The British seaman's discharge book

Under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 the master of a British ship gave every seaman he discharged a certificate of discharge stating the period of his service and the time and place of his discharge (s. 128), and the superintendent could endorse on it the master's report of his conduct, character and qualifications (s. 129). A seaman carried his discharges together, ship after ship: his whole career at sea, and the first thing a shipping master asked to see.

The book itself has not been found, so the one Bearer prints is a reconstruction on those sections, and the office says so above it.

Bearer makes an investigator's papers for Call of Cthulhu and any 1920s or 1930s tabletop campaign: the passport a consul would have filled in, with the visas and frontier stamps a campaign leaves in it, and the permits, certificates and tickets of the period, to print or to share.

An example

Open this example in the office

The paper

A reconstruction

This paper is a reconstruction. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 required the master to give every seaman he discharged a certificate stating the period of his service and the time and place of his discharge (s. 128), and let the superintendent endorse on it the master's report of his conduct, character and qualifications (s. 129); the book that gathered those certificates has not been found. The particulars are the Act's; the words, the layout and the marks of character are ours.

Still to be confirmed

• the whole book. What would settle it: a British seaman's discharge book of 1920 to 1939.
• the date of engagement of each voyage is not asked for. What would settle it: a certificate of discharge of the period.

Sources

• Parliament of the United Kingdom; text at legislation.gov.uk, Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 60), ss. 128 and 129, s. 128: the master signs and gives a seaman discharged a certificate of his discharge in a form approved by the Board of Trade, specifying the period of his service and the time and place of his discharge; s. 129: the report of the seaman's conduct, character and qualifications, which the superintendent endorses on his certificate if he wishes (read directly)

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