There were procedural differences in regards to investigations during the Great War. Local Shipping Masters or Customs Officers would have survivors fill in initial enquiry forms, which were then transmitted to the Board of Trade in London. After perusal by senior B.o.T. officials, they were then passed onto the Admiralty’s Trade Division. A naval officer subsequently made the decisions on formal enquiries: normally a captain R.N. These original enquiry forms are held within the vast number of records which were removed by the Naval Historical Branch to write the official histories. To say the least, this is not an easy body of work to deal with. Although indexed, further collections of documents have been subsequently added and the indexes of ships’ names are far from complete.

Additionally and as already mentioned in the section on peacetime accidents at sea, there are a number of ‘Confidential Circulars’ which deal with wartime losses. These are within the Lloyd’s (of London) collection, at the Guildhall Library in the City of London.