There is a Summary at the end of Page 2.
This article discusses the numbers of Maquis and Starfleet members of the crew aboard the Federation Starship USS Voyager, and reports briefly on the gender proportion on the ship. But mainly this article discusses the size of Voyager's combined crew at various times throughout the starship's time in the Delta Quadrant. Crew size is noted whenever reported in a particular episode. Elsewhere there are attempts to extrapolate the numbers based on known casualties and/or known additions but you should not rely on my extrapolations. In addition, the production staff readily admit, as reported in a source (unfortunately I cannot re-find the mention at the time of writing this), that crew numbers were not kept consistent, which means a lack of continuity. However, they realised its importance after becoming aware of fan interest and speculation, whereupon they made efforts to tighten up the continuity.
ST:M's article "How Big Is The USS Voyager's Crew?" of October 2000 contains several factual errors. It was correct at the time it was published but rapidly became not only incomplete but factually incorrect, not through any fault but understandably so since that article was published before the end of the series. Several episodes in Season 7 added data to the canon which renders that article incorrect almost throughout. The series finale first aired in the USA in May 2001. This site's article does not rely on any information given in ST:M's article (but has used as pointers several facts noted therein) and has been researched independently using knowledge of the shows including all of Season 7 plus of course the dialogue, and the canon sources Encyclopaedia, TOSTFF and VC. This site's article's illustrations are not the seven pictures in the ST:M article but are screenshots chosen and captured by me.
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When USS Voyager launches from Deep Space 9 in [#1 Caretaker, Part One], on board are Janeway, her Starfleet crew, Tom Paris as observer and the Emergency Medical Hologram. The latter would not be truly considered to be part of the crew until later. Stadi tells Paris as she pilots the shuttlecraft to take him to Voyager that Voyager's crew complement as 141, though it is unclear whether she includes Paris or Tuvok. One suspects it is unlikely that she does since Paris' official status is that of "observer" and if Tuvok were known to be listed, at least as "Tuvok" with his rank and any linked access to his Starfleet personnel record, it would be considered an unnecessary risk to list him as it could compromise his undercover mission on board Chakotay's Maquis ship in view of the fact that access to the Crew Manifest does not seem to be restricted (it is probably restricted to some or all of the crew only, and logically not available to passengers or visited governments without permission above a certain security level).
However, Stadi's number is found to be misleading by early on in Season 7, for the Janeway of the 2371 period, seen in [#157 Shattered] says she began with a crew of 153, which means that Stadi has to be considered as referring not to the specific complement for the Badlands mission but generally of Voyager or else she has not been informed about additional personnel. 153 is not the number once the Maquis join as she says "I already know I lost my doctor." (the human one). The dialogue extract below shows that the 153 refers to before Voyager was taken into the Delta Quadrant. |
 Tuvok, dressed as a Maquis, is welcomed aboard by Janeway, to Chakotay's astonishment |
 Tuvok, in Starfleet uniform, in the next scene - on the Caretaker's Array as part of Janeway's away team |
| above 2 pictures: [#1 and #2 Caretaker] | |
2371 Janeway: "Can I ask you something? I started out with a crew of 153. I already know I lost my Doctor. (She means the human doctor, not the EMH.) How many others?"
