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Papers of Samuel Grant, consisting of detailed diaries, 1793 to 1803 (some of them in shorthand), and correspondence and naval papers connected with his work as a purser, 1781 to 1803. These include passes, indentures for a clerk, certificates, financial papers, lists of stores and lists of ships There are also some financial and legal papers relating to the family property in Pembroke.

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 Sir Peter William Gretton. A small proportion of the documents relate to Gretton's naval career (1926-1963) and include reports, standing orders, workbooks and journals. The majority of the archive, however, relates to Gretton's life after active service, including: his correspondence with naval personal, fellow academics and political figures; projects and research on a variety of naval defence topics, including the 1966 Defence White Paper, and work for the Ditchley Foundation and the Institute of Strategic Studies; typescripts and preparatory material for speeches, lectures, book reviews and contributions to radio and television programmes presented by Gretton; and research and copies of articles for newspapers and leading publications, including the Naval Review and the Dictionary of National Biography. All of Gretton's published books (see above Biography) and unpublished works are extensively represented by correspondence, notes, research materials and full drafts, in the case of 'The Forgotten Factor' (on the Spanish Civil War), 'The Battle of the Atlantic', 'The True Glory' (on minor naval actions in World War Two) and 'The Victorian Navy'. The collection also includes a small number of personal papers, including an outline of Gretton's working life, October 1942-July 1969, written by his wife, and a bound volume of memoirs, written by Gretton himself.

Papers of the Halifax Dockyard, consisting of sixty-six Commissioners and officers' letterbooks, containing either in- or out-letters, 1783 to 1887. From the Commissioner's office there are in-letters from the Navy Board, 1815 to 1819 (1 vol); out-letters to the Navy Board, 1816 to 1819 (1 vol); letters to the yard officers, 1805 to 1809 and 1814 to 1819 (5 vols). There are Commissioners' letterbooks of both in- and out-letters: Navy Board letters, 1808 to 1816 (3 vols); Victualling Board letters, 1815 to 1819 (1 vol); Transport Board letters, 1815 to 1817 (1 vol); correspondence with the Commander-in-Chief, 1805 to 1806 and 1808 to 1810 (3 vols); and with yard officers, 1801 to 1803, 1807 to 1812, 1814 to 1819 (9 vols); general correspondence, 1783 to 1789 (2 vols). Two further volumes consist entirely of lists and abstracts of Commissioners' correspondence, 1808 to 1848. The remaining letterbooks relate to the yard officers. Fifteen volumes are of in-letters: Navy Board warrants, 1807 to 1819 (1 vol); Navy Board letters, 1805 to 1832 (7 vols); Commissioner's letters, 1806 to 1807 and 1815 to 1824 (2 vols), and those from the Commander-in-Chief, 1819 to 1839 (2 vols). There is one volume of letters to the Master Attendant, 1808 to 1813, and two of letters from the Admiralty to the Storekeeper, 1833 to 1842. Officers' out-letterbooks include letters to the Navy Board, 1810 to 1826 (3 vols); to the Commissioner, 1810 to 1819 (1 vol), and to the Commander-in-Chief, 1819 to 1842 (1 vol). The Storekeeper's letters to the Admiralty are contained in ten volumes, 1834 to 1860, 1871 to 1880, 1882 to 1884 and 1886 to 1887; to the Commander-in-Chief, 1842 to 1863 and 1871 to 1881 (6 vols); local letters from the Storekeeper, 1842 to 1866 and 1873 to 1880 (5 vols). Three letterbooks contain both in- and out- officers' correspondence: one was kept by the Master Attendant, 1809 to 1829; one contains correspondence with the Commander-in-Chief in 1819; and the third contains local correspondence of a general nature, 1820 to 1841. There is also one volume of tenders accepted at the yard, 1823 to 1856.

Papers of Sir Graham Eden Hamond, including three diaries, 1834 to 1838, and about one hundred letters, most of which are letters received by Hamond and copies or drafts of his replies during his period on the South American Station. There are a few earlier and later letters but all are from the year 1819 onwards, except for copies of two letters written by his father. His correspondents included Sir John Barrow (1764-1848) and Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville (q.v.).

Papers of Sir William Nathan Wrighte Hewett. The collection includes his commissions and certificates of service, official letters from the Admiralty concerning honours and awards, Admiralty correspondence 1856-84, private letters 1852-1965, votes of thanks from the House of Commons and Lords, 1874-1885 and including his passport book and note books.

