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Records of the East Coast Steamship Company (1875-1971).

Papers of Adam and Company Limited covering the period 1825 to 1914. They relate to the sugar trade and import merchanting, including in-letters, bills of lading, charter parties, invoices, account sales and disbursements accounts; to ships' agency work, in particular that of the Clan Line; to insurance matters, consisting of policies and claims; to marine casualties, notes of protest and particular and general average statements and survey reports. There is a great deal of detailed information about the employment of immigrants and the conditions relating to their welfare. There is also a census of slaves employed on the Pipon estates in 1826 ('Greffe de l'Enregistrement des Esclaves'). Note that this collection is uncatalogued and there is no detailed list available.

See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual scope and contents.

This category consists of individual documents relating to the administration of the Royal Navy. It is arranged by department, and consists of fifteen documents relating to the Board of Admiralty, seventeenth to twentieth centuries; an example is an instruction of 1652 from the Admiralty to the Navy Board on the building of thirty frigates. However, an early document is also included in this category; this is a warrant from Henry VIII to the Keeper of the Wardrobe to provide cloth for the hallowing (or blessing) of the HENRY GRACE A DIEU, 1514. There are ten documents relating to the Navy Board, sixteenth to nineteenth centuries; these are mainly early documents relating to finance when the Treasurer of the Navy was a member of the Board. The earliest is a warrant of 1558 for the payment of two thousand pounds.

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 category consists of official personal documents of officers and men of the Royal Navy, seventeenth to twentieth centuries. The first group of five documents relates to pay and allotments of ordinary seamen. An example is a certificate entitling Jane Smith, widow of Charles Smith, to his pay and effects, 1855. A further five documents relate to health at sea; among these is an unsigned essay on scurvy, c 1770; an order signed by Admiral Hawke concerning portable broth, 1757; and a memorial of 1822 to the Admiralty concerning a wound received in action. Two documents concern naval uniform: one is an illustrated list of French naval rank badges, 1844; the other is notes made in 1891 on changes in naval uniform by Admiral F G D Bedford. There is a further group on medals, awards and ceremonials. Of the two documents in this group one is on vellum conferring the Freedom of the Borough of Thetford on Lord Nelson, 1798. The largest group (125 documents) in this category consists of individual officers' commissions and warrants. Examples include the appointment of the captain to the bark THOMAS, signed by Sir Francis Drake ([1540]-1596); one signed by Sir Walter Raleigh, 1616; the appointment of Sir William Penn as Admiral od the Fleet, 1653; some pursers' bonds, 1651 to 1660; Nelson's commissions as Captain of the AGAMEMNON, 1793, Rear-Admiral of the Blue, 1797, of the Red, 1799, Vice-Admiral of the White, 1804, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, 1803. There are also a small numberof foreign and army commissions. The next group consists of service documents of petty officers and ratings; examples include a warrant appointing Jacob Capell as a master cook to a frigate building, 1646; three service certificates of James Gilham, leading signalman, 1890 to 1919. There are also seven Service and Discharge Certificates of Royal Marines, dating between 1784 and 1833. There are seventeen documents issued by Greenwich Hospital, including examples of Smart Tickets and out-pensioners' certificates, 1804 to 1827; and an account of John Clarke, the receiver of Sixpences, 1716. Also included in this section is a warrant to the High Constables of Alstowe in Rutland for collectiong money for maimed seamen, 1648. Finally, in a group of eight wills and legal documents is a certificate of annuity due to Sir Cloudesley Shovell, signed by Elizabeth Shovell, 1714; and a document of 1778 signed by Vice-Admiral John Byron (1723-1786) making over power of attorney to his wife.

This category contains individual documents containing lists of ships, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Among the items is a list of ships of 1652 to be prepared for the summer guard for the coasts of England, Ireland and Scotland, with the names of commanders, numbers of men and guns. The list was presented to Parliament and approved. Another, of 1804, is an 'abstract of the country craft of various descriptions that have been armed for the defence of the coast from Shoreham in Sussex to Mistley in Essex'.

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.

This category contains documents relating to prize money, seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. It includes a letter of 1652 from the Council of State, signed by the President, William Purefoy (1580-1659), to the Commissioners of the Navy, concerning the capture of Dutch prizes by Robert Blake (1599-1657); a vellum document appointing Richard Neale of Portsea prize agent for the PORCUPINE, 1718, signed and sealed by all members of the crew; a copy of a prize money case between Admiral Sir John Duckworth (q.v.) and Admiral Sir Robert Calder (1745-1818), with a legal opinion, 1805; certificates and receipts for payment, 1805, 1806 and 1842.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Records of Albyn Line Ltd, comprising Directors' and shareholders' minute books, 1901 to 1966, containing an unbroken series of balance sheets and profit and loss accounts; a full series of cash books and ledgers, 1901 to 1966; ships' voyage books, 1953 to 1966, containing information on costs, types of cargo, freight rates, rates of hire, fuel costs etc; voyage papers for some of the voyages of the last three ships from 1962 to 1966; insurance records, 1952 to 1966, and a random collection of chief officers' log books, 1960 to 1966. There are also the records of Allan Black and Company, the managers, relating to internal office administration, 1958 to 1966 and papers relating to the voluntary liquidation, 1966. There is no correspondence apart from two out-letterbooks.

Papers covering a short period of the career of Admiral Pelham Aldrich. There are extracts from journals, 1860 to 1867, returns from the sledge CHALLENGER and notes and journals concerning surveying 1879 to 1884. There are no papers for the CHALLENGER expedition in this collection: the main Arctic papers are with the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge.

