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Records of Chine Shipping Co Ltd, containing records of all the five companies, which, at one time or another, made up the Anglo-Danubian group, although the majority relate to the Chine Shipping Company. Much of the Companies' history can be traced through agreements between them, and with the Ministry of War Transport, 1941 to 1944. The only statutory company record to survive is the Director's minute book of the Rodney Steamship Company Ltd, 1915 to 1935. Financial ledgers and accounts include: Anglo-Danubian Transport Company Ltd, 1944 to 1962; Chine Shipping Company Ltd, 1944 to 1968; the Gryfevale Steamship Company, 1929 to 1950; the Rodney Steamship Company Ltd, 1948 to 1961; the Anglo-Continental Inland Waterways Ltd, 1947 to 1951. There is a full series of general correspondence for Chine Shipping, 1961 to 1968. In addition there is a long series of records relating to Chine's ships in the 1960s. These include: accounts relating to the CHARLES DICKENS, 1961 to 1962; correspondence and accounts, MACAULAY, TENNYSON and THACKERAY, 1963 to 1968; chief officer's and chief engineer's logs for MACAULAY, 1963 to 1968, for TENNYSON, 1964 to 1968, and THACKERAY, 1964 to 1968; repair accounts for MACAULAY, 1960 to 1968, for TENNYSON, 1957 to 1968, and THACKERAY, 1958 to 1968. There are insurance records, 1958 to 1968, and general files dealing with the usual minutiae of a shipping office.

Records, 1926-1951, of the Chinese Government Purchasing Commission (CGPC), including information on the state of Chinese communications; the workings of the Chinese Ministries of Communications, Railways and Industries; Chinese banking; construction and engineering technology and the work of British manufacturers; and some information on Chinese educational and cultural institutions in receipt of subsidies from the Board of Trustees for the Administration of the Indemnity Funds Remitted by the British Government.

Records, 1926-1951, relating to the foundation and constitution of the CGPC comprise printed report of the Anglo-Chinese Advisory Committee (China Indemnity Advisory Committee), 1926; correspondence, largely letters from the Board of Trustees to the CPGC, 1931-1950, concerning the constitution of the Commission, procedural issues, personnel and financial matters; file on procedure on appointment of a new member of the Commission, 1947-1948; correspondence concerning events preceding the winding-up of the Commission, 1951.

Financial records, 1931-1951, comprise papers on the Board Account, 1937-1950; papers on the Chin Fund (apparently a grant paid to Constance Chin, a patient of the Bethlem Royal Hospital), 1945-1951; summaries of expenses relating to purchase orders made by Chinese ministries, 1931-1951; Indemnity Fund cash books, 1937-1950; invoices and receipts relating to CGPC business, 1937-1951; financial statements and correspondence relating to banking matters with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 1931-1951, the subjects including investments and tax.

Operational records, c1928-1951, relating to the administration of purchase orders, comprise register of tenders/purchase orders, 1942-1946; contract registers (not comprehensive), 1931-1949, recording the management of contracts for the supply and delivery in China of plant, machinery and other materials manufactured in the UK for the Chinese government, and over 1,000 related contract files for engineering companies and manufacturers for industrial, construction, railway and other projects; tender forms, 1934, issued to contractors by the CGPC; specifications and standards, c1928-1937 and undated, largely for the construction of railways and carriages; correspondence concerning administration of purchase orders, 1932-1951, relating especially to delivery of locomotive spare parts and related materials; registers of export licences issue to British manufacturers under wartime regulations, 1941-1946; applications for export licences, 1939-1945; registers of shipments, insurance, freight and inspection fees, 1931-1951; shipping letters, 1937-1950, issued for CGPC shipments; general correspondence concerning the administration of the CGPC, 1931-1951, including correspondence with solicitors and correspondence concerning the CGPC premises in Tothill Street, London.

Annual reports and accounts, 1931-1950, comprise typescript accounts and reports, 1931-1950, of the CGPC and published annual reports, 1931-1950, including summaries of receipts and payments; and annual reports of the Board of Trustees, 1931-1938.

Miscellaneous records, c1932-1950, comprise one file including papers on subjects including railways, training Chinese students, Japanese imperialism, and CGPC records, a photograph of ships in harbour, and maps of China and the Far East.

Records, 1939-1943, of the China Purchasing Agency Ltd comprise standing regulations of the Board of Directors, undated; correspondence, 1939-1943, concerning various purchase orders; miscellaneous items, c1939-1940, including list of tenders passed for acceptance, 1939, and an undated schedule of materials shipped.

Papers of Capt John Christopher, consisting of certificates and letters of reference, a disbursement book of the MINMANUETH 1865 to 1871, an account book relating to the LIZZIE MORTON 1875 to 1877 and a rough notebook 1870 to 1871.

The collection consists mainly of ship's voyage expenses ledgers and company wages books, together with additional company records, such as personal expenses and accounts books for various members of the Hill family, and shipyard labour, materials and supplies ledgers. As a whole, the collection covers the company through its various changes of name and ownership, from 1775 to the 1940's.

