Heritage & Education Centre (HEC) online resources
Links to historic volumes of the Register Book which are fully accessible and searchable online. Also via the Internet Archive.
Total losses of ocean going merchant ships over 100 gross tonnes, available to view for the years 1890-2000.
In 1882, Lloyd's Register Surveyor Charles Jordan compiled this in-depth map to allow him to better navigate the busy London shipyards.
Ship Plan and Survey Report Collection
Covering the period from 1834 to circa 1960, in the majority of cases these consist of a first and last survey report for vessels – the last being for a ship that was disclassed by Lloyd's Register or being a report of its demise (so loss, wreck, or if broken up and so on).
Interesting or unusual survey reports were sometimes kept, like those where the ship was converted or had suffered major damage and subsequent repairs. Some ship plans were also retained.
Explore a journey of digitisation in our online exhibition to see how we are tackling the extensive ship plan and survey report collection - with an estimated 1.25 million items.
Instructions to exclusive surveyors
These help us to get a better understanding of the type of work that our surveyors would have been doing and include some very useful things like the procedure followed in the testing and marking of anchors and chain cables.
Bitesized guides to help you to interpret and understand the ship plan and survey report collection.
Diagrams and descriptions of different rigs are included in "From Keel to Truck" - a marine dictionary in French, English & German by Henri Paasch (Antwerp, 1885), Lloyd's Register surveyor.
New HEC resource pages coming soon!
Lloyd’s Register’s Historic Rules & Regulations
Composite Ship Rules
Other online links
Shipwreck Index of the British Isles
Started by Richard and Bridget Larn in the 1970s and representing a unique archive and a lifetime of research. The entire content of Larn's six-published volumes has now been integrated into an electronic version with an instant mapping capability. This content has been extended and improved over many years to produce the current Shipwrecks UK resource. Find out more on Infosheet 11 below.
British Council for Archaeology
A great Archaeology Resources Hub listing loads of online resources, events and activities.
A brilliant project to capture the heritage of the Penarth Docks and make the research 'free and accessible for all to use’.
Armchair archaeology with CITiZAN
As the blog rightly highlights, anyone can look into their local history and archaeology.
Their mission is to research, record and protect our threatened underwater and coastal heritage for the benefit of everyone.
The online catalogue of archaeology, buildings, industrial and maritime heritage in Wales.
Dedicated to publishing the history of industry in the UK and elsewhere, with a brief history of the companies, products and people who were instrumental in industry. It provides an overview of topics and points researchers to the source materials so they can find further information.
The largest ships' graveyard in mainland Britain. It contains some unique examples of vessels beached beside the River Severn, between 1909 and c.1965. Today the hulks are in a state of considerable decay.
A project to record historic anchors and learn about their place in our maritime history.
HEC Information Sheets
Downloads
(PDF)Infosheet 1 - Further Research
2 MB(PDF)Infosheet 3 - Guildhall Library
287 KB(PDF)Infosheet 10 - Sources Available in our collections
980 KB(PDF)Infosheet 11 - Shipwrecks UK and Shipwreck Index
250 KB(PDF)Infosheet 12 - Shipwreck Sources
215 KB(PDF)Infosheet 34 - Researching the early Registers
941 KB(PDF)Infosheet 44 - Making a search using the Register of Ships
134 KB(PDF)Infosheet 17 - Locations of the Register of Ships UK & Ireland
870 KB(PDF)Infosheet 46 - Collections of the Lloyd’s Register of Ships and associated publications - overseas
598 KB