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The Admiralty records at the National Maritime Museum cover the administration of the Navy from 1688-1832 (when the Navy Board was abolished) in considerable detail. There are also a few records from 1832-1883. Together they consist of 7,497 bound volumes and a large mass of loose papers.

The majority of orders and letters are original documents, often minuted, but there are a few volumes of indexes, minute and letterbook copies of correspondence. The collection includes over 5000 Lieutenants' logs forwarded to the Navy Board in connection with the work of passing the Officers' accounts.

The Admiralty records now at the National Maritime Museum, consist of the original orders from the Admiralty to the Navy Board from 1688-1815 (ADM/A&N&RP&Q&P&OT), and the Navy Board replies from 1733-1831 (ADM/B&BP&D&DP&F&FP). Orders to the Navy Board relating to transports during the period when there was no Transport Board were bound up separately as were those relating to the special appointment of General Bentham, as Inspector General of Naval Works, during the Napoleonic War. The Navy Board letters respecting the fitting of ships from 1804-1809 were separated from the general correspondence, and bound with a chronological index at the beginning. In addition to these main series of orders from the Admiralty to the Navy Board, there are some copies of orders for the Ticket Office from 1774-1815, and some loose papers relating to the Marine Office and a few orders for the Office of Stores (ADM/J&K).

The Admiralty orders to the Victualling Commissioners from 1707-1815 (ADM/C) are included in this collection, as well as the abstract of Admiralty orders from 1694-1819 (ADM/G) and the Victualling Board's replies from 1703-1822 (ADM/H). The Admiralty orders to the commissioners for taking care of sick and wounded seamen from 1702-1806 form a complete series, supplemented by the Commissioners replies from 1742-1806 (ADM/E). Orders relating to prisoners of war were bound up separately and cover the years from 1743, some distinction being made for the different nationalities (ADM/M). Both these series of orders were continued when the Transport Boards took over the Commissioners; the former series has been preserved in this collection up to 1815 (ADM/ET), and the latter from 1796-99 (ADM/MT).

The Lieutenant's logs which total 5,205 volumes are bound according to the name of the ship, some Captain's logs being included (ADM/L). There are also bound up with some logs, accounts of expenses of paper and ticket books. The Lieutenant's log was accompanied by a certificate from his captain stating that he had complied with the printed instructions and not been absent from his ship. These journals were deposited first in the Admiralty Office and a certificate was made out, for which the chief clerk received 2s 6d.' though captains usually paid 5s 0d. The chief clerk then abstracted details of the voyage of each ship from her logs "specifying the day of her sailing - of her arrival at each port, her stay there and departure there from". The logs were then passed to the Navy Office where the clerk of the acts made out certificates "to enable the lieutenants and masters to receive their wages". It was also his duty to "arrange and keep the journals and log books of every ship that may be delivered of the proceedings from the time of such journals and log books". The logs in this collection have been preserved from the time of Pepys until 1809, when the procedure for keeping logs was altered, and contained much useful information. The logs were kept according to the nautical calendar, which counted the day as starting at mid-day, until 1805 when the civil practice was adopted.

The only records for the period after 1832, which are included in this collection, are those of the Surveyor's department for the years 1832-39. These letters, addressed to the Board of Admiralty, contain some interesting material on ship-building. There are also a number of volumes of papers relating to the preparation of naval estimates for the years 1849-1883, as far as the Victualling department was concerned.

In-Letters of the Board Of Admiralty consisting of 324 volumes and 45 boxes of loose letters to the Board of Admiralty from subordinate boards, 1703 to 1832. The majority are letters from the Navy Board concerning the construction and fitting of ships, dockyard management, appointments, the settlement of accounts and naval finance, 1738 to 1832 (235 vols, classmarks ADM/B, ADM/BP, ADM/Y). There are also letters from the Victualling Board concerned with the problems of purchasing, packing and supplying provisions to ships, 1703 to 1714, 1714 to 1732, 1732 to 1769, 1787 to 1822 (51 vols, 34 boxes, ADM/D, ADM/DP); letters from the Sick and Hurt Board relating to the care and housing of sick and wounded seamen, 1742 to 1754, 1755 to 1764, 1794 to 1806 (37 vols, 11 boxes, ADM/F, ADM/FP).

