Collection search - Consecutively numbered headquarters registry system [textual record]

Title is based on the contents of the series.

All Marine Branch central registry files and correspondence created previous to 1887, with few exceptions, were destroyed by the fire in the West Block of the Parliament Buildings in 1897.

A considerable number of registry files within the range 8009 to 64037 appear to be missing. Some files were reclassified under new file numbers with the advent of the Marine Branch subject file classification system in 1923. Many others, however, were subsequently renumbered under yet another subject file classification system introduced in 1936 by the newly-created Department of Transport. From that year forward, the Department of Transport assumed operational responsibility for all marine matters formerly under the jurisdiction of the old Marine Branch. Documents of the former administration considered to be of operational significance to the new Department were routinely removed from the old registry files and arranged under new subject file numbers.

No further accruals are expected.

Researchers should consult the Marine Branch subject file classification system series (MIKAN 134556, RG42-C-1), as well as the Canadian Marine Transportation Administration registry files available in the Transport Canada fonds (RG12), for early marine documents dating from the late nineteenth-century (1887) forward.