Papers of Michael Clements, consisting of logs, 1748 to 1771, letter and order books, 1757 to 1771, sailing and fighting instructions, 1747 to 1778, and notes and personal papers, 1759 to 1780. There are also some of Clements's charts in the Department of Navigation and Astronomy.

Papers of Clumber House. The collection mainly consistis of eleven volumes of copies, some of them contemporary, of original documents. Dating from the early seventeenth century is a copy of 'Admiralli Angliae a tempore regis Edwardi secundi ano 1307 ad anui domini 1590'; some notes added to the text in a different hand extend this list of admirals to cover the years 1264 to 1618. Slightly later is a seventeenth-century copy of judges' opinions regarding the payment of ship money, 1638. There is a collection of bound documents relating to naval administration which includes copies of 'A brief discourse of the Navy', 1638, and 'The Navy Ript and Ransact', c 1659, by John Hollond (fl 1624-1659) (printed in Hollond's Discourses, ed. J.R. Tanner, Navy Records Society, 1896). Also relating to politics and maritime affairs is a volume of original seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century documents compiled c 1815 by an antiquarian, William Hamper (1776-1831). Four volumes, possibly compiled for or by Josiah Burchett, Secretary to the Admiralty, ([1666]-1746), contain notes, transcripts and some original documents relating to the Navy, 1659 to 1743; they include copies of orders issued by the Admiralty and King in Council and a volume of accounts, tables and orders relating to the equipment, management and expense of maintaining the Navy, including the dockyards, c 1732. Notes and transcripts, c 1799, formerly belonging to William Locker (1731-1800) comprise two volumes; these were compiled for a history of the Navy and include some biographical sketches of naval officers. Finally, there is the log of the H.E.I.C.S. Melville Castle, 1786 to 1788.

Papers of Cowper Phipps Cole, consisting of three large albums of newspaper cuttings which relate to the Navy and to ship design and were collected by Coles himself between 1862 and his death. There are a number of later cuttings to 1878.

Papers of Cuthbert Collingwood, including two letterbooks containing private letters received between 1793 and 1809, the rest of the collection is composed of official letterbooks. There is one for the PRINCE and one for the EXCELLENT; ten others form part of the records for the Mediterranean command. Several, however, are clearly missing. There is an admiral's journal, 1801 to 1804, and another for the latter part of the Mediterranean command.

Letters from A Copland, 6 Dec [1827]-13 Mar 1828, (i-ii) Address: Queen Street, [Abderdeen]. Parts of 2 letters to Copland's brother, Charles Copland. (i) Describes the towing of The Mary (of which A Copland was part-owner) off the rocks at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire (6 December [1827]). (ii) Last leaf of a letter, bearing only 3 lines of writing (13 March 1828 [endorsement]). Both letters appear to be autograph but are unsigned.

(iii) Newspaper cutting advertising The Mary, a 40-ton ship 'intended to be a regular trader between Aberdeen and Peterhead'.

Manuscript volume containing a report giving a list of all the costs of the upkeep of a galley in a squadron, [1700-1750], requested by 'S R Gerosna', entitled 'Relazione distinta di tutta la somma che si spende e consuma per il manteninento di una galera dalla squadra di questa S R Gerosna'. Includes frequent references to the port at Malta, and to Sicily, Sardinia and other islands in the Mediterranean, and notes of advice for captains of galleys trading in the area.

Midshipman's log book, by Currey, 1876-1878, including service on HMS DUKE OF WELLINGTON, Flagship of Adm Sir George Elliot, Portsmouth, Dec 1876-Jan 1877, HMS ALEXANDRA, Mediterranean Fleet, Jan 1877-Aug 1878 and HMS CRUISER, Mediterranean Fleet, Aug-Sep 1878; papers and plans relating to anti-submarine warfare, 1913-1915, including typescript draft text of lecture by Currey entitled 'Hints on organised coast defence v submarines' [1914]; fifty six manuscript naval signals, Aug-Dec 1914, including signals to R Adm, 5 Battle Sqn from the Admiralty on support to be given to operations by Chatham Royal Marine Force at Ostend, Belgium, 26-27 Aug 1914, signals relating to the loss of the battleship HMS AUDACIOUS to a mine in the Atlantic, 27 Oct 1914, and signals ordering RN battlecruisers HMS INVINCIBLE and HMS INFLEXIBLE to sea, 4 Nov 1914 (prior to the Battle of the Falklands Islands, 8 Dec 1914); journal and signal book kept by Mid Richard Reynell on board Currey's flagship, HMS PRINCE OF WALES, 1914-1915.

Papers of Admiral Curzon-Howe comprising logs, 1868 to 1873, fishery reports, Newfoundland, 1892 to 1895, memoranda, 1888 to 1893, 1909 to 1910, and notes on manoeuvres, 1895, 1899.

Papers of Captain Hubert Edward Dannreuther including papers relating to gunnery matters as well as order books, photos, letters and diaries.

Papers of Hubert Harold Dannreuther, 1927-1949.

Papers of Raymond Portal Dannreuther, 1937-1954.