Letters of Edwin Thomas Hinde. The letters are divided into two groups: those written to his family from the ATHOLL, BLACK JOKE, FAIR ROSAMOND and DRYAD between 1829 and 1832 during service on the West Coast of Africa; and those written from the SERPENT from the West Indies between 1833 and 1836.

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.

Papers of Sir John Henslow including several examples of Henslow's drawings as a young man when he was draughtsman to Sir Thomas Slade. There is a list of the ships built under his supervision in Plymouth yard and family photographs, notes and other papers until 1878.

Papers of Lionel Graham Horton Horton-Smith. They consist of twenty-eight volumes of pamphlets and newspaper cuttings, put together by Horton-Smith himself, on naval policy and the activities of the Imperial Maritime League, 1895 to 1913.

Papers of Captain Henry George Hamilton, consisting of official service documents, letters to his family, 1822 to 1830, and from Australia, 1839 to 1843.

Papers of Adml Sir Frederick Tower Hamilton, consisting of logs, 1870 to 1872, 1877 to 1881, 1885 and 1915 to 1916, and semi-official letters received, 1914 to 1917, including some from Admirals Lord Fisher (1841-1920), Jellicoe (1859-1935), Beatty (1871-1936), Sir Charles Madden and Prince Louis of Battenburg (1854-1921). In addition, there is detailed material on the resignation of Lord Fisher in 1915. There are also a large number of private papers and letters received, 1889 to 1917, letters to his son Louis Henry Keppel Hamilton, 1906 to 1915, scrap and photograph albums, official service documents, notes on manoeuvering the HOOD, 1893 to 1894, and reports and memoranda, 1917.

Papers of Sir Louis Henry Keppel Hamiltom. The diaries cover most of his career and all periods afloat from 1908 to 1928. There are also diaries for journeys in the merchant ships Lagos, 1915, and in the Usaramo to Lisbon in 1924. In addition there are official reports and signals for the time when Hamilton commanded the First Cruiser Squadron and a very full collection of letters written by him to his family, 1906 to 1956. There are also photograph albums of Osborne and Dartmouth, 1903 to1907 of the Durbar, 1911, and of other periods in Hamilton's life. Finally, there are lecture notes and memoranda from Dartmouth, 1922 to 1924, and papers relating to Australia, 1947.

Papers of Sir Henry Keppel, consisting of logs, 1824 to 1825, 1830 to 1831, 1834 to 1835, 1842 to 1845, 1847 to 1851, 1853 to 1857, 1860 to 1861; private journals, 1867 to 1869; annual diaries, 1834 to 1838, 1842 to 1844, 1855 to 1857, 1867 to 1869; private letterbooks, 1867 to 1869, 1874 to 1875 and loose papers. These are mainly letters received, 1841 to 1900, the bulk of which date from 1870. Of the two groups of Keppel's letters to his family, one covers the Crimean War and the other his tour of the Far East, 1897 to 1900.

Papers of Lady Invernairn, consisting of letters from Shackleton to Lady Invernairn and other papers about the NIMROD and ENDURANCE expeditions.

Papers of the Jamaica Dockyard. The records consist of eight letterbooks and two plans. The latter, ca.1735 and ca.1740, show the initial development of the yard. The letterbooks deal with yard operations in the early-nineteenth century. They include the Commissioner's letters to the yard officers, 1815 to 1829 (1 vol); officers' letters to the Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief, 1809 to 1835 (2 vols); yard officers' letters to the Navy Board and principal officers of the Navy, 1828 to 1835 (2 vols); and one volume of the letters received by the yard officers from the Navy Board, 1815 to 1820. Finally there are two volumes of out-letters from the victualling officers at Port Royal to naval officers and the Commander-in-Chief, 1812 to 1826.

