The Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen compiled monthly lists of seafarers, including foreign nationals, who died while employed on British-registered merchant vessels. These were printed as booklets (form GR160 or RBD160), with the details usually arranged alphabetically by surname of the deceased. They provide brief details including name of individual, rank or occupation, date of birth, last known home address, vessel name, vessel Official Number, and the date and circumstances (if known) of the death. The collection covers the period 1916-1989, with some gaps. No returns are present from the years 1919 and 1955. Two supplements from 1946-47 list seafarers who died while prisoners of war, during internment or in the course of repatriation in 1939-47. From 1974 onwards deaths on offshore installations are included. Records of deaths occurring in a particular month are usually to be found in the returns printed in a subsequent month.

While there are no restrictions on access to these records of the deaths of merchant seaman, readers are reminded that they do sometimes contain information which some readers may find distressing. For further information, please contact manuscripts@rmg.co.uk