Mariners & Seafarers » Locality Specific: United States

Ancestry.com - 1930 U.S. Federal Census of Merchant Seamen

Census images and every name-searchable index available by subscription. For the first time in 1930, the U.S. Census Bureau enumerated merchant seamen serving on US-flaged merchant vessels on a special Merchant Seamen schedule. Seamen who were to be enumerated on this special schedule were all persons aboard ship, except officers who had regular or fixed places of abode ashore. Returns includes name, age at last birthday, marital status, birth place, citizenship, literacy, occupation & more.

Ancestry.com - Indexes to Seamen's Protection Certificate Applications and Proofs of Citizenship $

Original source: Dixon, Ruth Priest. Indexes to Seamen's Protection Certificate Applications and Proofs of Citizenship. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1998.m Ancestry.com has searchable indexes; database results and some digitized images are available with a fee-based subscription. Free articles and helpful research materials.

Ancestry.com - Register of Seamen's Protection Certificates from the Providence, Rhode Island Customs District, 1796-1870 $

Original source: Rhode Island Historical Society. Register of Seamen's Protection Certificates from the Providence, Rhode Island Customs District, 1796-1870. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995. Ancestry.com has searchable indexes; database results and some digitized images are available with a fee-based subscription. Free articles and helpful research materials.

Ancestry.com - U.S., Citizenship Affidavits of US-born Seamen at Select Ports, 1792-1869 $

Original source: Proofs of Citizenship Used to Apply for Seamen's Protection Certificates at the Ports of Bath, Maine, 1833, 1836, 1839

Genealogical Fallout from the War of 1812

By Ruth Priest Dixon for Prologue Magazine, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

Great Lakes Maritime History

A collection of history and memorabilia surrounding Marine and Ship Captains and Sailors who dedicated their lives to Great Lakes Shipping and Transport.

Mariners’ Museum and Park

Newport News, Virginia

Maritime History of the Great Lakes

This site is an ongoing experiment in the design of a "digital library", a collection of documents intended to be of value to those researching Great Lakes History.

Seamen's Protection Certificate Register Database

The data (sailor names, ages, birth and residences places) included on these pages is taken from the original Registers of Seamen's Protection Certificates issued at the Custom Houses of Fall River, Gloucester, Salem, New Haven, Newport, and Marblehead. There are entries for 23,436 certificates issued from 1796-1871.

Waterfront Workers History Project

Explores this vital history, focusing first on the men and women who have worked in the ports, the inland waterways, the fisheries, canneries, and other waterfront industries of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. From the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, University of Washington.