This class consists of 152 volumes of personal records, both naval and mercantile. It does not include logs, which are primarily a record in tabular form of weather, navigation and shiphandling. The term 'diary' has been used to describe day-to-day entries which form a continuous personal record. The word 'journal' is more applicable as an individual's description of wider events, particularly those of the nineteenth century, are illustrated with sketches of scenes and coastlines. Of the six seventeenth-century volumes, the earliest is by Sir John Pennington ([1568]-1646), commanding a squadron 'for the gard of the Narrow Seas', 1632 to 1636. There is also the journal of Edward Barlow (b 1642), kept btween 1659 and 1703, published in abbreviated form, Basil Lubbock, ed., Barlow's Journal (London, 1934, 2 vols); the journal of the Reverend Henry Teonge ([1621]-1690), kept on two voyages to the Mediterranean, 1675 to 1679, published in full, G E Manwaring, ed., The Diary of Henry Teonge (London, 1927); the journal of Sir John Narbrough (1640-1688), kept during 1672 and including an account of the battle of Solebay and also the dimensions of his ship, the PRINCE. Seventeenth-century trade is represented by a journal kept on board the STREIGHTS MERCHANT, 1684 to 1686, on a voyage to the Persian Gulf. The earliest of the eigteen eighteenth-century journals is a copy of that of Admiral Sir Geirge Rooke (1650-1709), kept while in command of the English and Dutch fleets, 1700 to 1704, during the period of the battles of Vigo Bay, 1702 and Malaga, 1704. (See O Browning, ed., Journal of Sir George Rooke (Navy Records Society, 1897).) A journal of the same period is that of Vice-Admiral John Baker (1660-1716) kept in the Mediterranean from 1709 to 1711. Later eighteenth-century volumes include a detailed journal of the second siege of Quebec, 1775, by an anonymous author; 'A journal of the war in America' by Admiral Sir George Collier (1738-1795), a personal account in Collier's own hand of the operations off New England and Nova Scotia in 1776, and an illustrated lowerdeck journal by Daniel Woodhouse (fl. 1780-1812), kept on board the AMERICA, 1781 to 1783, including an account of the battle of the Chesapeake. An unusual item is a book of menus for 1781 compiled by John Guliver, steward to Admiral Robert Digby (1732-1815) on the PRINCE GEORGE. The eighteenth-century voyages of circumnavigation are represented by an account of Anson's voyage, 1740 to 1744, by Laurence Millechamp. (This is reproduced in full in Glyndwr Williams, ed., Documents relating to Anson's voyage round the World (Navy Records Society, 1967).) There is also a contemporary copy of the journal of Captain (later Vice-Admmiral) John Byron (1723-1786) kept during his voyage of circumnavigation in the DOLPHIN, 1764 to 1766. (This has been published in full in Robert E Gallagher, ed., Byron's Journal of his circumnavigation, 1764-1766 (Hakluyt Society, 1946).) The first voyage of Captain James Cook (1728-1779) in the ENDEAVOUR, 1768-71, is covered by an unsigned copy of his own journal written in a variety of hands. His second voyage, in the RESOLUTION, 1772-5, is covered by two journals; the first is a copy signed and amended by Cook and the other is a narrative for the years 1772-3 by Richard Pickersgill (1749-1779), the Third Lieutenant. Although this was written retrospectively it includes many details not mentioned by Cook. (These volumes were used by J C Beaglehole, ed., The voyage of the Endeavour, 1768-1771 (Hakluyt Society, 1955) and The voyage of the Resolution and the Adventure, 1772-1775 (Hakluyt Society, 1961), although the main text was taken from the journals in Cook's own hand in the National Library of Australia and in the British Library.) Among the sixteen items for the Revoluntionary and Napoleonic Wars are notes and sketches made in the PEGASUS at the Glorious First of June, 1794, by the marine artist, Nicholas Pocock ([1741]-1821), bound.

Royal Navy records relating to local administration. The class consists of twenty-nine volumes, most of which are official. A significant proportion consists of formal letterbooks kept by the dockyard Commissioners or officers recording letters sent to and received from the Navy Board, and warrant books detailing the orders given by the Board. There are ten such volumes for Sheerness, 1757 to 1822. Two letterbooks are unusual; one of them contains letters from a yard commissioner who visited the Victualling yards at Portsmouth, Chatham and Sheerness between 1702 and 1703, whilst the other contains letters specifically relating to sailmaking, 1807 to 1814. There are also account books kept by the Clerks of the Cheque at Gibraltar, 1757 to 1760, and Portsmouth, 1795 to 1800; a 'Timber Expense book' kept by Charles Scammell, a quarterman at Deptford dockyard, 1780 to 1801; a journal kept by the Master Attendant at Portsmouth, 1696 to 1698, is unusual owing to its more personal nature and early date; a private account book of Richard Prowse, Master Attendant at Woolwich Dockyard between 1785 and 1804, contains information on private payments from contractors. From the seventeenth century comes a survey of the fortifications along the Thames, Medway and southern and Cornish coasts in 1623 and an account of the expenses incurred in building the 'citadel' at Plymouth Hoe, c 1670. There are two bound volumes of plans of the dockyards in England and the colonies; the earlier was made in 1774 and includes forty maps and plans including soundings; the other, made in 1831, contains thirty-seven plans. The most recent item is a cashbook containing copies of receipts issued at Haulbowline Dockyard, 1920 and 1921.

