Summer Reading - Researching a Breton Seaman Ancestor with "Guide des sources d'histoire maritime de Bretagne : Gens de Mer"
17 July 2023
Warnings and caveats, Dear Readers, before we begin. This book is twenty years old. It is in French. Most of the resources it describes are not available online. It is very hard to find, having required a wait for us of two years on abebooks. In spite of all, it remains one of the very best guides on how to research a Breton seaman. Since most French seamen hailed from Brittany (closely followed by Normandy), you stand a good chance of your French seaman ancestor having been a Breton, which would make this book very useful to you, indeed.
Only one hundred and twelve pages long, no words are minced in the forty-two topics covered:
- Introduction
- Accident du travail à la mer - Accidents at Sea
- Alimentation en mer - Food at Sea
- Armateurs et négociants - Owners, agents and merchants
- Capitaines de la marine marchande - Merchant marine captains
- Chirurgiens navigants - Surgeons
- Corsaires - Privateers
- Décès et disparition en mer - Deaths and Losses at Sea
- Décorations civiles et militaires - Civil and Military Decorations
- Déserteurs - Deserters
- Discipline des équipages - Discipline of Crews
- Écoles de la Marine - Naval Schools
- Enseignement maritime - Maritime Education
- État civil en mer - Civl registration (births, marriages, deaths) at Sea
- Femmes - Women
- Garde-côtes - Coast Guard
- Gardiens de phare - Lighthouse Keepers
- Hôpitaux maritimes - Naval Hospitals
- Hygiène et médecine navale - Naval Hygiene and Medicine
- Invalides de la Marine - Naval Pensioners
- Langage maritime - Maritime Vocabulary
- Marins de la Marine militaire - Sailors in the Navy
- Marins de la pêche et du commerce - Fishermen and Merchant Seamen
- Migrations - Migrations
- Mouvements sociaux - Strikes and Unionizing Activity
- Mutineries - Mutinies
- Officiers de la Marine militaire - Naval Officers
- Passagers - Passengers
- Personnel civil de la Marine militaire - Civil employees of the Navy, including Workers in Arsenals
- Personnel de l’Inscription maritime - Employees of the Naval Draft
- Personnel de la Compagnie des Indes - Employees of the Compagnie des Indes
- Personnel de santé de la Marine - Health Workers
- Personnel des ports civils - Employees at the Civil Ports
- Pilotes - Pilots
- Prison maritime - Naval Prisons
- Prisonniers de guerre - Prisoners of War
- Religion - Religion
- Santé - Health
- Secours et assistance - Aid and Rescue
- Syndicalisme - Unionization
- Troupes de la Marine - Marines
- Uniforme - Uniforms
- Vie à bord - Life on Board
- Annexe : l’inscription maritime - The Naval Draft
Each section gives a brief introduction to the subject; these introductions are very clear and most informative. Then is given a list, by archive facility and written by archivists, of the series (with the code!) containing the relevant documents. Lastly, each section has a bibliography for that topic. This last may be the only part that is out of date. The two annexes at the end explain the naval draft system and then give an incredibly helpful list of the bureaux to which the men had to report, with the names of the towns, communes, covered by that bureau.
Using this book along with the websites of the various archives, you may be able, in effect, to update it. So much is being digitized so quickly that you could look up a series mentioned in the book on the archive's website and possibly find the series is now online, or at least an index to it may be. This would allow you to search for your ancestor's name and to request the document from the archives.
A little boon to your research!
FGB posts on the subject include:
French Seamen's Records Digitizing Project - an Update
The Service Historique de la Défense at Lorient
Summer Reading - Books to Help You Find Your French Mariner Ancestor's Vessel
Summer Reading - Two Books for Those Researching a French Naval Ancestor
Your Breton Ancestors in Paris
©2023 Anne Morddel
French Genealogy