Papers of Tristan Dannreuther, including logs, 1887 to 1891, night order books, 1911 to 1917, notebooks, 1890 to 1891, diaries, 1887 to 1958, and remark books, 1893 to 1912. There are numerous letters from Dannreuther to his mother written between 1885 and 1919, except for the years 1909 to 1914, and official documents relating to the ships under his command.

Papers of Admiral Dawkins, including papers of his early career consist of official service documents and three diaries, 1851 to 1858. Those concerned with the loss of the VANGUARD consist of some official publications, such as the findings of the court martial, a large collection of press cuttings, some private letters and Dawkins' own account of the disaster.

Journal, 1935-1939, covering his service in Abyssinia (Ethiopia), 1935, UK, 1936-1938, including his court martial after the grounding of HMS SCOUT, Jan 1938, and the Far East, 1938-1939.

Papers from the collection of Andre De Coppet consisting of sixteen documents. The earliest, 1618, is an estimate of expenditure on seven ships 'at the narrow Seas' signed by the Lord High Admiral, Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham (1536-1624), the Comptroller of the Navy, Sir Guilford Slingsby (d 1632) and the Surveyor of the Navy, Sir Richard Bingley (fl 1590-1618). Two other seventeenth-century documents relate to prize money; a letter of 1667 from Lord Bellasis (1614-1689) to Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), with Pepys' draft reply. Three documents are addressed to Admiral Honore Ganteaume (1755-1818) from Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) and consist of an order, 1798, regarding the blockade of Alexandria, and two letters, 1798 and 1805; the former discusses possible courses of action open to the French fleet against the British in the Mediterranean. The eleven letters of Lord Nelson (q.v.), 1799 to 1805, which make up the rest of the collection, concern events in the Mediterranean after the Battle of the Nile and those leading up to the Battle of Trafalgar. Four of these are to Sir John Acton (1736-1811), Prime Minister to Ferdinand I of Naples and Sicily. Complaints about Lord Keith (q.v.) are the main subject in the letter, 1799, to Sir William Hamilton (q.v.).

Typescript memoir entitled 'Ships in bottles' covering his life and naval career, 1902-1952, notably his service in the North Sea and the English Channel, 1915-1916, off the West coast of Ireland, 1917-1918, in Turkey, 1922, China, 1927-1929, the Mediterranean, 1934-1936 and 1939-1940, the North Sea, 1941-1942, the Indian Ocean, 1942-1944, at destroyer base HMS DEFENDER, Liverpool, 1944-1945, and in West Africa, 1945-1946.

Passenger Safety Certificates.

Papers of Devitt and Moore. Those relating to vessels owned, chartered and loaded by the company include: copies of registers of vessels, 1859 to 1897; voyage books, 1883-1917; lists of sailing ships and steamers loaded by Devitt and Moore, 1836 to 1926 and F Green and Co, 1839 to 1918; a log book of the Port Jackson, 1908 to 1909; the log books of the Medway, 1912 to 1913, 1915 to 1916 and one log book of the St George, 1920 to 1921. The business records include: ledgers, 1903 to 1907, 1914 to 1921; cash books and journals, 1910 to 1914 and letterbooks, 1911, 1916 to 1920. the records relating to officers and cadets include lists of ship's officers and cadets, 1864 to 1916; registers of apprentices 1868 to 1899, 1902 to 1903, 1906 to 1917; and registers of midshipmen, 1897 to 1917. In addition there are three volumes of newspaper clippings, 1904 to 1918, note books, miscellaneous correspondence and papers relating to the history of the company, plans of vessels, photographs and sailing schedules.

Copies of papers relating to his career and the strategic significance of seapower, 1915-1962, including official and personal correspondence, 1915-1936, including letters from Adm Sir Arthur Cavenagh Leveson, Commander-in-Chief, China Station, 1923, R Adm Montagu William Warcop Peter Consett, 1923, V Adm Sir Lewis Clinton-Baker, 1926, Lt Gen John Greer Dill, 1929-1936, Adm Sir Herbert William Richmond, 1929, Maj Gen William Henry Bartholomew, 1929, R Adm Ragnar Musgrave Colvin, Chief of Staff, Home Fleet, 1931, Cdre Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1932; manuscript narrative diary, HMS HAREBELL, Fishery Protection, 1925-1926; typescript copies of lectures given at the Imperial Defence College, 1927-1935; manuscript notes on the history of the Peninsular Campaigns, Napoleonic Wars, 1807-1814 [1928]; published articles by Dickens, letters to the press and book reviews, mainly relating to the Royal Navy and the projection of seapower, 1929-1962; manuscript narrative war diary, 1940-1945, with manuscript notes on the Korean War, 1950; official and personal correspondence, 1940-1945, including letters from Rt Hon Maurice Paschal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey of The Chart, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1940, letter from Capt Wilfrid Rupert Patterson, Captain of HMS KING GEORGE V, on the sinking of the German battleship BISMARCK, 1941, letters from Adm Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Bt, 1941-1944, letter from Augustus (Edwin) John, 1943, letter from R Adm John Anthony Vere Morse, 1943, letter from AF Sir John Cronyn Tovey, Commander-in-Chief, the Nore, 1945, also, typescript report by Dickens to the Admiralty on the German attack on the Netherlands, 22 May 1940 and copy of Adm Cunningham's official signal to the Admiralty on the surrender of the Italian Fleet, Malta, 10 Sep 1943; newspaper cuttings and correspondence relating to Bombing and strategy. The fallacy of total war (Sampson Low, Marston and Company, London, 1947), including letters of congratulation from Adm Cunningham, US Adm Richard L Conolly, Maj Gen John Frederick Charles Fuller, and Cdre Guy Willoughby, 1947; personal correspondence, 1947-1962, including letters from AF Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, 1947-1959, Adm Bruce Austin Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape, 1948, Adm Sir (Eric James) Patrick Brind, Commander-in-Chief, Far East Station, 1949, Rt Hon Maurice Paschal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey of The Chart, 1949, AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, 1954, AF Alfred Ernie Montacute Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield of Ditchling, 1959, R Adm George Pirie Thomson, 1959; manuscript notes and annotated typescript draft chapters for projected autobiography [1960].