Papers of Cpt Matthew Liddon, consisting of a collection of letters and orders received, mainly from Parry, 1819 to 1821, together with a number of drafts of letters written by Liddon to Parry.

Among the eight volumes in this class is printed copy of a poem of seventeen stanzas celebrating the victory of the Nile, 1798, by Ellis Cornelia Knight (1757-1837); this is bound with two letters from Lord Nelson, 1801 and 1805, to the Reverend John Holden (1762-1806) to whom Nelson presented the volume in 1800. Also included is 'The Reminiscences of a Retired Captain', 1847, by Captain George Clarke Hurdis (fl 1783-1849) who was a midshipman at the Glorious First of June, 1794, and a lieutenant at the attack on Santa Cruz, 1797; a volume of poems by George Hewens, a Greenwich Pensioner, written between 1855 and 1864, on various subjects, including many about inmates of the hospital and events taking place there. Examples of Twentieth-century verse can be found in 'Under the ''Red Duster''; The Merchant Navy in Peace and war', 1924 to 1959, compiled by Edward Carpenter. An example of prose writing is 'Short Yarns or Some Reminiscences of the old ''Wooden Walls'' ' by William Richards, a seaman in the Royal Navy and Coast Guard Service in the mid-nineteenth century.

Survey reports and plans of ships surveyed by Lloyd's, [1833-1945], including the survey reports made between ca.1833 and 1900 at the British home ports and those made before 1900 at foreign ports where a Lloyd's surveyor was employed. These are arranged by port of survey. Plans begin to appear in c 1870 and may include midship sections, profile and boiler and engine arrangements. Later deposits include the survey reports and wreck reports of vessels lost between 1901 and ca.1945. These reports include the first survey reports, subsequent reports which covered important changes and alterations together with any plans, and a final report where the vessel was lost or declassified. Many of the vessels included in this section were lost during the Second World War. A further quantity of records, of vessels lost or declassified between c 1945 and c 1964 is in the process of being transferred from Lloyd's Register of Shipping. The information given in the reports includes the name of the vessel, when, where and by whom built; dimensions, tonnage, date and place of survey and date and place of registry. Details of the type and dimensions of the timbers, fastenings, masts, yards, sails, rigging, anchors, cables, fittings, etc are also given. For an iron or steel vessel, details are included on the specifications and names of the manufacturer of the frames and plating and for a steam vessel there are separate survey reports for the engines, boilers and machinery giving a description and specifications and the name of the manufacturer. Finally there are general remarks including comments on the quality of the material and workmanship and an opinion as to the class to which the vessel should be assigned.

Ship's logs from the Royal Navy, merchant shipping and foreign Navies.

Papers of London and Rochester Trading Company Ltd., comprising the company's financial and business records including contract agreements for ship specifications for the building of company barges, bills of sale for various barges, general arrangement plans and miscellaneous material re: company's lease arrangements and other business records.

Papers of John Maclear, consisting of Maclear's journal of magnetic observations kept in the CHALLENGER, 1872 to 1876; two logs for the ALERT, 1879 to 1881, and one for the FLYING FISH, 1885 to 1887; captain's out-letterbooks from Maclear to the Hydrographer of the Navy, 1878 to 1882, 1884 to 1887; work books, 1879 to 1882, 1885 to 1886, and two remark books kept by Captain Alfred Carpenter of the MAGPIE 1881 to 1882, annotated by Maclear.

Papers of Robert Marsham-Townshend, comprising his notes and correspondence of research into the life of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell. Also included are transcripts, original documents, pamphlets, articles and printed books relating to Shovell and his descendants. The purpose of all this was to be a biography on Shovell, which was never written. The substance of Marsham-Townsend's notes is embodied in his articles on the parentage and death of Sir Cloudesley Shovell. These have little bearing on his naval career. The original documents consist mainly of official orders issued from the Navy Office, a few personal documents bearing the signatures of both Shovell and his wife, indentures, deeds and a will.

