Granting and Surrender of Customs House Documents

Whenever any significant event occurred in a vessel's ownership or description, she was required to obtain a certificate of enrollment or registry. Certificates of enrollment were used for vessels engaged solely in domestic trade, while certificates of registry could be obtained for vessels engaging on international trade. On the Lakes, many vessels carried certificates of registry if they traded in Canadian waters. Whenever a vessel obtained a new certificate or registry, the old one had to be surrendered. The cause of surrender and granting was often, but not always given in the abstract. There were some standard abbreviations used for causes of granting and surrender, but for many situations, custom abbreviations were used that are difficult to decipher. The listings below contain a fairly comprehensive list of the abbreviations found in the master abstracts compiled in this database. A brief description of each is provided. It should be noted that not all entries have a cause granted or surrendered in their entry. A large number of vessels also give a cause of ng or "not given." As a rule, all vessels did have a NEW cause granted on their first paper, and nearly all rig and tonnage changes are represented. However, losses, abandonments and foreign sales, while represented, are by no means comprehensive. Many vessels were lost or abandoned without closing their customs house record. Still, a search of vessels using the LOST cause of surrender yeilds many interesting results.

For more information on the causes granted/surrendered, feel free to contact me at brendon@ship-wreck.com.

Causes Granted Key

CAN - formerly registered in Canada
FOR - formerly a foreign vessel
NEW - first document to new vessel
PV - prize vessel, captured foreign vessel of war
USV - formerly a US vessel
ACT - Act of 1838 for steamers (passed safety inspection)
ah - arrived at home port, temporary doc surrendered
ALT - vessel altered but former or subsequent doc unknown
b30 - vessel built in 1930
cd - changed district
cns - cause not stated (same as not given)
co - change of owners (same as property change)
cp - change papers (same as enrollment issued or surrendered)
cr - owner changed residence out of district
ct - engaged in coastwise trading
dc - district changed (same as cd)
dd - duplicate documents exit in NARA records
dup - duplicate documents issued in the same district but at different ports
ec - enrollment corrected ei - enrollment issued (generally used when a register is surrendered)
el - enrollment lost (by captain or in wreck)
es - enrollment surrendered (often used prior to issuance of a register)
FV - probably Forfeited Vessel
le - license expired
li - license issued
ls - license surrendered
LI24 - license issued in 1824
MS - Marshall Sale
ng - not given (used when there is an endorsement but reason is not given)
ngf - weekly enrollment
nr - ?? (new registry?)
pc - property change (same as change of owners)
pdc - property and district change
pl - ??
read - readmeasured (under act of May, 1, 1864)
rc - residence change (owner changed residence out of district)
REB - rebuilt but prior or subsequent document unknown
rec - ??
REM - remeasured (vessel was originally incorrectly measured)
REN - vessel renamed ri - register issued (used after an enrollment was surrendered)
rl - register lost
rs - register surrendered (used when an enrollment was issued)
temp - temporary
u - unknown (used when existence of a prior document is only known from present document)
VF45 - vessel forfeited in 1845
48r - rebuilt to 48 tons
xx - tonnage change to given value
SCH? - rig changed to
SCH (legibility problems)
SCH - rig changed to SCH
CNB or cnb - rig changed to Canal Boat
BRK - rig changed to Bark
STS - rig changed to Steamship
STS? - rig changed to Steamship (legibility problems)
BGE - rig changed to Barge
BRG - rig changed to Brig
STP - rig changed to Propeller
SHP - rig changed to Ship
STC - rig changed to Centerwheel Steamer
SAIL - rig changed to Sail

Causes of Surrender Key

A59 - Abandoned in 1859
B31 - Broken up and destroyed in 1831 either by mishap or on purpose
C30 - Sold Canadian in 1830
D27 - Purposefully destroyed in 1827
ee - exempt (applied to vessels under 20 tons and canal boats after 1867
F25 - sold to foreign owners in 1825
L42 - lost at sea in 1842
LOST - lost but no date given
ne - no endorsement, i.e. the document was not endorsed
OL55 - Off lakes in 1855, i.e. enrolled at an off Lakes US port
S32 - last known doc surrendered in 1832
US62 - became a US vessel in 1862
ACT - Act of 1838 for steamers (passed safety inspection)
ah - arrived home, temporary doc surrendered
ALT - vessel altered but former or subsequent doc unknown
cd - changed district
cns - cause not stated (same as not given)
co - change of owners (same as property change)
cp - change papers (same as enrollment issued or surrendered)
cr - owner changed residence out of district
ct - engaged in coastwise trading
dc - district changed (same as cd)
dd - duplicate documents exit in NARA records
dup - duplicate documents issued in the same district but at different ports
ec - enrollment corrected
ei - enrollment issued (generally used when a register is surrendered)
el - enrollment lost (by captain or in wreck)
es - enrollment surrendered (often used prior to issuance of a register)
le - license expired
li - license issued
ls - license surrendered
LI24 - license issued in 1824
ng - not given (used when there is an endorsement but reason is not given)
nr - ?? (new registry?)
pc - property change (same as change of owners)
pdc - property and district change
read - readmeasured (under act of May, 1, 1864)
rc - residence change (owner changed residence out of district)
REB - rebuilt but prior or subsequent document unknown rec - ??
REM - remeasured (vessel was originally incorrectly measured)
REN - vessel renamed
ri - register issued (used after an enrollment was surrendered)
rl - register lost
rs - register surrendered (used when an enrollment was issued)
temp - temporary
tri - transcript register issued
u - unknown (used when existence of a prior document is only known from present document)
VC45 - vessel condemned in 1845
VF45 - vessel forfeited in 1845
xx - tonnage change to given value
SCH? - rig changed to
SCH (legibility problems)
SCH - rig changed to SCH
CNB or cnb - rig changed to Canal Boat
BRK - rig changed to Bark
STS - rig changed to Steamship
STS? - rig changed to Steamship (legibility problems)
BGE - rig changed to Barge
BRG - rig changed to Brig
STP - rig changed to Propeller
SHP - rig changed to Ship
STC - rig changed to Centerwheel Steamer
SAIL - rig changed to Sail