Copies of papers relating to his life and career, 1929-[1962], comprising four letters written while serving in Mediterranean, 1936-1937; text of his speech to the crew of HMS BERWICK in honour of Capt Arliss, 1946; synopsis of his lecture on 'The Royal Navy today', given at the Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Inglesa, Rio de Janeiro, 1951; curricula vitae, 1955, [1959], [1962].

Papers of Robert Duff including logs, 1744 to 1747, 1749 to 1762 and for part of 1779; letter and order books, 1745 to 1762, 1775 to 1780; a register of Newfoundland fishing vessels, 1775; a list of ships, 1770; various signals and sailing directions and a family account book, 1769 to 1778.

Papers relating to his service in the RN, 1911-1945, dated 1911, 1914, [1918], 1919, 1945, principally comprising his notes on Battle of Dogger Bank, 1915; printed memorandum from AF David Beatty to flag officers, commodores and officers in command of ships in the Grand Fleet, 20 Nov 1918, concerning the handover of the German High Sea Fleet to the British Grand Fleet on 21 Nov 1918; photographs of ships and personnel, [1918], including Beatty; text of Beatty's farewell speech to the crew of HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, 5 Apr 1919.

Papers of Eastern and Australian Steamship Co Ltd, containing a copy of the 1873 mail contract with the Government of Queensland: the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the third company (1894) and some early account books, 1894 to 1898. Later accounting records include company returns, 1920 to 1969, and there are minutes of Board meetings, 1906 to 1969. Included in the tonnage data, 1948 to 1969, are the contract and hull specification for the ARAFURA, 1952 to 1953.

Papers of Edward Bates and Sons. The major part consists of carbon copies of the daily letters written privately between 1878 and 1902 by Edward Percy Bates from Liverpool to his father Edward Bates in Hampshire and his brother Sydney in London. When he was away from Liverpool the letters were written by another brother (usually Gilbert Bates) and later by his son Edward Bertram Bates. The letters contain information on all the family's business interests, including ships' movements and cargoes, the sale of cargoes and the state of the various markets. As well as personal matters, the correspondence reflects the close-knit circle of shipowners in Liverpool during this period. Records of ships include: a disbursement book, 1902 to 1914; a movements book with details of cargo, 1908 to 1916; cargoes, 1870 to 1896; ships' expenses at different ports, 1869 to 1902. In addition there are copies of correspondence between Gilbert Bates and Edward Percy Bates while the latter was on a trip to India, 1887 to 1888; a small duplicate letterbook records the business and personal letters written by Gilbert Bates 1880 to 1881 (including a visit to India) and continued by Edward Percy Bates, 1883 to 1884, when most of the letters were written to Sydney while be was on a visit to India; copies of letters sent from Liverpool to Bombay, 1879 to 1881; a few loose letters addressed to Edward Bates during the period, 1852 to 1867; by the Bombay office, 1861 to 1865, and by masters of the ships, 1862 to 1877. There are the carbons of letters written by Colonel Denis H Bates (1886-1959), mainly to Sydney E Bates, Percy E Bates and Aubrey Brocklebank, 1919 to 1924. There is a carbon copy of a diary of a visit to India kept by H G Wilson, chief accountant of Brocklebank's, and sent to Colonel Bates; carbons of reports sent by Wilson from India to Brocklebank's, the Anchor Line and Ellerman's, 1920 to 1921; and a few papers of Sir Percy Elly Bates on shipping and transport, 1916 to 1919.

Papers of Douglas George Eggins, consisting of eight day books, forming a continuous record between 1922 and 1958 of all the ships which he piloted in and out of Falmouth Bay and Harbour, together with the fees charged. There is also a typescript of the scheduled times of movement of craft before D-Day, 1944.

