Service and ex-service publications often carry a column for contacting and tracing information on ex-service personnel.
Although official documentation such as operational and convoy records, and some ships’ logs are now with TNA, many of the records relating to shipping companies are still lodged with other archives and record offices around the country. Records of shipping companies are useful to the researcher as they may contain information on the company’s employees as well as details of the fleet and ships’ sailings. IWM holds a good collection of shipping company and individual ships’ histories but these mainly refer to the larger companies and more famous vessels.
IWM also has publications relating to maritime operations and convoys.
Please note that IWM only covers the period of history from the First World War onwards.