Papers of Sir William Henry May, comprising logs, 1864 to 1873 and, for the Nares Expedition, there is a detailed weather log, a personal journal, a sledging journal and some bills of plays performed in the ALERT during the Arctic winter. There are also reports on torpedoes, 1884; the international situation, 1908 to 1909 and 1914; naval manoeuvres, 1912 to 1913; the Dardanelles Commission, 1916 to 1917 and on Reconstruction and other post-war problems, 1919.

Papers of John Macgregor, consisting of a letter from MacGregor's father, one in verse from Hannah More (1745-1833) and a letterbook concerning the loss of the KENT. Some later items, 1869 to 1883, relate to canoeing. There is also a copy of a letter from MacGregor's father-in-law, Admiral Sir James Crawford Caffin (1812-1883), written to his parents in 1827 after the battle of Navarino.

Papers of George Mckinley, comprising official papers for the Dutch expedition of 1799 and for the period of the Peninsular War; minutes and other documents relating to the Royal Naval Asylum, 1821 to 1830; a log of the GANGES, 1803; a draft account of the wreck of the LIVELY and many personal letters, 1789 to 1841.

The collection consists of 55 letters from Susannah Maria Middleton, wife of Captain Robert Gambier Middleton, to her sister Miss Marion Leake, during her residence in Gibraltar from 1805-1808. The letters describe the every day life of Susannah as a young wife of a naval officer stationed away from home for the first time. They include descriptions of the voyage to and from Gibraltar, the running of her house and farmyard, difficulties in obtaining supplies and receiving packages from England, problems with servants, naval officers stationed in Gibraltar, social activities including balls and dinners, and numerous excursions to the Rock and into Spain. The collection also includes a short unpublished biography of the Middletons and further information about the letters by Michael Middleton entitled "Letters from the Rock, 1805-1808".

Papers of Henry Dundas, consisting of miscellaneous letters and documents relating to Dundas's official career as a naval administrator, 1760 to 1811. A further section was purchased from Madame Elisabeth La Serre in 1976. It consists of letters received between 1794 and 1806, from, among others, Admirals Cornwallis, Duncan, Orde, Keith, and Hallowell, as well as a number of ship lists.

Papers of Robert Saunders Dundas, consisting of a small collection of letters for the period during which Dundas was First Lord. In addition, there are some papers concerning Lord Cochrane's secret plan of 1812. A further section consists of letters received, 1812 to 1830, from naval officers, including Admirals Sir Charles Rowley, Sir David Milne, Sir Graham Moore (1764-1843) and Captain Sir George Grey.

Michael Graham-Stewart Slavery Collection. The Collection explores aspects of the West African, Transatlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades from the mid eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries, and includes material relating to the abolition of slavery. The archive catalogued here incorporates manuscripts, printed books and pamphlets, maps and photographs. For prints and drawings and artefacts from the Graham-Stewart Collection, please contact the appropriate Museum departments.

Papers of John Harold McGivering, covering his career in the RNVR (later RNR) from his being accepted in the service, to his retirement and contains many orders, reports, official papers, photographs, letters etc, relating to his service years. Also present in the collection is similar material relating to his father, John McGivering, who was also in the RNVR, serving on motor launches during the First World War.

Papers of Charles Middleton. They consist of his private correspondence and his administrative papers. The latter cover the range of Admiralty and Navy Board subjects of business between 1778 and 1806. Originally Middleton arranged them all either by writer or alphabetically by subject; Sir John Knox Laughton may also have contributed to the arrangement. In so far as letters and administrative papers were largely separate, this arrangement has been retained, though extended and carried throughout the collection. Additional letters and papers, obviously added by John Deas Thompson, have been formed into a distinct section. A further group of papers were purchased from Lord Gainsborough via Christie's in 1994. Where possible these have been integrated into the existing catalogue sequence, from MID/1-MID/14. Further correspondence has been added in a new section, MID/15.

