Ships’ Passengers Lists

This site has a database of transcriptions of 4,500 ship passenger lists. The earliest is dated 1791 and the latest 1897 (the date refers to date of arrival). The large majority are from the period 1800-1860.

The lists are records mostly of passengers on ships from Irish and British ports to ports in North America (United States and Canada) and the passengers named on the lists are mostly of Irish origin.

A cluster of the same surname on a passenger list usually indicates that the individuals belong to the same family.

The database has been compiled mainly from microfilm copies of lists held in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), obtained from the National Archives Washington. Two reference numbers are given with each record, for example:

PRONI Mic 333/1/42   IED 102207. The PRONI Mic prefix indicates a microfilm copy held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

The IED prefix (Irish Emigration Database) indicates the unique record number in that database. Both reference numbers should be cited in scholarly publication.

Brian Mitchell, genealogist, Derry Archives and Genealogy, has written about the historical background to Irish Passenger Lists.