This separate Register of Seamen extracted from Crew Lists was abandoned in 1857, due to the problems of maintaining registers based on Crew Lists. Following three previous registration systems, a new Central Index Register (fourth register) was introduced in 1913 which survived until 1941 followed in 1942 by a new Central Register of Seamen (fifth register) which lasted up to 1972. Unfortunately no records exist from 1973 to 1999 as legislation was not required to keep records of individual seamen. From 1999 onwards the Registry of Shipping and Seamen in Cardiff holds records of service extracted from the ships official logbooks and crew agreements.
