Looking for whaler crew list

Dear Ms. Allen,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

Because The Act of 28 February 1803 specified that ships' captains were required to submit crew lists to the Collector of Customs at the port of departure prior to foreign voyages, and annotated crew lists at the first U.S. port entered upon return, crew lists for some ports can be found in the Records of the U.S. Customs Service (Record Group 36).  These lists are kept in the regional branch of the National Archives responsible for the state in which the port was located. Unfortunately, not all crew lists for all ports have been preserved.

We contacted The National Archives at Philadelphia (RE-PA) which has responsibility for federal records from the Mid-Atlantic Region, including the State of Delaware.  We were informed that RE-PA does not have custody of any crew lists for the Port of Wilmington, Delaware. For a listing of the Customs records that RE-PA does have for Wilmington, please contact RE-PA via email at philadelphia.archives@nara.gov.

We hope this information is helpful.