6 Nov 2024

One of the documents found in a record for a 17-year-old merchant seaman named William Hitchcock. (Records of the U.S. Coast Guard, Record Group 26)

This is not a comprehensive list of all records relating to the US Merchant Marine. Rather, the focus is on records that might be used to document individual Merchant Mariners, individual merchant vessels, specific voyages and convoys, accidents, casualties, and the sinking of ships. Also included are records relating to US Navy Armed Guards which were often assigned to merchant vessels.

Merchant Marine Personnel and Licensing Records

The Merchant Marine Personnel and Licensing Records dated from roughly the early 20th century through before 1967 are in the custody of the National Archives at St. Louis. To request these records contact them via email at stl.archives@nara.gov. Include the name, date of birth, dates of service, "Z" number, and date of death, if known, in your email. If you do not know all of these things, please include as much information as you can; however, the more information you can provide the easier it will be to locate the correct file. For more information, see: https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/merchant-marine-records-document-maritime-service

These records may also be served in the Archival Research Room at the National Archives at St. Louis. Please note that while the Archival Research Room is open to the public, appointments are required due to limited seating capacity. Email stlarr.archives@nara.gov for further assistance prior to making an appointment.

Persons requesting Merchant Marine personnel service jackets from 1968 to the present should submit a Records Request Form to the USCG-National Maritime Center (NMC-421), ATTN: Correspondence Section, 100 Forbes Drive, Martinsburg, WV 25404. Please include name, date of birth, copy of death certificate (if deceased), Social Security number, address, and “Z” or Service number. You may also send it electronically to OSC-SMB-NMC-4-Correspondence@uscg.mil. For more information, see: https://www.dco.uscg.mil/nmc/record_request/

The Coast Guard National Maritime Center is the approving official for World War II Merchant Marine separation documents. United States Merchant Mariners who served in ocean-going service during December 7, 1941, to December 31, 1946, are considered “active duty” under the provisions of Public Laws 95-202 and 105-368. To determine eligibility for a Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, DD Form 214, or a Report of Casualty, DD Form 1300, please refer to NMC’s website.

Logbooks of US Merchant Vessels

Logbooks from 1939 to the late 20th century are filed in the Records of the US Coast Guard (RG 26) and are located in the National Archives regional archives based on the port in which the log was turned in. For more information, see: https://www.archives.gov/research/military/logbooks/merchant-vessels.html

The National Archives has a finding aid that allows us to look up the location of these logs; see the attached pdf. If you need assistance locating Merchant Vessel logs, you can contact us via our Contact Us page or here on History Hub in our Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Records community to request that we look up individual ships.

Thomas Eakins, 9/9/1944 - 12/16/1944, Boston, MA

Passenger and Crew Lists

The National Archives has passenger arrival records, sometimes called "ship passenger lists," for arrivals to the United States from foreign ports between approximately 1820 and December 1982 (with gaps). While these lists are best known for their use in documenting the arrival of immigrants into the United States, in many cases, they also list crew members.

Records older than 75 years are publicly available, and many have been digitized by National Archives partners. See our Browse by Port of Entry for a list of passenger arrival records and/or vessel crew lists available online.

We suggest that you check for access at your local university or state library; many library systems subscribe to these sites making them free for their patrons. You may also view Ancestry for free at one of the National Archives’ facilities. For the nearest National Archives location, please consult our Visit Us webpage. FamilySearch can be accessed with a free account.

Because many World War II era passenger and crew lists are available online, they can often be useful for finding “Z” numbers as well as identifying some of the ships on which a Merchant Mariner served. However, they should not be taken as a complete database of all US merchant mariners on all seagoing voyages. The Shipping Articles, 1939–1978 listed below are a more complete list of crewmembers and provide greater detail. Note though, they are not name indexed, so searching requires knowing which ship and voyage to look for.

For more information about these records, you can email National Archives in Washington, DC - Textual Reference at archives1reference@nara.gov, or ask here on History Hub in our Immigration and Naturalization Records community.

Source Citation: National Archives At Washington, DC; Washington, DC; Series Title: Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving At Galveston, Texas; Series Number: A3755; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85

Source Information: Ancestry.com. U.S., Select Crew Lists and Manifests, 1903-1962 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.