Papers of Adml George Keith Elphinstone, consisting of 168 volumes and 350 boxes of loose papers all of which include letters, orders and memoranda received between 1772 and 1815. Keith's active career, before he commanded a station, is well covered by correspondence From 1796, however, the papers become very extensive. There is considerable material on the reduction of the Cape of Good Hope and on other matters during the Cape command (15 vols, 7 boxes). As Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, he received letters from Lords Nelson, Minto and Elgin (1766-1841), Sir Sidney Smith and a number of Turkish potentates (80 vols, 100 boxes). The papers covering his North Sea Command illustrate strategic and day-to-day problems and there are a large number of letters from Admiral Sir Bartholomew Rowley (d 1811) at the Nore, Admiral Holloway (d.1826) in the Downs, Commodore Edward Owen in Boulogne and others (55 vols, 185 boxes). No less comprehensive are the records for the final Channel command with correspondence from Sir Home Popham (1762-1820), the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) and some letters relating to Napoleon's surrender (25 vols, 50 boxes). Keith's private papers form only a very small part of the collection hut as a flag-officer he kept the most routine of letters: for each major command, particularly that of the Mediterranean, there are numerous accounts and returns which provide a detailed picture of victualling and the other general problems of an overseas fleet. There are also complete lists of ships' dispositions for all his major commands.

The earliest of the four volumes in this class is a notebook with carefully executed pen and ink diagrams entitled 'The Indicator and Dynamometer with Their Practical Applications'. It was written in 1859 by Captain Brown of the MOHAWK. There are two notebooks kept by stokers on courses at the beginning of the twentieth century; one is by Acting Leading Stoker John H Osborne, 1913, and the other, which is illustrated, is by Henry Arnell, 1908. Ther is also Arnell's copy of the Stoker's Manual , 1912.

Papers of Rev George Fisher. The earliest items are two books of mathematical theorems, 1811 and 1813. There are volumes of notes and observations for both Fisher's Arctic voyages and for his period in the Mediterranean, accounts of later scientific work and abstracts of observations made by other scientists. This is the material which formed the basis of the scientific papers which he published in the Philosophical Transactions and elsewhere. There are letterbooks for Greenwich Hospital School from 1836 to 1863 (excepting the years 1858, 1859 and 1860) and other reports and papers relating to the School There are a number of items collected by Fisher The most important are Peter Puget's journal for March to May 1793 in the Chatham, storeship for Vancouver's expedition; a meteorological log also giving details of ship arrivals and departures at Madras, 1815 to 1816; Franklin's (q.v.) lunar observations on board the Trent in 1818 and Parry's (1790-1855) meteorological journal on his first two voyages in search of the North-West Passage in 1819 to 1820 and 1821 to 1823.

The earliest of the ten volumes relating to foreign navies are two copies in English of the ordinance of Louis XIV for his navy, 1689. There is also a receipt book of the Treasurer General of Galleys of the French Navy, 1715 to1717; a volume of 1780 listing the French navy, giving the officers, dimensions, construction details and comments on each vessel; a treatise on seamanship, in French, c 1780, which concludes with lists of French and English ships; and the order book of Captain J M Girardias of the INFATIGABLE, 1803 to 1806, together with a bundle of loose orders received. The remaining four volumes contain cuttings, original photographs, plans, building specifications, details of armaments and equipment and copies of reports relating to foreign warships; they were very probably compiled at the Admiralty in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One deals with Italian warships, ca. 1880 to 1922; the second with French warships, c 1880 to 1906; the third with cruisers and smaller ships of the French Navy, c 1880 to 1906, the German navy, ca.1880 to 1926, and the Russian Navy, c 1885 to 1907; and the fourth volume deals with non-European unarmoured ships and includes details of the United States Navy, ca.1883 to 1922, the Brazilian Navy, 1883 to 1910, the Argentine Navy, 1880 to 1913, the Japanese Navy, 1884 to 1922, the Chinese Navy, 1883 to 1914 and the navies of many powers.

Papers of Cicely Fox Smith, consisting of some manuscript material including logs of three East India merchant ships 1851 to 1854; a number of letters and photographs which she received from various correspondents; and a few articles and newspaper cuttings; there are also letters relating to the restoration of the VICTORY, 1920 to 1929. The collection has some useful materials for the study of the sailing ship.