2377 Chakotay: "We'll suffer casualties, like any other starship. But you'll gain new crewmen as well."
2371 Janeway: "Like you. How do you get to be my First Officer?"
2377 Chakotay: "Our crews will be forced to work together after we get stranded."
2371 Janeway: "In the Delta Quadrant. How does that happen?"
2377 Chakotay: "Are you sure you want to know?" extract from [#157 Shattered]
 Chakotay, the Doctor and Janeway, all from different time periods [#157 Shattered] |
 2371 Janeway tells the 2377 Chakotay: "I started out with a crew of 153." [#157 Shattered] |
 Paris with one of the dead in Sickbay [#1 and #2 Caretaker] |
Again, it is not clear if the 2371 Janeway of [#157 Shattered] includes Paris, Tuvok or the EMH but one conjectures probably not. At that stage, she has not begun to think of the EMH as a member of the crew. The 153 figure is given by Janeway in [#157 Shattered] and the figure is ignored by ST:M simply because its article was written before that story aired for the first time on 17th January 2001. ST:M's article says 134 as it notes only six persons known to die due to the displacement wave rather than the eight that I note above. ST:M fails to note, for instance, the nurse whose dead body, along with that of the human doctor's, Paris and Kim find by the computer console in Sickbay, and ST:M makes the assumption that the "medical support staff" Janeway says in [#3 Parallax] are needed comprise "two or more nurses" and so presumably ST:M includes the dead nurse Paris and Kim find in that statement. |
The specifications of an Intrepid-class starship such as USS Voyager as given in sources SS and Communicator (June 2005 issue) are for the year 2370, a year before Voyager's mission to the Badlands commences, and these give the crew complement as being "150 persons". That discrepancy can be explained by accepting that USS Voyager's special mission to the Badlands (known as a difficult area of space) requires that the normal Intrepid-class specification be varied. In [#6 The Cloud] Janeway says that no counsellor is on board as the mission was expected to last only 3 weeks, which indicates that at least one person normally part of the crew is absent, making it definitely possible that other persons normally part of the crew were also not assigned to the Badlands mission. However, as regards having more people on board that the standard crew complement for an Intrepid-class starship, Tom Paris is one extra, which makes it definitely possible that other persons not normally part of the crew were assigned to the Badlands mission.
| CREW COMPLEMENT SO FAR:
Voyager leaves Deep Space 9 for the Badlands with 153 people on board, plus the EMH. The ST:M article assumes 142 but that figure is incorrect and not even close to the real figure. |
| CREW COMPLEMENT SO FAR:
Voyager arrives in the Delta Quadrant with about 140 on board, including Tom Paris as observer. That figure excludes Tuvok who at the time was assigned to Chakotay's ship (actually at the time of Voyager's arrival, the Maquis crew are detained on the Caretaker's Array). That figure also excludes the EMH who, however, is on board. |
Two factors make it impossible to know the exact number of people were on board Voyager at the end of [Caretaker] when Janeway first orders Paris, now a Lieutenant in Starfleet, to set a course for the Alpha Quadrant. These two factors are:
The combined crew complement is first mentioned in [#20 The 37's], the Season 1 finale. In that story, Janeway says: "There are a hundred and fifty-two men and women on this ship." (Source VC says that the number 152 is also repeated in [#24 Persistence of Vision] but I cannot find mention of it in the dialogue.) The number of Maquis who join the crew toward the end of [#2 Caretaker, Part 2] is never given during the series, which means that the crew complement is never definitively given throughout the series so that (deliberately by the writers) no numerical extrapolation is possible. But in the Season 7 story [#150 Repression] Crewman Chell says that almost one quarter of the crew is Maquis (and this is following a considerable number of deaths among the Maquis crewmen), and Chakotay notes that there are twenty-three former Maquis who have not joined the insurrection yet. Added to the seven participating members, that makes a total of thirty former Maquis currently on board Voyager. Therefore it can be deduced, assuming Kim's "over a dozen" killed is correct and Janeway's stated number of 153 when she started her Badlands mission (and there is no reason to suppose that either is giving incorrect data), that, regardless of Kes, Neelix and Paris, when the Maquis joined Voyager the crew complement easily exceeded the usual number, more than compensating in numbers for the loss of the Starfleet dead, as well as exceeding the standard crew complement of an Intrepid-class starship.
 Neelix and Kes, after Janeway says they can stay on board Voyager |
 Chakotay, in Starfleet uniform, listens as Captain Janeway addresses the combined Starfleet and Maquis crews |
| above 2 pictures: [#1 and #2 Caretaker] | |
From information given in several episodes, we know that the following named Maquis joined Voyager at the end of [#1 and #2 Caretaker], given in no particular order (the notation for names marked by * is given in text underneath the pictures below):
 Jarvin and Seska (in her Bajoran disguise), [#3 Parallax] |
 left to right: Gerron, Henley, Chell, Dalby [#16 Learning Curve] |
 Suder, [#32 Meld] |
 Hogan [#36 Investigations] |
 Seska, with her true Cardassian appearance [#36 Investigations] |
 Jonas [#36 Investigations] |
 centre - holo-O'Donnell, right - holo-Carlson [#67 Worst Case Scenario] |
 centre left - Doye, centre right - Ayala, foreground right - rear of Chell's head, [#150 Repression] |
 centre - Chell, right - female Bolian possibly Golwat, far left - female Vulcan, [#150 Repression] |
 Tabor, [#150 Repression] |
 Yosa, [#150 Repression] |
 Jor, [#150 Repression] |
click to enlarge, Ann Smithy, [#150 Repression]
Because there must be over 30 Maquis on Chakotay's ship as at [#150 Repression] in order to sustain the figure of 30 as deduced above, let us add the five indicated by * in the list above, these being the persons known to be Maquis known to have died or left Voyager between the end of [#1 and #2 Caretaker] and the Maquis mutiny in [#150 Repression]. That produces a figure of 36, at a conservative estimate. Let us then assume we must accept the evidence of our own eyes as seen in [#150 Repression] and accept that there is a female Vulcan Maquis crewmember and that the female Bolian Maquis crewmember also seen in that episode is Golwat - that would make 23. It is satisfying for continuity purposes that the figure of 23, being under 30, plausibly supports [#150 Repression], and it is also good to know that we know most of the Maquis by name (as 23 is most of nearly 30), but however satisfying, they still do not give us a precise figure (and whether the female Bolian is Golwat or someone else does not really matter as regards deducing figures). But, as noted above, we cannot know the precise figure at every episode nor at every important stage of Voyager's journey.
