B/T Identity certificate

[Moya]

Thankyou so much for all the information. I am trying to send a photograph of him on board a ship, I get as far as uploading the photo but don't know what the next step should be, can anyone help. Moya

---------- Post added at 05:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:35 AM ----------

[Doc Vernon]

When uploading a Pic first click on the little icon (Insert Image) this will open a smaller window ,select from Computer ,Click Browse,then when you have selected the Pic click Open then Click upload File
The Pic will then be automatically put into the new Post!
Cheers
2color_SOCred.jpg

[j.sabourn]

When did the old green fold out one with fingerprints and ident. marks tattoos etc. come into force? This I beleive went out sometime in the 60"s or 70"s and the red one came out, supposedly we heard at the time to be able to be used as a passport, I never used as such so dont really know if it ever was. Was the green I.D. card brought out during the war? Regards John Sabourn.

[Doc Vernon]

Hello JS
I amnot 100% sure on this but have a feeling that the Green ID Card started in 1913 but ould have been earlier!?
I used mine as a Passport many times,it was a Godsend!
Cheers

[Moya]

Hope this works ! Is anyone able to distinguish if this was a sailing or steamship ? Unable to say when photo was taken but on far right building are the words Erie, which may indicate he was in Canada. He was also presented with a certificate from the Los Angeles Chapter of The Adventurer's Club after his voyage "under sail' and rounding Cape Horn in 1923, but I don't know what ship he was on . Further to the B/T C.R 10 certificate, what did Dis.A No: 904978 actually mean. Regards MoyaJackatsea.jpg

[Doc Vernon]

That looks very much like an old type Sailing Ship,(Windjammer)as it shows all those Crosslike Beams etc but i could well be wrong!

2. Central Index System
A central index system for merchant seamen using the Discharge A number as the identifier was started in 1913. This is usually referred to as the Fourth Register of Seamen and was in operation from 1913 to 1941. The chronological development of the system is outlined below.
2.1 Late1913-Aug 1918. CR1 & CR2 cards introduced
CR1 cards provide personal details only. It appears that from this date they were completed in a port mercantile marine office at the same time that a new discharge book was issued to the seaman or an old one checked.
It appears that discharge books were only required for foreign voyages so the movements of men engaged solely in home trade were not recorded centrally. Figure 2 below appears to support this assumption.
‘Home Trade’ covers all voyages around the British Isles plus voyages to European Atlantic ports from Hamburg in the north to Brest in the south.
CR2 cards provide individual foreign voyage engagement (start) details.
Discharge A number is numerical identifier for both cards.

Discharge A Number Printing date and books produced when known.
23938 July 1900. 140,000 books
676204 July 1911. 50,000 books
870042 April 1915. 49,900 books
911040 Jan 1916. 25,000 books
975400 July 1917. 60,000 books
1029627 Sept 1918. 10,000 books
1048939 1919?
1139998 1926-27 highest number found.
New system
R110133 1932?
R217460 April 1940. 30,000 books
Letter prefix refers to UK born seamen with a few Irish additions.

[Keith Tindell]

Hi, I had the green id card, and mine was damaged and had to be replaced, this was circa 1960, my discharge number was r689823, i can remember going to an office upstairs in Prescott st and having my photo taken etc for renewal Some months later, having been to USA and Japan noticing that the number i had been photoed with was R686823!!. I sailed for a further 3 years without any customs or immigration picking up on it. Bet they would in this jittery world today. Regards Keith

[Tony Wilding]

Its definately a large sailing ship, those crosslines on the rigging are called Ratlines, used by the crew as a ladder for climbing the masts and rigging to change, or shorten sail.

[robpage]

I was issued with the Red Seamans card in 1966 with my discharge book , I used it as a Passport until I joined Gulf Oil , US Immigration wanted a Full Passport with a US Visa Stamped in . Obtained by sitting in the US Embassy in London for around six hours , From 9 AM till 3 in the Afternoon . It was Stamped , "Employee of a US Company in Transit " . First trip into Miami Airport , I was ages in the Immigration queue , and showed the guy my visa stamp , he said , "Purpose of your visit , " I said Employee of a US Company in Transit , His reply was "yes! I can see that but what is the purpose of your visit" . That began a forty year dislike of US immigration

[happy daze john in oz]

I was told that once you swalled the hook you must return your Red seamans identity book to the tax iffice. I failed and still have mine.