Records of the Marine Insurance Company. Although some records date from the 1930s, most relate primarily to the 1950s and 1960s. They include: Head Office Books, 1957 to 1968, containing registers of debits against policies, with some details of ships, cargoes and voyages; hull closings, 1957 to 1964; cargo closings, 1957 to 1964; building and port risks, 1937 to 1960; book and proof sheets, 1957 to 1968, summarizing business and premiums paid; declarations and certificates, 1957 to 1970, containing details of cargoes sent; premiums and policies, 1932 to 1970; treaties relating to reinsurance, 1957 to 1967; reinsurance agreements, 1950 to 1969; reinsurance closures and recoveries, 1958 to 1969; records of client companies, 1945 to 1966; claims records, 1933 to 1969; salvage records, 1952 to 1966. The company records include: correspondence, 1945 to 1966; ledgers and cash books, 1917 to 1969; investment records, 1911 to 1948; and results and accounts, 1923 to 1967.

Papers of Charles Wadsworth Murray, including notebooks dealing with his time at Stornoway and contain information about German submarine warfare. There are lists of ships lost and of those that engaged enemy submarines and accounts of the loss or surrender of submarines. There are also three manuscripts unrelated to the main collection, consisting of an order book of Captain Richard Grindall, 1801 to 1805; a Navy Prize Office register, 1803 to 1820, and a log of the REVENGE, Captain Sir John Gore, Mediterranean, 1812 to 1813.

This class contains a volume of seventy-three printed songs maninly by Charles Dibdin (1745-1814) and autographed or initialled by him, but also including works by Charles Dibdin the Younger (1768-1833) and Thomas Dibdin (1771-1841); many of these songs have naval subjects such as 'Jervis for Ever', 'The Death of Nelson' and the 'Blind Sailor'. The volume was probably compiled by Thomas Legard whose name it bears with the date 1806. There is also a full score, in manuscripts, of a cantata entitled 'The Sea Engagement' celebrating the Battle of the Nile, August 1798, and composed shortly afterwards. The work, both words and music, is by Adam Kroll. who describes himself as an 'amateur', and is dedicated to Nelson. Arranged for an orchestra of forty-three performers, it consists of an overture, a descriptive instrumental piece, two airs and a duet.

Papers of Sir Charles Napier. They consist of private letters received by Napier. 1813 and 1860, and a few written and received by Napier's daughter, Mrs Fanny Jodrell, 1847 to 1862.

Papers of the Nares family including papers of Lt George Nares, consisting of a log, 1892 to 1893; papers of John Dodd Nares, consisting of two logs, 1894 to 1897, and one work book, 1928 to 1932, and papers of Sir George Strong Nares, consisting of a log, 1848 to 1851.

Papers of Frederick North. The collection consists of his diaries in the ALERT, 1878 to 1882. There are also photograph albums relating to North in the Department of Pictures.

Papers of Sir Henry Francis Oliver, they include papers relating to the establishment of the Navigation School, and to the Dardanelles Operations, 1915 to 1917; included in the latter are minutes and notes by Churchill. There is also a Report of the Grand Fleet Committee on Officers' Pay and Prospects, 1919. Other letters and papers span Oliver's career, 1914 to 1965, although thinly. There is a diary, 1925 to 1927, a draft autobiography and official service documents.

They consist of two logs, 1758 to 1761 (with additional notes up to 1793) and 1779 to 1782, four signal books, 1778 to 1782, and a presentation copy of Captain Pakenham invention of a substitute for a lost rudder.

Papers of Allan Thomas George Cumberland Peachey. They contain collections of signals relating to Jutland and to the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in 1918; a log, 1936 to 1938; signals, 1939 to 1942; papers and signals relating to the Delhi, 1942 to 1944, and to the reoccupation of Malaya, 1945, and Peachey's papers as Commodore, 1947 to 1948.

Papers of Adml Edward Pellew, consisting of letterbooks, 1804 to 1807, 1815 to 1816, order books, 1810 to 1814, admiral's journals, 1804 to 1807, 1815, and promotion lists, 1804 to 1809.