ST:M manages to brings its tally of those on board (crewmembers and Neelix and Kes) to coincide with the 152 noted by Janeway in [#20 The 37's]. Unfortunately, ST:M does it by counting 17 named Maquis and ignoring the extrapolation of over thirty in [#150 Repression] as discussed above - ST:M is able to do this because its article was published before all of Season 7 had aired for the first time, and [#150 Repression] is an early Season 7 episode and first aired on 25th October 2000 by which time it seems that the October 2000 ST:M article had been written as ST:M articles are of course written some time before actual publication and magazine distribution. That probably accounts for ST:M's omission of evidence from [#150 Repression]. However, it means that the evidence in [#150 Repression] does not tally with information given in the Season 1 episodes.
Presumably Tuvok is listed on the Crew Manifest after his arrival on Voyager in [#1 and #2 Caretaker], as soon as the record could be updated, although officially but secretly already a member of Janeway's crew. Paris is given the Starfleet rank of Lieutenant by Janeway toward the end of that story. Neelix and Kes soon become considered as crewmembers, long before Neelix's designation "crewman" is seen as a caption on his holo-image in [#105 Latent Image] - it is possible that they are listed as crew from almost the outset, with the administrative probability of it occurring at the same time as the Maquis get listed, though as noted in [#4 Time And Again] the Doctor is not informed at the time of the update in the Crew Manifest.
| CREW COMPLEMENT SO FAR:
The combined Starfleet/Maquis crew complement at the end of [#1 and #2 Caretaker] is about 175 including Paris. The tally is 178 including Tuvok, Neelix and Kes. There is also the EMH, so far still omitted from the tallies as it is assumed he is still not regarded as part of the crew. These figures incorporate the information extrapolated from data given in [#150 Repression]. These figures do not coincide with those of ST:M whose article was probably published before that story, but more unfortunately my figures do not work given the 152 figure given in [#20 The 37's]. |
For Janeway's statement to be true, and there is no reason to suggest that she is giving incorrect data, in [#20 The 37's], that "There are a hundred and fifty-two men and women on this ship." some 27 people have died or left Voyager between the end of [#1 and #2 Caretaker] and [#20 The 37's]. However, we know only of two people leaving Voyager or dying in that interval, namely Ensign Seska who betrays the crew, and aligns herself with the Kazon-Nistrim in [#11 State Of Flux] and Lieutenant Pete Durst who is killed by Vidiians in [#14 Faces]. This substantial discrepancy is frustrating for fans. Suggested excuses, though feeble ones, are that Janeway is not including the Maquis though in that case one could reason that Chakotay would take issue with her (along the lines of "OUR crew, you should not distinguish between Starfleet and Maquis"), and/or that a group of Maquis leave Voyager sometime in 2371 although if that were so the show's writers could have made mention of it sometime in the series. Speculation is pointless here really, since the writers never really address the issue of crew numbers seriously or (arguably) not seriously enough.
 "There are 152 men and women on this ship." [#20 The 37's] |
 Durst, [#14 Faces] |
What prevents the establishment of crew numbers which satisfy continuity is that there continue to be inconsistent references to the number of crewmembers.
