Born at Sea

Please link Geni profiles of people born at sea to this project.

In almost all cases people born at sea inherit the citizenship(s) held by their parents, according to the laws in their countries. sometimes a person may be entitled to have the nationality of the ship's registered Country.

Circumstances

(please expand)

Children born at sea of

• Parents emigrating
• Families of Sea Captains, Seamen etc.
• Passengers at Sea
• Transportation Ships
• Military families - Royal Marines

Some random notes

Babies born at sea are generally listed on the last page of a ship's passenger manifest, or at the bottom of any page where the ship's clerk could find room.

Records

The Board of Trade (BoT) records (Public Record Office groups BT158, BT159, BT160) which cover births, deaths and a few marriages on British registered ships from 1854 to 1890 are available from the LDS on four films 1419469, 1419470, 1419471, 1419472. These are not well organised, or usefully indexed and an event may be recorded on any one of the four reels.

UK - Births at sea from 1837 to 1965 are available on 56 microfiche; however these are only indexes which contain names, dates and in some years, ship names. LDS Fiche numbers 6137268 - 6137322 The LDS Family Search Library Catalog will identify which fiche relates to which year.

Discovering details of a birth at sea is fraught with difficulties, particularly before 1837 for England and Wales, and before 1855 for Scotland. For England and Wales, the Births and Deaths Act 1837 made provision for the recording of births and deaths overseas; as did The Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages Act (Scotland) 1854. But before these dates there are no official records of births at sea.

Some Notable People Born at Sea

Please add to the list if you can

Names with Bold links are to Geni profiles or projects. Other links take you to external biographical web pages.

A

• Louis Aldrich - American actor 1843
• Charles George James Arbuthnot British general 1801

B

C

• Watson Cheyne, 1st Baronet British surgeon 1852

D

• Westmoreland Davis Governor of Virginia 1859

E

F

• Boyle Finniss First Premier of South Australia 1807
• Itamar Franco Former President of Brazil 1930

G

H

• E. T. Hooley Australian explorer 1842
• Oceanus Hopkins who was the only child born on Mayflower voyage 1620 1620

I

J

• Mary Jemison American frontierswoman 1743
• Augustus D. Juilliard Founder of the Juilliard School 1836

K

L

• Francis Lathrop American artist 1849
• Wyndham Lewis British painter 1882

M

• Rio Antonio Mavuba French footballer 1984
• James McGowen Australian politician 1855

N

• Roy William Neill Film director 1887

O

• Henry Orth Architect 1866

P

• Reino Paasilinna Finnish politician 1939
• Ed Porray American baseball player 1888

Q

R

• Stamford Raffles Founder of Singapore 1781

S

T

U

V

W

• Ralph Humphreys Webb Canadian politician 1887
• William Wentworth Australian explorer and politician 1790
• Moses O. Williamson American politician 1850
• Arthur Windsor Australian journalist 1833

X-Y-Z

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References, Sources and Further Reading

• Civil Registration - Birth, Marriages & Deaths At Sea (Overseas) The GenGuide
• Wiki Birth aboard aircraft and ships
• WIKI Born at Sea
• FindMyPast - Births at Sea 1854-1960)

this project is in History Link