Boat name

[Sailsalot]

I hope you have already thought of a good boat name… we spent more time trying to think of names for previous boats than we did our children. Luckily our latest boat came with a name that was acceptable to us, saved us a lot of time!

 

[BrianH]

Easy to downgrade from Part 1 to SSR, the other way slightly more complex and sometimes impossible if you do not have an adequate proof of ownership trail. Also costs £££ money to have a "tonnage survey" done. For Part I you have to give three choices of name as it must be completely unique for any other British ship, including commercial shipping. Don't expect "Sundowner" or similar to be available, though "Sundowner of Chipping Sodbury" probably is.

There have been significant changes to the requirements for Part I registration, most importantly the proof of ownership has been reduced to five years only. This makes it very easy for anyone who has owned their vessel for that period of time, providing they can provide their original Bill of Sale. Alternatively, if owned for less than five years, the previous owner's original BoS in addition, if available and prior to five years ago, would suffice.

Also, the professional agency that administered my own application assured me that my very common ship's name of 'Curlew' (there are 71 listed on the ITU station list) would need a less popular Port of Registry to be accepted, implying that now the name need only be unique to that port. I was happy to use the small and unfashionable NE Port of Registry of Whitby, from where I had sailed a lifetime ago, and had my name application of plain 'Curlew' immediately accepted. Of course, 'Whitby' features on the stern as Port of Registry following the name 'Curlew' ... but without any "of".

 

[prv]

my very common ship's name of 'Curlew' (there are 71 listed on the ITU station list) would need a less popular Port of Registry to be accepted, implying that now the name need only be unique to that port.

AFAIK that's always been the case. Back when the register was first set up they wouldn't have had any practical way of making them unique across the whole country anyway. But with a big leather-bound ledger in each port, they could check whether a name was already taken locally.

Pete

 

[Simondjuk]

Off the top of my head, I also recall that on Part 1 you cannot name a vessel Sundowner MCMXV, Southampton unless you also own all the other Sundowners registered with Southampton as their home port.

Neither can you register Flip Flop of Porstmouth, Southampton but can register either Flip Flop of Portsmouth, Portsmouth or Flip Flop of Hamble, Southampton (or any other port of registry). If the place after the 'of' is a port of registry, the vessel has to be registered at that port. If it's not a port of registry that features in the vessel name after the 'of', the vessel can be registered under any port.

 

[BrianH]

AFAIK that's always been the case. Back when the register was first set up they wouldn't have had any practical way of making them unique across the whole country anyway. But with a big leather-bound ledger in each port, they could check whether a name was already taken locally.

Pete

That may be but I was responding to "For Part I you have to give three choices of name as it must be completely unique for any other British ship" - which from previous threads on the subject is believed to be the case for the entire UK registry. When I posted the same once before it was doubted by some and I have never seen the official explanation.

The port of registry list is quite long and if someone really wanted their otherwise common name registered without all the "of" somewhere or other, then they only need to register in an obscure port. Trouble is, the acceptance procedure is not conducive to that, one has to submit a name and PoR with second choices without knowing if any are duplicates to that port.

 

[BrianH]

That may be but I was responding to "For Part I you have to give three choices of name as it must be completely unique for any other British ship" - which from previous threads on the subject is believed to be the case for the entire UK registry. When I posted the same once before it was doubted by some and I have never seen the official explanation.

The port of registry list is quite long and if someone really wanted their otherwise common name registered without all the "of" somewhere or other, then they only need to register in an obscure port. Trouble is, the acceptance procedure is not conducive to that, one has to submit a name and PoR with second choices without knowing if any are duplicates to that port.

I now realise that you all knew this (that the name need only be unique to the port of registry) all along, despite the attempts to refute it in previous threads. So I was being naive in not realising how important is the port following the name on the stern, it's probably as important as the name for some people.

‘I was talking to the wretched woman for at least ten minutes
until I realised she was quite an unsuitable postcode.’
​