In 2372, in [#30 Alliances], Crewman Kurt Bendera dies of injuries sustained as a result of a Kazon attack. According to Chakotay, two unnamed crewmembers died in previous attacks by the Kazon. Not long afterward, in [#32 Meld], Crewman Frank Darwin's bodily remains are discovered, leading to demotion and permanent detention in secure quarters for his murderer, Lon Suder. Darwin's death bereaves three sisters back home in the Alpha Quadrant. Shortly after that, in [#34 Death Wish], a renegade Q is granted asylum by Janeway, is made mortal by the Q Continuum and takes the name Quinn. He is added to the Crew Manifest as a passenger pending his choice of career but while Janeway and Chakotay are discussing this there is news that Quinn has, as he had earlier warned he would, committed suicide. In [#36 Investigations], Crewman Michael Jonas is revealed as a traitor and he dies after plunging into some plasma in Engineering during a fight to the death with Neelix.
 Tuvok and Torres see the remains of Darwin [#32 Meld] |
 Bendera, [#30 Alliances] |
In [#37 Deadlock], ultimately the crew complement does not change, but there are deaths following the duplication of Voyager and crew after the ship enters a particular plasma cloud. These deaths, on one of the Voyagers (sources tend to assume, the original Voyager as distinct from the duplicate Voyager), are the death of Ensign Wildman's new-born baby girl when osmotic pressure therapy fails to treat haemocythemia and the death of Ensign Kim after being taken into space while trying to repair a hull breach on Deck 15. The duplicate baby and duplicate Kim join the crew of the original Voyager. When the duplicate Voyager is boarded by Vidiians intent on forcibly harvesting the crew's body organs, a number of the crew are killed including Paris, and ultimately all the duplicate crew perish when the duplicate Janeway invokes the ship's self-destruct system.
In [#38 Innocence], Ensign Bennet dies of his injuries from a shuttlecraft crash on the Drayan moon. His body is kept in stasis and returned to Voyager, presumably to be given honorable burial.
 Kim is taken to his death in space [#37 Deadlock] |
 Bennet [#38 Innocence] |
Voyager suffers further losses at the start of the following year, 2373, when the recently promoted Lieutenant Hogan and an unnamed crewman from the science/medical division are killed by Hanonian land eels, in [#43 Basics, Part Two]. Lon Suder is killed by the Kazon who have captured Voyager. In [#52 Warlord], Ensign Martin, the transporter duty officer, is killed by a phaser blast, killed by Tieran's consciousness while inhabiting and in control of Kes' body.
 an unnamed crewman looks frightened and desperate as he tries to escape the land eel [#42 and #43 Basics] |
 Martin's murder [#52 Warlord] |
In [#58 Blood Fever], Vorik says there are seventy-three male crew on board. It is assumed that Vorik excludes the Doctor from that number, especially as he is citing the number to indicate to Torres that she does not have much choice for a mate as part of his logical arguments that she should accept his (Vulcan equivalent of) proposal. It is wholly speculation, since nowhere in the series is it mentioned, whether or not Vorik is aware that the Doctor is able to mate and has actually done so, as the Doctor himself informs the EMH Mark-2 in the later story [#82 Message In A Bottle], and we assume the Doctor means Danara Pel (hologram or real person? - further speculation), and anyway it is not necessary (however unusual it might be) for sex to occur between mates. Given my above-noted deduced approximation of crew numbers (combined Starfleet and Maquis personnel) in reference to [#1 and #2 Caretaker], and given the genders of those lost since then, the Voyager crew is predominantly male.
Toward the end of 2373, in [#59 Unity], Ensign Kaplan (first seen in [#51 Future's End, Part Two]) is killed by a rogue group of the former Borg on a planet in the Nekrit Expanse, after she and Chakotay land their shuttlecraft in response to a distress signal. This must be relied upon as fact as her death is seen in the episode and is a fact, as Chakotay has to carry on without her. However, in the later episode [#88 Vis a Vis], this officer is mentioned as being alive. In 2001-02, years after the episode first aired, TOSTFF belatedly dealt with the blooper by deducing the existence of another female Ensign Kaplan which, although rather implausible, would seem to be the only way of dealing with the two canon instances (those being an appearance and a mention in actual episodes), and ST:M in its article also assumes the existence of two Kaplans. As ST:M and TOSTFF are canon sources, their additional Kaplan has to be accepted. However, if one does not wish to accept TOSTFF's deduction, it does render making any effort at an accurate numerical tally more difficult, even though an accurate numerical tally is anyway made deliberately impossible by the show's writers.
