Hello
These large Muster Sheets in Volumes apparently are not complete sets, but the ones they filed into large Volumes. Each volume take several hours page by page, (eyes get tired looking down lists for a name, sheet after sheet). I couldn't find the Master / Mariner I was looking for, sailing out of Shields.
There are over 100 volumes of Muster Rolls etc., for Shields alone in BT 98.
Some of the Muster Rolls were destroyed in 1876 but the surviving Boxes number 6,944. Suggesting there must be nearly 7,000 volumes?
Information about BT 98 from 1747 to 1860
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3139You will need a 'Readers Ticket' as they are original volumes, so see their "Visit Us" section, as to the ID required to prove who you are and where you live.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r/10?_ep=Shields&_cr=BT%2098&_dss=range&_ro=any&_st=advVisit Us
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/visit-us/You may be lucky, but expect a very very lengthy hunt if the voyage finished at another British Port, because some were apparently completed at the destination Port, when Seaman were paid.
Can't remember who it was, but one of the ... 'Who Do You Think You Are' programs had an Ancestor who was a Mariner in the North-east. Got a feeling it was Cheryl Tweedy, alias Cheryl Cole, alias Cheryl Fernadez Versini (from Newcastle upon Tyne) and the Researchers found stuff in local places in the North-east.
Mark
