Outward Passenger Lists

Board of Trade, Series 27 (BT 27) — 1890 to 1960
Among the most exciting projects currently being undertaken that will impact genealogists around the world is an effort by The National Archives (London) in conjunction with 1837online.com to digitize and transcribe all outward passenger lists for ships leaving U.K. ports from 1890 - 1960. Previously, these original records were only available at The National Archives in London having never been scanned, indexed, or otherwise preserved for future research.

The BT 27 collection of outward passenger lists is expected to be available online beginning sometime during calendar 2007 and will be marketed under the name Ancestors On Board at www.AncestorsOnBoard.com.

The Importance of BT 27 Records for North Americans
For anyone living in the United States and Canada, the collection of BT 27 Outward Passenger Lists should be of special interest. In addition to capturing the names and details for all passengers leaving England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, these records also include details for those passengers leaving other european ports, but docking in the U.K. en route to their final destination.

While many ships were bound for New York City, there were other ports serving as the final destination for these travelers. If you are among those who are unsure of the port of arrival for your immigrant ancestors, this may be your first chance to obtain passenger information for your family. By finding the departure record, you will have a date and port of departure and can then estimate a date of of arrival, along with a port of arrival. The collection of passenger arrival records available online has continued to grow and so you may be able to access both the departure and corresponding arrival records.

At the 2006 Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Conference in Boston, 1837online.com announced this project by the name of Ancestors On Board, so check out their site for the latest details. Additional material will be posted here shortly regarding BT27, so bookmark this page and return again for updates.