 as the Doctor operates on Kim, Jetal dies | Shortly before the end of 2373 and shortly before the events of [#68 Scorpion, Part One], prior to stardate 50979, an away team consisting of Kim, the Doctor, and Ensign Ahni Jetal comes under attack by a member of an alien race unknown to the Voyager crew. Kim and Jetal are seriously injured and the Doctor, with the time to save only one of his patients and forced to choose between them, operates on Kim, allowing Jetal to die. The stress of the decision causes a feedback loop in the Doctor's program forcing Janeway to remove from his program all memory of the incident. The events surrounding the ensign's death not mentioned here are portrayed in the later episode [#105 Latent Image], and it is in that episode that Jetal's loss from the crew complement is noted. |
The year 2374 sees a comparatively high number of crew losses. In early 2374, in [#69 Scorpion, Part Two], the former Borg drone Seven of Nine is added to the crew upon being severed from the Borg Collective, although she is not aware of the addition yet. She will become known, or remain known, to the crew as "Seven of Nine", or "Seven" for short, rather than reverting to her original name Annika Hansen. The crew complement remains numerically the same, however, as Kes evolves beyond her corporeal form and leaves Voyager, in [#70 The Gift].
 Seven at first prefers to return to the Borg Collective [#70 The Gift] |
 Kes evolves and leaves Voyager [#70 The Gift] |
 victim of the Srivani [#75 Scientific Method] |
Later in 2374, in [#75 Scientific Method], a female crewmember working on the Bridge, whose name is not given, dies as the result of alien genetic experimentation (the hostile aliens are the Srivani, whose name is in the script but not aired in dialogue). In [#76 and #77 Year Of Hell], Ensign Strickland and Crewman Emmanuel die in the explosion which destroys Deck 5 (the deck on which Sickbay is located) when the Doctor is forced to close the Jefferies tube hatch on them in order to save those already inside the tube. It is unclear how many other crew members are lost during Part One of the story. In Part Two, seven members of the senior staff are seen on the ship although the Doctor tells Janeway there are seven people in addition to her. However, those events all occur in unrealised timelines and the crew complement in effect never changes, for it returns to its previous number when the timeline resets. |
 the Doctor tries to pose Naomi for a holo-image [#105 Latent Image] |
In [#80 Mortal Coil] Seven notes that Naomi Wildman is not listed on the Crew Manifest, and in [#105 Latent Image] when the Doctor takes Naomi's holo-image as part of the annual medical check-up (an innovation he notes, in this episode, that he has introduced) Naomi has no crew designation. However, it is of course impossible that she does not have a medical record. This makes us aware or reminds us that it is possible for persons aboard not to be formally part of the crew, but of course in episodes (and on this site) in discussing "the crew" personnel usually include everyone on board, for instance, when the severely injured Janeway orders Chakotay in [#69 Scorpion, Part Two], "Get this crew home." naturally she makes no distinctions. |
Between [#83 Hunters], stardate 51501.4, and the events of [#84 Prey], stardate 51652.3, on stardate 51563 Ensign Lyndsay Ballard dies from a blast from a neural disruptor while on an away mission when caught in a trap laid by the Hirogen. Her body is later retrieved and "re-animated" by an alien race known as the Kobali. Her story unfolds in the Season 6 episode [#138 Ashes to Ashes], when she returns to Voyager and spends a short time aboard. As at the above-mentioned stardate, however, Ballard is removed from the crew complement, regardless of any future (temporary) reinstatement.
In mid-2374, Voyager suffers at least two other losses due to the activity of hostile aliens, again the Hirogen. In [#86 The Killing Game, Part One], the Doctor says that he has (treated twenty-eight wounded and) had one fatality in the past twelve hours, due to the Hirogen's re-creation on Voyager's holodecks of deadly battle scenarios played out with the safety protocols off. The gender of that dead crewmember is not given. In Part Two of the story, the Doctor protests that an injured crewman (not named) will die without treatment. Since the Doctor is deactivated moments later, it can be assumed that the crewman dies. Janeway's log states that both sides of the conflict have suffered heavy casualties but does not further specify. Shortly after that log entry, she and the Hirogen call a truce and they leave Voyager. The year's high losses continue when three members of the engineering personnel are killed during the raid by a Kyrian boarding party, as noted by Tuvok portrayed in the back-up module Doctor in his corrected simulation of events, in [#91 Living Witness].