General Records: This group contains a large vellum-bound volume of Spanish diplomatic papers, mainly dating between 1603 and 1672, but with a section dealing with the Armada, 1587 to 1588; two English documents relating to the expedition to Cadiz, 1596; an enquiry into the loss of ships in the convoy guarded by Sir George Rooke (1650-1709) and the Streights Squadron, 1693; a gathering of Italian papers relating to the capitulation of Malta, 1799 to 1807. There are also a number of items relating to Lord Nelson and his family, 1805 to 1845. (PHB/: PHB/P: 2 vols: 3 items) Merchant Shipping Records: relating to merchant shipping, including the journal of the Blackham on a voyage to Constantinople, 1696 to 1698; the log of H.E.I.C.S. Ceres, 1743 to 1745; of H.E.I.C.S. Wager, 1745 to 1746; and an account in verse of H.E.I.C.S. Ceres, 1812 to 1814, on a voyage to China. There is also a memorial of 1774 by a Harwich pilot to the Treasury, seeking to establish an excise cutter there. Among the documents are Bills of Sale, 1651, 1695, 1775; Letters of Marque, 1780, 1799. (PHB/: PLA/P: 4 vols: 12 items) Royal Navy: Administration: This group consists of nineteen volumes and four documents relating to the administration of the Navy. It includes the naval accounts from 1422 to 1427 of William Soper (fl.1410-1459), Clerk of the King¹s ships; a list of ships' stores 'wasted' in the Prymrose after the Rochelle expedition, 1573; a volume of the records collected by Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631), the antiquarian and collector, containing summaries of papers on naval matters and defence from the time of Henry III to Elizabeth I; a copy, dated 1638, of the first 'Discourse of the Navy of England' by John Hollond (fl 1624-1659); regulations for the Ordnance Office, 1683; an account, written by a clerk, of the dispute between Samuel Pepys and Colonel Middleton (d 1672) about the importation of cottons and kerseys, 1667 to 1668; two lists of official documents transferred by Pepys to his successor on leaving the Admiralty, 1689; two volumes of Navy Board orders to Deptford and Woolwich dockyards, 1644 to 1722; and eleven volumes of papers, bound by Phillipps in no particular order, relating to general administrative matters, including sea-men's pay, 1711 to 1790; however, among these papers are three letters from Vice-Admiral Benbow (1653-1702) written from Jamaica, 1699. Finally, there are a number of lists; of Admiralty Commissioners, 1673 to 1782; of ships, 1625 to 1636, 1705, 1706 to 1745, and of foreign navies, 1755 to 1778 (PLA/: PLA/P: 2 1/2ft: 76cm) Royal Navy: Law and Prize Money: This group consists of a volume, 1658 to 1673, containing a collection of sentences and decrees made at the Court of Admiralty; a volume of 1685 chiefly concerning the powers and rights of the Lord High Admiral, with an abstract of the judgements of Oleron, translated from the French; a further seventeenth-century volume concerning maritime customs and law from the time of Henry III; a French treatise of maritime law, 1690; a volume containing bound letters from senior naval officers expressing their opinion on the prize money dispute between Lord Nelson (q.v.) and Lord St Vincent (q.v.), 1801 to 1802; vindication of the conduct of Surgeon D.T. McCarthy, court-martialled 2 lines 1 field in 1804.

Papers of John Platt, including a number of logbooks, orders and instructions, signals, watch/quarter/station bills, material relating to impressment, victuals and a number of sketch books and miscellaneous papers. Not all of the material belonged to John Platt, with one notebook being signed by a Charles Platt, 50th regiment and other documents signed by a G E Platt and an Edward Platt.

These include two early works on shipbuilding: Matthew Baker's 'Fragments of English Shipwrightry', c 1586, and Sir Anthony Deane's 'Doctrine of Naval Architecture', 1670, held in the Pepysian Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Other examples include copies of two letters written by Sir Francis Drake, ([1540]-1596) 1587 and 1589, a copy of his will, 1595, and one of his 'Pilot of the Caribbean and Azores', 1596; copies of the will of Captain Cook, made in 1776, and of fifty-six letters by or about Lord Nelson, 1780 to 1805, and the personal papers of Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1813), Astronomer Royal.

Papers of Sir James Porter, almost entirely comprising letters to his family, 1889 to 1913, and include accounts of various battles during the South African War. There are some Gallipoli signals and letters arranging for hospital trains, 1914 to 1917. Also included in the collection are about one hundred letters relating to the family, into which Porter married, of Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets M W Cowan (1830-1903).

