Photo: Plan of Section & Elevation Shewing Strengthening Through Engine & Boiler Space for Federal, 11th December 1889
Posted on: 17 September 2020
Since 2016, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, Heritage & Education Centre has embarked on an extensive digitisation project to conserve, catalogue and digitise its historic Ship Plan and Survey Report Collection.
Last month we reached a significant milestone in our project with the development of a bespoke document imagery and data importer. This enables the Centre to upload tens of thousands of documents each month with greater ease and efficiency. In our first bulk upload to our website 44,862 documents were made available, from survey reports and ship plans to handwritten correspondence. Documents from 190 different port boxes are included in the inaugural bulk upload as well as records for 2,972 different ships and 450 distinct places of build.
The Collection, which dates from the 1830s-1970s, holds over 1.25 million documents and details the design, construction and maintenance of ships classed by Lloyd’s Register. These documents belong to some of the most famous and distinguished ships in the world, including the Cutty Sark, Dunedin and Mauretania. As of September 2020, roughly 280,000 documents are freely available to view and download on our website. For vessels belonging to the port of London, we hold records for over 9000 ships.
As the Ship Plan and Survey Report Collection has never been catalogued before, the Heritage & Education Centre are frequently uncovering never before seen documents. One welcome trend is the growth in our photographic collection; which now totals just under 600 items. We have also uncovered documents that are innately interesting such as a rare three-dimensional ship plan illustration, a report stamped with cat prints, and fascinating correspondence that adds colour to the daily lives of ship surveyors.
The Centre’s Digital Engagement Manager Sean Clemenson said: ‘The first bulk upload using our new document importer is a welcomed addition to our research resources release schedule. Over the coming months, tens of thousands of new documents and ships will be made available to the public via the Centre’s website. The educational potential of the Ship Plan and Survey Report Collection is unparalleled, so if you are interested in ships, trade, engineering, big data or family history research then jump right in!’
The Heritage & Education Centre team is currently planning for the next bulk upload of digitised documents. To stay updated about all future uploads, please sign up to our mailing list or follow us on social media – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