 the Doctor protests unsuccessfully to Alpha Hirogen: "I have had 28 wounded and one fatality in the past twelve hours. Even I can't keep up with that level of triage." Alpha Hirogen: "You will keep up or they will die. Their lives are in your hands, Doctor." [#86 and #87 The Killing Game] |
 After the Kyrian raiders leave Engineering: "Tuvok to Janeway. The Kyrians have killed three of the engineering crew. They've taken Seven of Nine and one of the injured crewmen hostage." [#91 Living Witness] |
This totals 17 confirmed losses by death or departure, and the addition of Naomi Wildman. Certain losses or departures are cancelled out e.g. Kes' loss is cancelled out by Seven's arrival. It is not always indicated in a story, either directly or indirectly, whether someone who dies is Starfleet or Maquis. If only these confirmed losses are taken into account, then Voyager has about 162 people on board (do not forget that the Maquis element of that figure is not precise).
  above 2 pictures: Janeway sees an officer die of subnucleonic radiation in a nebula [#93 One] |
In 2374, in [#93 One], when Voyager encounters a vast Mutara-class nebula, everyone except the Doctor and Seven are severely affected by its radiation, and a male member of the Bridge personnel dies (he is probably an ensign, to judge by the single rank pip visible). Janeway says to Seven: "After being in the Collective, it wasn't easy for you to adjust to a ship with only 150 people on it, was it, Seven?" This can but need not be taken as a precise figure as Janeway, as in the way of conversation, may be approximating. If it is a precise figure, and there is no way of knowing if it is, then it would seem to refer to the time when Seven came aboard, that is in early 2374 in the earlier episode [#69 Scorpion, Part Two] and would not seem to refer to the period of the events of [#93 One] for, as noted above, Voyager suffers a number of casualties between those two stories. But in [#94 Hope And Fear], Janeway refers to the present, saying to Seven: "I can understand your reluctance. It's been hard enough dealing with a crew of 150 humans. The prospect of an entire planet must be overwhelming-" This would therefore seem to indicate that "150" is an approximation, which is not clear in [#93 One]. [#94 Hope And Fear] takes place nine months after Seven joined Voyager in [#69 Scorpion, Part Two] and five months after the crew received the message from Starfleet in [#83 Hunters]. Presumably, as before, Janeway's mention of "150 humans" is a generalisation for the crew, which is predominantly made up of humans. |
In [#158 Lineage], Paris tells Torres: "Voyager isn't just one way. We have Bajorans, Vulcans, and Talaxians." and she replies: "And a hundred and forty humans." which confirms that the majority are humans but that Season 7 story does come late in the series that no further realistic deductions can be made with regard to Season 4's crew complement nor any realistic or precise deductions about the species make-up of the crew complement. If Janeway means exactly 150 humans and excludes a count of other species, and again there is no way to know if that is meant, then the crew complement at this time would be at one of its highest disclosed levels (as distinct from speculatory extrapolation carried out by ST:M or myself), since, with the benefit of knowing the whole series the television viewers knows of at least the following: three Bajorans (Gerron ref. [#16 Learning Curve], Tal Celes ref. [#140 Good Shepherd] and [#145 The Haunting Of Deck Twelve], and Tabor ref. [#102 Nothing Human] and [#150 Repression]), three Vulcans (Tuvok, Vorik ref. several episodes particularly [#58 Blood Fever], and an unnamed female in [#150 Repression]), one Betazoid who is probably still alive at the time of [#94 Hope And Fear] namely the female Ensign Jurot (for Jurot's fate see CREW: MINOR NAMED CREW (frames - invoke then call up entry for Jurot), two Bolians (Ensign Golwat seen in [#83 Hunters], and Crewman Chell ref. [#16 Learning Curve] and [#150 Repression]), and a Talaxian (Neelix).
 Tal Celes [#140 Good Shepherd]
|
 Neelix [#116 Someone To Watch Over Me] |
 Neelix designated "crewman" [#105 Latent Image] |
As can be deduced, there is a discrepancy of about 12 people between the extrapolated figure and Janeway's "150 humans". It is possible to ignore the discrepancy by treating her words as the sort of conversation in which precision is not needed. 12 seems a plausible number to assign to the other species i.e. non-humans (as Janeway refers to "150 humans") but that would make nonsense of the information given in [#150 Repression] and [#157 Shattered].