Navy Board in-letters and orders, consisting of I ,582 volumes of letters and orders to the Navy Board from the Admiralty, 1689 to 1815. 1,559 volumes contain those specifically for the Board's attention and relating to the construction and equipment of ships, dockyard affairs, appointments, the settlement of accounts and naval finance, 1689 to 1692, 1692 to 1695, 1695, 1696 to 1732, 1732 to 1737, 1737 to 1815 (class mark, ADM/A); seventeen volumes and one box contain letters to the Navy Board relating to the hire, employment and management of transports, 1741 to 1742, 1747 to 1748, 1749 to 1750, 1757 to 1759, 1763 to 1773, 1775 to 1776, 1778 to 1781, 1793 to 1797 (ADM/N, ADM/RP); four volumes contain matters relating to the work of the Inspector-General of Naval Works, 1795 to 1808 (ADM/Q); and one volume contains letters to the Office for Stores, 1783 to 1788 (ADM/P). There is one exception; one volume contains orders from the Treasury concerning transports, 1783 to 1789 (ADM/OT).

Navy Board: later Admiralty and ships' contracts, consisting of technical specifications for naval ships built in commercial yards, giving details of dimensions, materials and qualities of the ships to be built under contract. They are similar to the Ships' Specifications (entry no.7, ADM/170), but in addition have a preamble and final section dealing with the dates for the payment of instalments and with delivery. Prices, however, are usually not entered; the evidence to be gained from these documents is, therefore, of a technical rather than a financial nature. Each volume is for a specific vessel but the technical details given can normally be taken as applying to an entire class of ship. The records cover the period from the middle of the eighteenth century to the end of the Second World War. Until 1780 the contracts are in manuscript form; from that date printed books were used with blank spaces for the insertion of the details. From the middle of the nineteenth century volumes were printed individually. The Admiralty collection of ships' plans, held in the Draught Room, occasionally includes material similar to that described here, together with occasional letters and memoranda concerned with design or building. (Department of Ships: ADM/168: 152ft: 46m).

Navy Board, Lieutenants' logs, consisting of 5,205 volumes, 1673 to 1809. In some cases captains' logs have been bound with those of lieutenants, but they are usually duplicates of those at the Public Record Office, which holds the series of captains' and masters' logs for this period and ships' logs from 1799. Some expense accounts for paper and ticket books are also bound in with the logs.

In-letters and orders of the Sick and Hurt Board. They consist of eighty volumes of in-Letters from the Admiralty, 1702 to 1806. Fifty-two of these volumes relate to the care of sick and hurt seamen, 1702 to 1708, 1715 to 1750, 1750 to 1806 (class mark, ADM/E); seventeen to the care of prisoners of war, 1743 to 1750; a further two volumes to the care of American prisoners, 1777 to 1783; and nine more to the care of French, Spanish and Dutch prisoners, 1778 to 1783 (ADM/M).

Ticket Office: in-letters and orders, consisting of 107 volumes of letters to the Ticket Office from the Admiralty Office, 1774 to 1815, relating to seamen's pay (class mark, ADM/J). (These form part of the series at the Public Record Office which holds the remainder, 1815 to 1822.) There are also sixteen volumes of abstracts of, and indexes to, Admiralty orders, 1698 to 1785 (ADM/K). Also included in this section is one volume containing pay-books for the Queen, 1694 to 1697, the Quaker ketch, 1683 to 1696, and Queenborough, 1694 to 1697.

Victualling Board: in-letters and orders, consisting of 427 volumes of in-letters, abstracts of letters and orders, and Board minutes, 1694 to 1819. Four hundred volumes are letters from the Admiralty, 1788 to 1815 (class mark, ADM/C); twenty-six volumes contain abstracts of Admiralty and Navy Board letters and orders, 1694 to 1819 (ADM/G); and one volume consists of Victualling Board minutes, 1811 to 1813 (ADM/H).