Records of the General Steam Navigation Co Ltd. They consist of: minutes of the Board, 1824 to 1859, 1861 to 1893, 1896 to 1970; minutes of the managing committee of the Board, 1833; Deeds of Settlement and printed extracts from Acts of Parliament relating to the company, 1825, 1840, 1845, 1874; two commercial agreements with other companies, 1874, 1906; Directors' half-yearly reports to shareholders, with balance sheets, 1825 to 1906; profit and loss accounts, 1896 to 1924; Employee Record of Service Book, 1850 to 1914; circulars and instructions to staff, 1874, 1875, 1884, 1903; Sailing Bills, 1839, 1844, 1874, 1875, 1939; books of time tables, 1876 to 1914; notes on various ships in the company, 1842 to 1904; copies of Certificates of British Registry, 1836 to 1965. Only a small amount of correspondence survives, including several letters to and from the Board, 1832 to 1922; some items concerning the working of the Holland to Hamburg mail contract, 1834, and a few letters from shareholders, 1902, 1906 and 1916 to 1920. There are also documents recording the history of the Company, including records of General Steam Navigation Company ships and men in the two world wars, copies of parliamentary papers, newspaper cuttings and photographs. In addition, there are records of three companies acquired by G.S.N. Moss Hutchinson Line Limited: the records consist of Memorandum and Articles of Association, with attendant papers, 1934 to 1968; Directors' minute book, 1941 to 1971; annual returns, 1941 to 1965, return of Directors and Secretaries, 1954 to 1964; balance sheets and profit and loss accounts, 1916 to 1971. Those for the New Medway Steam Packet Co Ltd include Directors' minute books, 1919 to 1968; annual returns, 1920 to 1937; annual reports and balance sheets, 1931 to 1938; profit and loss accounts, 1929 to 1960; and ledgers, 1920 to 1960. Grand Union (Shipping) Limited: these include Memorandum and Articles of Association, 1937; Directors' minute book, 1937 to 1957; and balance sheets and profit and loss accounts, 1938 to 1966. (Section 3: GSN/: 16ft: 488cm) Ships' Plans: these were presented in 1963. The collection consists of books with arrangements and particulars of twenty-nine G.S.N. ships in the 1920s and 1930s. Further details are available in the P and O collection.

Papers of a William Godden. They consist of William Godden's apprenticeship indenture of 1812, the oath of Fisherman and Dredgerman, 1821, the transfer of registry of the smack Betsy, 1848, oyster fishing accounts, 1853, and some notes on ships and fishing.

Papers relating to his service in the RN, 1939-1940, comprising typescript account of his service on HMS MALAYA, Indian Ocean, 1939, Atlantic, 1940, and Mediterranean, 1940-1941, written in [1941-1944]; 'Impressions of a dental officer serving in HMS MALAYA, September 1939-May 1941', text of talk given to Allied Forces Dental Society, Jan 1944.

The collection illustrates the history of piracy from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. It includes a journal of the voyage of Captain Bartholomew Sharp in the MAYFLOWER, 1680 to 1682, kept by his second-in-command, John Cox; it was on this voyage in the Pacific that Sharp captured a Spanish derrotero and the navigational information in it was used in the atlases of William Hack ([1656]-1708). Two letters from Sir Thomas Lynch (1603-?1684), Governor of Jamaica, give many details about measures taken to suppress piracy; the first, written to Sir Leoline Jenkins (1623-1683), Secretary of State, in 1683 relates principally to the interruption by privateers of the sugar trade of the West Indies; the second letter was written in 1683 to the Secretary of State for Northern Affairs, Lord Sunderland (1640-1702), and gives an account of the attack, led by Vanhorne (d.1683), on Vera Cruz. There is a journal and narrative account of the burning of La Trompeuse and other pirates in port at St Thomas's Island by Captain Charles Carlisle (d 1684) in the FRANCIS, 1683, and a collection of documents received by Sir Evan Nepean with some draft replies while Nepean was Governor of Bombay. These are mainly concerned with the expedition against piracy in the Persian Gulf between 1817 and 1819. There are also personal papers of Dr Gosse, which all relate to his publications on piracy.

Papers of Sir Erasmus Gower, consisting of a log, 1792 to 1794, with one watercolour sketch; two volumes of 'Nautical Observations on a Voyage to China', illustrated with views of coasts and harbours; a letterbook, 1794 to 1798, and a signal notebook, 1801.

Papers of Cuthbert Grasemann, consisting of original documents, together with Grasemann's notes and transcripts either used in his book or intended for use in a book on Isle of Wight transport. Relating to the latter subject are transcripts of letters extracted from the Ryde Pier Company's letterbook, 1848 to 1852; original letters and office copies of correspondence between local officers of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and of the Southampton, Isle of Wight and South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Company with their respective general managers, 1870 to 1872. Relating to cross-channel services are lists of the vessels employed, 1790 to 1939; of Newhaven to Dieppe steamers, 1856 to 1933; of the steamers of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company, 1845 to 1896; a table of passengers carried on South Railway routes to the Continent, 1850 to 1938. In addition there is an illustrated book of the lights and buoys on the south and east coasts of England from Harwich to Land's End, prepared ca.1832 for Captain David Stephenson (c 1779-1846), an Elder Brother of Trinity House, and containing detailed sailing directions.

Papers of Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves. They consist of logs, 1738 to 1744, an official letterbook, 1711 to 1738, a private letterbook, 1721 to 1740, and two order books, 1711 to 1728 and 1739 to 1741. There are some commissions and an abstract of orders received, 1739 to 1743.

Papers of Adml Thomas Graves including logs, 1742 to 1744, 1746 to 1748 and 1779 to 1782; a letterbook, 1793 to 1794; order books, 1788 to 1793; a book of sailing directions with some orders, 1755 to 1756; letters and a volume on courts martial, 1771 to 1780 and 1786 to 1787. There are some loose papers which relate to Graves' court martial and to his Governorship of Newfoundland. The latter contain some documents on hydrographic surveys, among which is a letter of 1764 to Graves from Captain James Cook (1728-1779) There are also some commissions, official letters and drafts, 1764 to 1767, 1777 to 1782, a few private letters, 1782 to 1797 and a biography of Graves up to 1790. Some papers of Admiral Sir Thomas Graves (c 1747-1814) another cousin of Lord Graves are also in the collection. They are orders received as Captain of the Savage, North American Station, 1779 to 1781, and official letters received, 1800 to 1804.