As mentioned above, in 2375 the Doctor adds the taking of a holo-image of each person to the annual medical check-up. He notes this in [#105 Latent Image]. The child Naomi Wildman has no crew designation. Neelix is designated "Crewman". |
 "We've only got only four functioning lavatories for a ship of 150 people." [#106 Bride Of Chaotica!] |
In [#116 Someone To Watch Over Me], Neelix informs Tomin, the Kadi Ambassador: "Voyager's an Intrepid-class Starship with a crew of one hundred and forty-six, designed for long-term exploration." With the tally effectively corrected with Janeway's "150 humans" (even if it is an approximation), it produces a discrepancy, but not a large one, and again for reasons of easier continuity Janeway's words should be taken as conversational approximation. In [#106 Bride Of Chaotica!] Neelix tells Janeway news of concern, saying: "We've only got four functioning lavatories for a ship of a hundred and fifty people." (ST:M incorrectly states that the Doctor gives the figure to the photonic lifeforms.) Neelix may be giving a round number, as with Janeway, but there can be said to be continuity between these three episodes as regards crew numbers. Unfortunately, there are intervening references which are inconsistent with each other and with these two episodes. In early 2375, in [#98 In The Flesh], there are 127 organic crewmembers aboard USS Voyager, as noted by the Doctor when he checks the crew to see if they have been replaced by Species 8472 agents: |
Doctor: "Cell morphology normal, all of your nucleotide sequences are accounted for - you're a hundred per cent human."
Chakotay: "That's a relief. And Tuvok?"
Doctor: "Green-blooded Vulcan through and through. Well, two down, one hundred and twenty-five to go." [#98 In The Flesh]
 |
 |
| above 2 pictures: [#98 In The Flesh] | |
Not long afterward, in [#107 Gravity], Tuvok informs the alien woman called Noss: "Voyager has fifteen decks, a crew of one hundred fifty-two, warp and impulse engines." I am relying on Neelix being precise with his figure of 146 since he is giving the Kadi Ambassador a tour of Voyager and relating a ship's specification, and I am relying on Tuvok's Vulcan preciseness. The inconsistency begs for some kind of plausible explanation to be offered, and so I suggest that the discrepancy between this and [#98 In The Flesh] is due to the fact that a number of the crew are on away missions. Those away teams would be unavailable for immediate medical checking and their absence would seem to make their being Species 8472 replacements less likely.
Indeed, since precise crew numbers are given in certain episodes, discrepancies could plausibly be explained by a number of the crew being absent on away missions. With the benefit of hindsight over all the seven Seasons, this explanation can be used for the early Seasons especially Season 1, this being the period when the show's writers had not yet begun to address what they realised was becoming an issue of some debate and often amused speculation for certain fans. The early Seasons, by happy coincidence as regards Star Trek chronology, are also the times when Voyager suffers the worst long-term period of shortages of supply, so crew being away to collect supplies is very plausible - fuel, food, spare parts, energy etc, as characterised by mentions of replicator rationing in, say, [#5 Phage] and the Season 3 story [#64 Real Life] and the importance of the compositor within the warp core's reaction chamber for allowing the re-crystallising the dilithium: "In our situation we can never be sure when we'll be able to find a new supply." : Chakotay, [Season 2: #38 Innocence] In [#55 Fair Trade], Tuvok states: "Fourteen Voyager crewmembers were off the ship at the time of the incident." namely the murder of Sutok at the Nekrit Supply Depot; he does not state if all those were at the Depot or elsewhere. Another explanation for discrepancies in crew numbers is that deaths occur among the crew which are not reported in episodes. This obviously happens since there are names of deceased crew listed on the Astrometrics Lab screen in [#148 Imperfection] who are not seen or mentioned in episodes otherwise. Details of those deceased are given on Page 2.
partial list of casualties [#148 Imperfection]
| CREW COMPLEMENT SO FAR:
In Seasons 4 to 5, the complement is about 150, with Neelix specifying 146 in late 2375, in the Season 5 story [#116 Someone To Watch Over Me]. In two intervening episodes, [#98 In The Flesh] and [#107 Gravity], crew numbers are indicated respectively as being 127 (excluding the Doctor) and 146 (probably including the Doctor). Episodes give no explanations for the discrepancies but plausible ones would be absences on away missions and deaths not featured or reported in episodes. |
At the start of the Season 5 story, set in 2375, [#109 and #110 Dark Frontier], a Borg probe scans Voyager: "Vessel identified. Federation Starfleet, Intrepid-class, one hundred forty-three lifeforms." It is unlikely that the Doctor is included in that number. Rather desperate to make the crew number references knit neatly, ST:M conjures up additional lifeforms on Voyager, "at a real stretch, the Borg could have counted six live specimens in the Doctor's lab." That is not an unreasonable plausible explanation although it does not apply here, for the problem here is that ST:M's data is incorrect due to error through incompleteness as much of Season 7 had not aired when the ST:M article was published. ST:M's explanation can be added to the ones I propose above, namely absence on away missions and/or unreported deaths. I suggest that at this time would be suitable occasions for the deaths to occur of certain crewmembers listed on the Astrometrics Lab screen in [#148 Imperfection] e.g. Ziegler and Young. It would not be implausible for them to be killed, or assimilated by the Borg, while away on scouting missions. We know that Voyager sends out scouting missions as with Chakotay and Kaplan in [#59 Unity], or some form of investigation as with Paris and Torres in [#46 The Swarm], or missions to seek and acquire resources such as dilithium as with the Delta Flyer away mission in [#134 Memorial].
