records.pdf
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA - CORRESPONDENCE BOOK OF ASSISTANT TO INSPECTOR OF FISHERIES, PORT FAIRY 1913-1949 (VPRS 3366)
These include Fishing Licences and Boat Registrations.
https://prov.vic.gov.au/archive/VPRS3366
ANCESTRY - VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, SELECTED TRIAL BRIEF AND CORRESPONDENCE REGISTERS AND OTHER IMAGES, 1837-1993
These include Port Fairy Fisheries Correspondence 1913-1949 (VPRS 3366). These records are not indexed but can be browsed by description and range. These are provided by Public Record Office Victoria.
https://search.ancestry.com.au/search/db.aspx?dbid=60672
Shipping arrivals and departures were reported in the newspapers. Additional information given may include details of the ship, date of arrival and departure, places the ship visited on the voyage as well as the further destination of the ship. Other information may include the ship's captain, crew and passengers (usually only cabin passengers are named) as well as the cargo. Problems occurring before and during the voyage may be reported before and after the ship's arrival. See Newspapers, Magazines and Journals.
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY - AUSTRALASIAN UNDERWATER CULTURAL HERITAGE DATABASE
http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/underwater-heritage/auchd
VICTORIAN HERITAGE DATABASE - SHIPWRECKS
Search under "Browse Shipwrecks"
https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/
THE WRECK SITE
PETER STONE - ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AUSTRALIAN SHIPWRECKS
http://oceans1.customer.netspace.net.au/easw.html
SHIPPING ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES, VICTORIAN PORTS VOLUME 1 1798-1845, VOLUME 2 1846-1855 AND VOLUME 3 1856-1860 BY MARTEN ADLINGTON SYME.
Separate lists of shipping movements have been compiled for Melbourne, Geelong, Portland, Port Fairy, Warrnambool, Cape Otway, Apollo Bay, Western Port, Waratah Bay/Andersons Inlet, Wilson's Promontory, Sealers Cove, Corner Inlet/Welshpool, Port Albert and Gabo Island, chronologically sequenced, with details of vessel, master, ports of origin and destination, major cargo and passenger numbers. Compiled from newspaper reports, customs', pilot's and other government records and the records of other colonial ports, the list documents the activity of vessels containing immigrants, passengers between colonies, and the trade in wool, timber, coal and sundry merchandise. It is not online.
These were for shipping disputes. This court was under the jurisdiction of the British Admiralty Court until 1911; the right of appeal was to this court. The court was abolished in 1911 and the Supreme Court of Victoria became the Colonial Court of Admiralty. In 1988 the Federal Court of Australia took over jurisdiction for admiralty and maritime issues. See Court Records.
MUSEUMS OF HISTORY NEW SOUTH WALES, STATE ARCHIVES COLLECTION - VICE ADMIRALITY COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 1787-1911 APPENDIX E CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF SHIPS AND OTHER DEFENDANTS, 1826-1883
This list is based upon NRS 14493 Case papers, 1826-1911 (part) and references in all other extant Vice Admiralty Court records excluding the Index to Vice Admiralty Court papers.
https://mhnsw.au/guides/vice-admiralty-court-nsw-1787-1911/
WORLD SHIP SOCIETY
This has a branch in Victoria.
http://www.worldshipsociety.org/
NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, GREENWICH, ENGLAND
The National Maritime Museum contains the world's largest maritime library and archive collection.
https://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES
It is Australia's centre for maritime collections, exhibitions, research and archaeology.
MARITIME MUSEUMS OF VICTORIA
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