During the nineteenth century, Swansea was a major port, shipping copper, tinplate and coal across the world. Inward trade included tin from Cornwall, copper from Parys Mountain in Anglesey, iron from Spain, limestone from Mumbles and Gower, pit props from Bristol and saltpetre from Chile. Copper was exported across the world, in voyages as long as 7,000-8,000 miles, lasting from 6 months to a year.

Bryan Richards, who maintains the Swansea Mariners’ website, spoke about the trade that created the demand for shipping, the ships and the ship owners, and the crewing of the ships. He explained how to find records for ancestors who were mariners.

The port, which was originally tidal was expanded and improved as trade grew. In 1830 breakwaters were built to create Fabians Bay; the North Dock was completed by 1852, and the south Dock by 1859.

In 1786 Swansea became a registered port. Details of ships of 15 tons or over can be found in Lloyds Register from 1786-1823, and in Swansea Customs House Register, from 1824. A ship was divided into 64 shares; the registers list the owners together with their shares.

Merchant ships were crewed by people from a variety of countries. Masters’ certificates and those of mates and engineers of foreign-going ships are held at Greenwich, though sometimes ‘masters’ and ‘captains’ were not certified. Many masters on Swansea ships came from West Wales. ‘Boy’ on a ship refers to the role rather than the age of the job-holder. Apprenticeships could last for 3-5 years, after which the ‘boy’ would become an Able-Seaman. The ship's Cook would be not just a cook but would be a seaman as well; similarly the carpenter would also be a seaman and would have done his apprenticeship in a shipyard.

The BT series of records at the National Archives includes crew lists and agreements and log books. BT 96 includes the Port of Swansea. Ships' log books contain many details, from storms to births and deaths of babies. Crew lists start in 1835 and have now been indexed (see the crew list index project). After 1861 only a sample of crew lists and agreements and log books are held at The National Archives. Many are preserved at other archives, mainly the Maritime History Archive in Canada.

Each seaman had a discharge book which contained details of every ship he was on - the DIS 3B forms shows where the money was transferred. National Archives records include the Merchant Navy; useful classes are BT 334 and BT 156 (latter available online}.

The Swansea Mariners’ website contains information about mariners, ships and their voyages, ship owners and captains’ logbooks.

Other sources of information:
• Lloyds’ List at the Guildhall library - a good index of the names of ships.
• Ship and yacht register search – try Mystic Seaport , the Museum of America and the Sea, which includes the American Lloyd's register from 1850 -1900.
• High Court of Admiralty records.
• Cardiff Assizes of 1773 for evidence of disputes involving mariners.
• Dr Reg Davies' database of Welsh mariners
• Australian websites include some images of ships going to/from Wales.