| CREW COMPLEMENT SO FAR:
At the start of [#109 and #110 Dark Frontier], the Borg scan Voyager and note 143 lifeforms. It is unlikely that the Doctor is included in that number. The Borg's figure includes Naomi Wildman who of course is not yet of an age to be technically a proper crewman. |
2375 is a good year for the crew complement in that none die until the very end of the year, or at least, there are no deaths reported in the episodes. In [#121 Equinox, Part Two], a story which occurs at the start of 2376, two Voyager crewmen, whose names are not given, die in the first alien attack (thirteen others are injured) which begins toward the end of Part One of the story; the dessicated body of one of them is seen in Part Two of the story as briefly is the still recognisably human body of another victim as the corpse is covered over in the presence of Paris (acting attending physician in the absence of the Doctor).
One dead crewman, injured in Sickbay, and (2 pictures) a crewman's corpse is covered over. The crewman covering the corpse might be, speculating from the colour of his department division (medical/science), one of the junior medical staff.
Later, the survivors of the Equinox crew are added to the Crew Manifest, all with the rank of crewman such that any with rank (e.g. Gilmore) are demoted for their part in the murder of aliens: Noah Lessing, Marla Gilmore, James Morrow, Brian Sofin and Angelo Tassoni.
Janeway addresses then dismisses the Equinox survivors after stripping them of rank
| CREW COMPLEMENT SO FAR:
At the end of [#121 Equinox, Part Two], as Voyager starts the year 2376, the number of people aboard Voyager is 148, plus the Doctor. That figure is deduced from the Borg's figure of 143 (omits the Doctor as he is a hologram) in [#109 and #110 Dark Frontier], with no deaths reported in the intervening period. The Borg's figure includes Naomi Wildman who of course is not yet of an age to be technically a proper crewman. |
 Wilkarah [#122 Survival Instinct] |
Shortly afterwards, again early in 2376, Marika Willkarah, a Bajoran, and formerly an engineer on the Federation Starship Excalibur, stays aboard Voyager for the little time she has left before she dies as the result of regaining full individuality with the severence of the interlink between herself and two other former Borg drones. |
In [#130 Pathfinder], Lieutenant Reg Barclay is named an honorary member of the Voyager crew to mark his contribution in establishing the first (audio) live contact between Voyager and Starfleet Headquarters on Earth. It is a matter of speculation whether he is added to the Crew Manifest, but it seems doubtful, or if he is so added he would be specifically noted as being on it in an honorary capacity. One suspects that the honour is part of the champagne celebrations held by certain crew in Voyager's Messhall after the contact has occurred, and that it need not be taken further than that. In practical terms, Barclay does not physically join the Voyager crew.
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| above 2 pictures: the crew celebrate the achievement of Reg Barclay (pictured left)[#130 Pathfinder] | |
Later in 2376, in [#136 Collective], four children who were formerly Borg neo-natal drones, come aboard Voyager. Their names are Azan, Rebi, Mezoti and Icheb. It is likely that, as with Naomi Wildman, they are not added to the Crew Manifest (one of them, Icheb, may well be later - see below). A developing Borg baby is brought over to Voyager before then, but as the infant is not mentioned again on the series, it is assumed that she does not survive. Anyway, as with the four children, the infant girl would be unlikely to be added to the Crew Manifest.
| CREW COMPLEMENT SO FAR:
At the end of [#136 Collective], the number of people aboard Voyager is 149 if Marika Wilkarah is still alive, 148 if not. The Doctor is probably not included in that figure (see previous 'Crew Complement So Far'). Naomi Wildman, Mezoti, Azan, Rebi and Icheb are minors and not technically crew but passengers. |
In [#138 Ashes To Ashes], Ensign Lyndsay Ballard briefly returns to the Voyager crew - details are given above. It is possible that her entry on the Crew Manifest is restored, but if so it would have to be removed when she decides to return to her Kobali family.
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