Records of Gray, MacKenzie and Company Limited, general merchants and agents in the Persian Gulf, including partnership agreements; articles of association; correspondence; legal papers; financial accounts; annual reports; papers relating to property; historical notes; papers relating to Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company Limited, Bahrein Slipway Company Limited and Dilmun Navigation Company Limited.

Collection includes a register of work 1746-1818, ships accounts 1715- 1803, log books including the NEWCASTLE (b 1859), LORD WARDEN (b 1862), DOVER CASTLE (b 1858) and WINDSOR CASTLE (b 1857), work book of Henry Green 1824, ship voyage accounts 1836-60 and other miscellaneous material.

Copy of his account of Battle of Jutland, 31 May 1916, written on 4 Jun 1916. Copy of text of his despatch from HMS SCYLLA on the Normandy landings, 6-7 Jun 1944, broadcast on the [Forces Programme], 7 Jun 1944, with covering letter, 24 Jun 1944. Copies of extracts from his diary covering his discussion with Adm Hon Sir Alexander Robert Maule Ramsay about the planningof the Normandy landings, Dec [1944], and his visit to Germany, Jun 1945, including his observations on German scientific and technical developments and his interviews with British and German naval officers. Two letters to Grenfell's wife from Baron von Müllenheim-Rechberg, a survivor of the sinking of the Bismarck, May 1941, dated 1978, concerning Grenfell's book The Bismarckepisode (Faber and Faber, London, 1948).

Business records of various insurance companies, mainly the Grimsby Steam Fishing Vessel's Mutual Insurance and Protecting Co. Ltd, based in North East Lincolnshire. The records include lists of vessels insured, minute books, and registers of members.

The earliest of the twenty-two volumes relating to gunnery is a small volume of c 1705 titled 'A proportion of gunns and gunners stores for a ship of each rate in Her Majesty's naval royal', which shows in a detailed tabulated form the guns and gunners' stores required for ships of twelve different sizes. Other eighteenth-century volumes include 'Artillery Memorandums Relative to the Royal Navy' by Captain Robert Lawson (d 1816), of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, 1782, covering aspects of gunnery including experiments on naval ordnance; and a 'Course of Artillery at the Royal Military Academy', 1791, by Edward Hope, a folio volume with many large watercolour illustrations. Another illustrated volume is a Danish gunnery notebook, 1809 to 1811, kept by J F Lykke. There is a volume containing copies of seven reports of the Committee on Gunnery set up by the Duke of Clarence (1765-1837) while Lord High Admiral in 1828, together with an explanatory letter from Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy (1769-1839) to John Wilson Croker (1780-1857). The majority of the nineteenth-century volumes are gunnery notebooks kept in the gunnery ships EXCELLENT and CAMBRIDGE by officers and ratings under instruction; there are ten of these, written between 1834 and 1866. They are all illustrated and cover all aspects of naval gunnery.

Manuscript of the work 'Philosophical Experiments, containing Usefull and necessary Instructions for such as undertake long Voyages at Sea', by Stephen Hales, printed by and at the expense of the Royal Society in 1739.

Letter from Hugh Hamilton to an unknown recipient, [c1661-1678]. 'Richt Honorabill, your lords[hip] was pleased to remembir his mgisty of his promeissing me on prays [prize] schip and to deseyr me to seick out the naim of on ...'. Hamilton had found the officers unwilling to give him information, sent an express to Plymouth, and so discovered that the 'Toun of [?]Dantzicke', a 260-ton ship carrying French salt, was to be sold on 8 May. Asking his correspondent to speak to the King [Charles II], so that he 'may gett his warren [warrant] for the forsaid schip with all furniter and tackling', and the correpsondent is to say that 'hir ladning of frensch salt is of no considerebill walleu [value]'. He should consider it a great favour and obligation from his correspondent if the king would 'bestou ye schip and ladning upon me ...'.

Autograph, with signature: 'Heugh Glenauly'.

Papers of Sir Charles Boyles comprising an out-letterbook, 1810 to 1811, and copies of letters to the Sicilian court, 1811.

Papers of Adml Edward Hawker. They consist of logs covering Hawker's service afloat, two order books for the BELLEROPHON and BRITANNIA and a notebook of vessels captured 1805 to 1806. There is also a letterbook of his father, Captain James Hawker, kept during his command of the IRIS, 1779 to 1781, on the North America and West Indies Station.

