Seniority Lists

Seniority Lists exist from the 1880s to 1917, 1940, 1950 and 1960 to the 1970s.  Each volume lists officers by rank in order of appointment and gives their date of birth, the date they joined the Company and the date they attained their current role.  The ship in which an individual was serving at the date of the list may also be recorded, as may be his or her professional qualifications.  Some volumes have been amended by hand to include (for example) dates of retirement or resignation.  Lists after 1960 include officers transferred from Orient Line, but those after 1970 only cover P&O Passenger Division.  Please refer to series P&O/75 at the National Maritime Museum for further details.

Crew Lists

Crew lists have not been retained in the P&O Archive.  The nearest approximations are the ‘Fleet Lists’ (series P&O/75) giving the names of Officers and Petty Officers aboard each ship for each voyage.  These cover the years 1867 to 1964 and 1837 to 1979 respectively.

For more information on Crew Lists, Crew Agreements and Ships’ Official Logs, please refer to our Crew Lists, Agreements and Official Logs Research Guide.

Death of Sea Staff

Between the 1850s and the 1920s P&O’s Death Book gives details of in-service deaths of European sea and shore staff including where and on what ship the death occurred and sometimes where the deceased was buried.  The single volume can be found at the National Maritime Museum under reference number P&O/88/3.  Some of this information will also be given in the Nautical Reports, which tend to be the only source of information on the death of Asian crew.