Showing 1 results

Papers of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. There are copies of the Royal Charter granted to the Company in 1839 and subsequent renewals: a continuous series of minute books of Directors' meetings, 1839 to 1934 (three volumes); of General Meetings, 1842 to 1933 and a less complete set of Directors' reports, 1850 to 1902. A minute book of the Stores Committee, 1842 to 1843, illustrates the deployment of the very large stocks of coal necessary to maintain the services. The Mail Contracts for the various services are well documented. In- and out-correspondence, 1842 to 1868, with 'Public Departments' (the Admiralty, the Post Office and Board of Trade) is contained in nineteen volumes. A very early letterbook, 1826 to 1828, contains letters from the Post Office to Lieutenant Edward Chappell R.N. (d.1856) who subsequently became Secretary of the Company. A Marine Superintendent's confidential letterbook, 1826 to 1899, casts light on staff selection. General correspondence, 1904 to 1943, both in and out, is largely about the carriage of mail, legal matters and inter-company communications. Four memorandum books (1860 to 1904, 1884 to 1902, 1905 to 1909 and 1915 to 1917) are Directors' 'vade mecum's', containing a valuable cross-section of information about the Company's operations. Route books and 'Details of Service' 1841 to 1920, locate the services geographically. Agency arrangements are dealt with in nine books, 1876 to 1954, containing details of agreements entered into by the Company, including mortgages, leases or purchases of properties, powers of attorney and commissions. The technical part of the collection includes builders' specifications for ships, 1876 to 1954; fleet regulations for officers and engineers, 1850 and 1950; instructions to pursers, 1876; a treatise by Captain Chappell on 'Smith's Patent Screw Propeller', 1840; a Fire and Boat Station Bill for the Avon, 1845; reports on the stranding of the Magdalena, 1949, and a number of early log books, 1842 to 1869. The only account books are two cash books, 1839 to 1849, and some day-to-day cash books from the West End passenger office, 1959 to 1969. There are no service records although there is an album of photographs of captains, 1870, and information about pensions, national health and unemployment insurance. Finally the collection contains a wealth of publicity material of various dates. (Section 3: RMS/: 100ft: 30m) Ships' Plans: consist mainly of linen tracings of general arrangements, profiles and deck plans of nine Royal Mail steamships, 1850 to 1880, and paper prints of cargo spaces on six early twentieth-century vessels.