Showing 6 results

This class consists of thirty-four volumes of contemporary lists of naval ships, 1633, 1655, 1664 and 1670 to 1900. Many were compiled officially and usually have the same format, listing ships by rate, details of dimensions, numbers of guns, where built and the name of the designer. A few have additional notes on establishments of stores and men and other regulations. The nineteenth century is particularly well represented by ten official volumes of annotated and corrected lists from the 1830s until the 1870s. They give very full dimensions and details of ships over a long period. An example of one of these is that belonging to the Earl of Minto (1872-1859), First Lord of the Admiralty, with details of ships during the 1830s, corrected to August 1841.

Five documents relate to the Ordinary, 1596 to 1638; all concern payment of the men. A similar number relate to the dockyards, 1669 to 1694; one of these is a petition signed by all the officers of the yards, asking for an advance of salary, 1694. In addition there is a letter from Thomas Wood, a mason, to the Duke of Richmond (1701-1750) petitioning him for employment in Portsmouth Dockyard, 1741. There are three documents relating to victualling, 1625, 1704 and 1755; six concern transports, dating between 1693 and 1899;seventeen relate to the Ordnance; the earliest is a group of inventories and stores for ships in 1595; and the most recent contains orders to the Storekeeper of Ordnance at Portsmouth, 1825, but in the main they are indentures and receipts. A dozen relate to manning and impressment; the earliest in this group, 1626, is an instruction to the constables for impressing mariners, signed by the Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628); the latest is an Admiralty minute relating to the mobilization of the Royal Naval Reserve, 1914. In the main the rest consist of proposals and Protections. Two documents relate to the Sea Fencibles, 1804 and 1812. Finally, seventeen documents concern the administration of naval stores; they date from 1611 to 1827, expenses for ships in the Channel Fleet, 1805.

This class consists of ten contemporary lists of naval personnel. There is usually little detail beyond the lists of names themselves. An exception to this rule is the earliest volume, a list of captains between 1688 and 1696, which gives a number of biographical details; similarly, there are notes in a volume in a clerical hand of promotions for lieutenants for 1801, kept for Lord St Vincent. The most comprehensive is a four-volume copy of the 'Naval General Service Medal Roll, 1793-1840', containing the names of those awarded and the actions in which the medal and bars were won.

Royal Navy ship's logs. The earliest log begins in 1737 and the latest in 1917 but the majority, over three hundred volumes, are from the nineteenth century. Being, on the whole, kept privately, the format and size of the volumes vary widely. Over three-fifths of the volumes, where the rank of the keeper can be ascertained, were kept by midshipman or naval cadets, but there are examples of logs kept by other ranks from master's mate to admiral. Many of the logs are illustrated with sketches, maps, diagrams and photographs. Of particular note in this respect are the log of the QUEEN CHARLOTTE, 1790, kept by Lieutenant (later Captain) John Mason Lewis (fl 1790-1831); four volumes kept by Sub-Lieutenant (later Commander) Francis H Boyer (d 1926) on various ships between 1869 and 1876; two logs kept on several ships, 1870 to 1873, together with a sketchbook by Henry Bridges Molesworth (1855-1954), midshipman; and the log of the RALEIGH, 1874 to 1876, by Charles Molyneux Howard Oakley (1858-1876), also when a midshipman. Of the forty eighteenth-century volumes, the earliest is the log of the WINDSOR, 1737 to 1741, signed by her captain, George Berkeley (1693?-1746), including an account of the attack on Cartagena in 1741.

There are also two logs by Rear-Admiral Charles Watson (1714-1757) as captain of the princess louisa, 1746 to 1747, including a description of the battle of Cape Finisterre, 1747; an unsigned copy of the log of Admiral Sir George Pocock on the NAMUR, 1762 to 1763, during the siege of Havana; a log of the WINCHELSEA, 1787 by John Dykes (fl 1776-1805), Master, with sailing instructions and copies of his correspondence, 1789; A log of the BRUNSWICK, 1793 to 1794, up to but excluding the First of June, kept by Captain John Harvey (1740-1794) together with the ship's muster and pay book 1792 to 1794; and three logs kept by Prince William Henry (1745-1837) as midshipman on various ships between 1779 and 1783.

There is a series of four logs of the LEVIATHAN, 1795 to 1799 and 1802, which was present at the attack on Leogane in 1796 and at the Minorca landings, 1798; these were possibly kept by Lieutenant (later Captain) William Buchanan (fl 1794-1833) and one volume has additions in the hand of Commodore (later Admiral) Sir John Duckworth, while the log for 1802 includes an index to his letterbooks and a register for 1800. Finally there are also three logs kept by Richard Caley (d 1799), Master's Mate and later Lieutenant, in several ships, 1781 to 1798, including the BLENHEIM at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 1797. Among nineteenth-century logs, numbering over three hundred, are two by Samuel Wise, Master's Mate, on the POLYPHEMUS, 1805 to 1808, which was present at the battle of Trafalgar, 1805; a log by Admiral Sir Augustus William Clifford (1788-1877) as lieutenant in the TIGRE, 1807 to 1809; a log by Lieutenant Thomas Pickering Clarke (fl 1800-1862) on several ships, 1800 to 1807, including a narrative of the Walcheren Expedition, 1809; and a log of Admiral Sir Stephen Lushington (1803-1877) as midshipman on the GANYMEDE, 1818 to 1819. There is also a log of the SPITFIRE, 1835 to 1839, by Robert R Arnott (fl 1834-1839), Assistant Surgeon, together with a rough medical record, 1839; a copy of the log of the VERNON, 1836 to 1837, signed by Captain (later Rear-Admiral) John W M'Kerlie (1774-1848), together with printed sailing reports of the VERNON and a punishment book, 1834 to 1837; and a log of the POLYPHEMUS while engaged in the suppression of the slave trade, 1853 to 1854. Another log of this vessel, 1855 to 1856, kept by Commander (later Captain) Frederic P Warren (d 1891) records her wreck off Jutland on 29 January 1856. Among the volumes relating to the Crimean War there is a log kept by Midshipman (later Captain) Cecil G S Stanley (d 1891), in the ALBION and QUEEN, 1853 and 1855.

This class contains volumes which relate to prize money, including an account book, 1811 to 1816, of Edward Locker, admiral's secretary (1777-1849); and five ledgers of prize accounts, possibly by the naval agents, Messrs Ommaney, 1798 to 1826.

This category contains single items relating to the administration of naval ships. Among the items are a watch bill, c 1810; a certificate of 1813 signed for a petty officer 'to pass through the lines' from the BRUIZER, 1903.