The papers in the Museum relate to the Henleys' shipping and other commercial interests between 1771 and 1830. From about 1784, when Joseph seems to have taken charge, the records become fairly systematic and the 'ships' collections' begin. Most of the 109 wooden boxes (now replaced) related to individual ships, but 24 related to general matters. A small number of the ships were owned jointly with someone outside the family, usually the master; only one seems to have been divided into sixteenths. The bulk of the collection consists of ships' boxes, containing correspondence from masters, agents, brokers, merchants, government boards and sailors and their families. Masters' voyage accounts and vouchers have nearly always survived from 1784 on onward, together with some Articles of Agreement, portage bills, crew lists and wages and receipts; sometimes, and especially during the last decade of the eighteenth and the first decade of the nineteenth centuries, memoranda books were kept detailing Henleys' own expenditure on ships; and papers relating to freights including Charter Parties, Bills of Lading, manifests, protections, customs documents, freight and brokers' accounts were often retained. 'Transport papers', relating to voyages under charter to the Government, include agents' orders and certificates, individual orders and receipts for victualling ships, and forms with details of troops victualled. The subjects range over every aspect of the employment of the ship, including building, maintaining, victualling and manning, the process of chartering or seeking cargoes, and the convoys in which she sailed. The general boxes contained books with accounts, receipts, memoranda and lists covering all Henleys' activities and are the main source of information for the early years from ca.1771. There are detailed records of their activities as coal merchants, especially for the last years of the eighteenth century; there is a continuous series of cash books, 1807 to 1824, with various 'weekly expense' books and petty cash books kept by individual clerks. The Henleys ran their own sail loft and there is a run of account books from 1813 to 1824, in addition to material covering other years. The rest of the general boxes contained papers on other aspects of their activities: boxes of loose receipts covering business and domestic expenditure, a box relating to the premises at Wapping containing correspondence about leases, building and repairs, with detailed receipts for building and rebuilding the Henleys' three houses, counting house and warehouse; boxes with accounts, receipts and correspondence relating to shipping matters generally and sometimes to particular ships or groups of ships. At different times it was the practice to keep freight papers separate from ships' papers. There were four boxes relating to the supply of coal to government departments, particularly the dockyards and the Ordnance Board, 1790 to 1802 and 1807 to 1820. There were three boxes of correspondence and accounts reflecting the activities of James Kirton, 1800 to 1825; he had been successively carpenter, mate and master in Henley ships from the earliest years and set up as a shipowner and agent in Newcastle at the turn of the century. There is also correspondence with agents in other places.

Records relating to HMS Worcester consisting of printed reports, 1863 to 1968; minute books, 1861 to 1867, 1881 to 1965; harbour log books, 1862 to 1865, 1867 to 1869; visitors books, 1935 to 1947, 1953 to 1968; ledgers, 1862 to 1870; wage books, 1933 to 1936; hooks of newspaper cuttings, 1857 to 1967, 1917 to 1967, together with photographs and other miscellaneous items. There are further records at the Merchant Navy College at Greenhithe, and the records relating to the cadets are with the records of Seafarer Education Service, now with the Marine Society at Lambeth.

Copies of papers and photographs relating to Hobbs' career, 1888-1912, including eighteen manuscript letters home from Singapore, 1892, and from the Sudan, 1897-1900. Correspondence, newspaper cuttings, obituaries and records of service, 1888-1912, including newspaper cuttings relating to the campaign in the Sudan, 1897-1898, notably the Battle of Omdurman, Sep 1898,and manuscript letter to Hobbs from Col Sir (Francis) Reginald Wingate, Sirdar of the Egyptian Army, on Hobbs' resignation from the Egyptian Army, 5 Nov 1901. Thirty photographs, [1888]-1908, notably the officers of HMS MERCURY, 1893, and soldiers of 11 Sudanese Bn, Sudan, 1902.

Papers and photographs relating to work with UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in China, 1946-1947, and the Ex-Services Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Group, 1984-1987, including four manuscript narrative diaries of Holman's military service, 1941-1945; two photograph albums with views of Egypt, Palestine, South Africa, Aden, and at sea on board HM Hospital Ship LLANDOVERY CASTLE, 1942-1945; booklet by Aubrey Hammond entitled The story of 50 Div (Schindler's Press, Cairo, 1943); papers relating to work with UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in China, including edition of the Canton Daily Star, 1946, 137 mostly uncaptioned photographs of urban and rural China, correspondence with UN staff and letters of appointment,references and memoranda, 1946-1947; typescript draft article by Holman on the National Health Service, 1961; sixty six editions of I F Stone's Bi-Weekly and I F Stone's Weekly, 1963-1971; edition of the King-Hall newsletter, 1966; booklet entitled The silent killers. New developments in gas and germ weapons (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, London, 1981); papers relating toEx-Services Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Group, including fourteen editions of 'Ex-Services Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Group Newsletter', 1984-1987, meeting agendas and associated leaflets and circulars; booklet entitled The soldier's tale (Ex-Services Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Publications, Bristol, 1987). Also publications, 1937-1987, including four John Playerand Sons cigarette card albums entitled 'The Coronation of HM King George VI and HM Queen Elizabeth 1937', 'Military uniforms of the British Empire overseas' [1937], 'An album of modern naval craft' [1939], and 'Aircraft of the Royal Air Force' [1939]; booklet entitled British, French and German warships at a glance (Sampson Low, Marston and Company, London, 1940); five editions of Lilliputmagazine, 1940-1944.