This class contains thirty-one volumes, bound collections of documents and scrapbooks relating to specific events or collections of documents of a general nature. Among those relating to specific events the earliest is a volume of 1582 which contains intelligence of Spain and Portugal, arranged in tabular fashion by Wyllyam Lyllestone. There are also a volume of documents relating to the attack on Martinique and the capture of Guadeloupe, 1758 to 1759; drafts of sections of the Narrative of the second voyage, 1772 to 1775, of Captain Cook (1728-1779) in Cook's hand; a volume of documents relating to a case of 1783 in the Court of King's bench involving the ship ZONG in which 132 negro slaves died; a list of English prisoners of war at Longwy in 1812; a volume of press cuttings relating to the loss of the P and O steamer TASMANIA in 1887 and to the ensuing Board of Trade enquiry. Among the volumes of a general nature is one of 172 naval documents, 1583 to 1778, fourteen of which date from the sixteenth century, including a comparison of the expenses of the Navy, 1579 to 1584; papers relating to abuses in the Navy, 1608 to 1618; a survey of the King's ships, 1633; and papers relating to the debts and condition of the Navy, 1660 to 1668. Another, bearing the stamp of John Wilson Croker (1780-1857), contains 107 seventeenth century copies of documents from the reign of Edward III to 1639, the majority being late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. It includes instructions to Martin Frobisher (1535?-1594) for his voyage to the 'North West Parts', 1578; instructions to Sir John Hawkins (1532-1595) for a voyage to the Spanish coast, c 1590; a list of the fleet engaged against the Spanish Armada, 1588; a declaration of abuses committed in the provisions of cordage and masts, 1635; and a table showing arrears of ship money, 1635. A third volume contains one hundred documents from c 1600 to 1715; they are mainly reports dealing with such subjects as victualling, manning, discipline and health and include one concerning the abuses of seamen, c 1602; a discourse on the 'former and present state' of the Navy by Sir Robert Slingsby (1611-1661), Comptroller of the Navy, 1661; a table showing the monthly wages of officers, seamen, and dockyard workers, 1689; an appointment of four Commissioners for the Sick and Wounded, 1689; proposals for more effective treatment of sick and wounded seamen on shore, 1689, by Dr Richard Lower (1631-1691); an essay by Richard Gibson, clerk in the Navy Office (fl 1667-1694) giving reasons for the continuance of victuralling the Navy by commission and not by contractor, 1694; and a summary of the accounts of Greenwich Hospital, 1696 to 1703, by John Evelyn (1620-1706). There is a further volume of copies of treaties and trade agreements, 1640 to 1742, including the marriage treaty of Charles II with Portugal, 1671. There is one volume containing general documents relating to Germany in the Second World War: it includes orders concerning thecapture of enemy vessels and their cargoes, 18 August 1939, signed by Hitler and other German leaders; the log of the submarine U47, September to October 1939 containing a detailed account of the attack on the ROYAL OAK, together with other documents relating to U-boat activity, 1939 to 1942; and instructions for the preparation of the invasion of England, signed by Hitler, 16 July 1940.

Records of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. The records cover the life-time of the College from its establishment in 1873 to its closure in 1998. The records are varied, but many relate to the staff at the College. They include pay rolls, volumes detailing staff leave and discharge and service registers. There are also accounting records - bills, receipts, expenditure, imprest books etc. One of the more interesting groups of records are the volumes of "reports", covering the period 1877-1922, which include miscellaneous records relating to Sub-Lieutenants passed, awards, sick leave, discharge, stationary demands, applications to join the College, letters to the Admiralty etc. The collection also includes registers of correspondence and letters-out for the period 1873-1947. Relating to the students, there are a few registers of students on courses 1873-97 and also volumes of Acting Sub-Lieutenants' examination results and passing certificates 1873-1911. These records duplicate those held by the National Archives and further records relating to students can be found there. The more modern twentieth century records mainly relate to courses ran by the College. They include lists of students on courses, Board of Studies minutes, course syllabuses etc, but are not complete. The collection also includes a large photographic archive.

Papers of Robert Roddam, comprising an almost complete service record from 1746, including a log, 1759 to 1778, together with letter and order books, 1746 to 1783, 1789 to 1792, and two signal books. There is a very full administrative correspondence during the American War of Independence and the 1790 crisis. There are no personal papers in the collection.

Papers of the Royal Seamen's Pension Fund. Included are minutes of the Governing Body, 1919 to 1977 and the Finance Committee between 1930 and 1977, ledgers 1920 to 1972, reports of the Governing Body and Reports of the Seamen's Advisory Committee 1912 to 1979, including cash books 1920 to 1965, register of seamen's pension 1944 to 1987.

Papers of Adml Sir James Scott, comprising logs, 1834 to 1839, a night order book, pay book, sick book and other documents relating to the running of the PRESIDENT.