This catagory contains examples of various types of ships' papers and documents relating to the operation of merchant ships. There are examples of Charter Parties, including one of 1322 between Walter Giffard, master of the cog OUR LADY of Lyme and Sir Hugh de Berham for a freight of wine; the remainder are twentieth-century examples. The earliest example of a Bill of Lading is for the TRIPLE CROWN of Bristol, 1689; there are others from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among the examples of Bills of Sale of ships and shares of ships is one for the Dutch East India Company ship DEHELDWOITEMADE, sold to James Mather, a London merchant, 1782; and also one for the SPECULATOR, a French prize, formerly LE CARME, sold in 1810. Examples of documents relating to insurance include a Statement of General Average for the POLLY AND EMILY made after she had been damaged in a gale in 1895. There are also Muster Rolls and Articles of Agreement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (see also entry no.13); Bills of Health, nineteenth and twentieth centuries; Safe Conducts, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; and various nineteenth-century passenger documents and papers relating to wreck and salvage, including an order issued by Sir Cyril Wyche (1632-1707) and Sir Henry Capel (d 1696), Lord Justices of Ireland, for the arrest of the pilot of the wrecked TALBOT pink, 1695.

This class consists of thirty two volumes of accounts, disbursements and memoranda relating to shipping and trade, seventeenth to twentieth centiuries. There are two seventeenth-century volumes. The first is the account book of Thomas Pye, cloth merchant in the Levant trade, 1657 to 1661; the second is an abstract of the 'Inspector-General's accounts of import and export, 1697 to 1698'. Of the twelve eighteenth-century volumes, the earliest is a volume relating to the packet contract of Edward Dummer (d 1713), and the subsequent enquiry into it, 1702 to 1713. There is also a volume containing the names and salaries of the Commissioner and officers of the Customs, 1711; the day book of the CASTLE of Bristol, 1727 to 1728, in which accounts of the slaves purchased in kind were entered together with a list of the slaves who died, with the causes; an account book showing the profit and loss of the collier GEORGE, 1737; the account book of the whaler HENRIETTA of Whitby, 1777 to 1820, and that of the privateer GEORGE of Bristol, 1779 to 1782. There are sixteen nineteenth-century volumes. They include the freight book of three ships which plied between Liverpool and Londonderry; they were the ISABELLA NAPIER, 1835 to 1840, the ROBERT NAPIER, 1847 to 1848 and the MAIDEN CITY, 1847 to 1848. There are two account books of insurance underwriters, 1836 and 1884, Baltic and Mediterranean trades; the wages account book of the GRESHAM, 1865 to 1871, together with a collection of wages forms, and the COLDSTREAM, 1872 to 1874, in the Australian trade; voyage expenses of the RYDAL HALL, 1871 to 1875, and of the barque EARL GRANVILLE, 1895 to 1903.

Papers of Roger Charles Anderson, relating in the main to the Royal Navy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but also includes papers on merchant shipping and on the French, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish and Venetian navies. One of the earliest is a volume containing documents written in the seventeenth century relating to the part played by Sir Thomas Fairfax (1612-1671) in the English Civil War; a copy of the account by Sir Walter Raleigh ([1552]-1618) of his expedition to the Orinoco, 1617, and an 'Explanation of Sea terms', a shortened version of the 'Seaman's Dictionary', c 1620, by Sir Henry Mainwaring (1587-1653). Connected with merchant shipping is a group of eight Bills of Sale of shares in merchant ships, seven of which are dated between 1637 and 1643.

There are four volumes of orders, patents and instructions relating to the administration of the Navy after the Restoration, including those issued to the Navy Board in 1662 and to the Victualling Board in 1683. Of the same period are the letterbook of the Chatham dockyard Commissioner, 1670, and an account of the construction of docks at Plymouth, 1698. The building and equipment of ships for the Navy is the subject of several volumes: one contains dimensions and costs of His Majesty's ships by William Keltridge, 1675, with later additions; another, by Edward Battine (fl 1679-1692), is entitled 'The Method of Building, Rigging, Apparelling and Furnishing His Majesty's Ships of War', 1689; a later notebook, dated 1793, contains illustrations and explanations related to shipbuilding. Detailed estimates of the 'charge' of maintaining the Navy are given in several volumes, 1672, 1689, 1701, 1800. One provides the establishment of men and guns for each ship, corrected to 1685; five contain lists of ships and vessels in the Navy, 1688, 1701, 1750, c 1797, 1846. Numerous other notes and lists on the establishment of the Navy, some made by Anderson himself, supplement these originals. Naval operations are represented by the letterbooks of Commodore Curtis Barnett (d 1746), 1744 to 1746, when he was in command of the British squadron in the East Indies. Less official records include some early journals: the 'Discourse of a voyage' made by the captain of the Fellowship of Bristol, employed on the King's service on the coast of Ireland, 1641 to 1642; extracts from journals relating to the proceedings of Prince Rupert's fleet, 1648 to 1650, 1651 to 1652, 1652; 'The daily motion and public transactions of His Majesty's fleet' under Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albemarle, 1666; a copy of the journal of Captain (later Admiral) John Narbrough (1640-1688) on board the Prince, 1672, and St Michael, 1673, with accounts of the Battle of Solebay, 1672; an account of a voyage to the coasts of Africa, the Straits of Magellan, Brazil, Guyana and the Caribbean islands, 1695 to 1696; a copy of the journal of Sir George Rooke (1650-1709), 1700 to 1703 (printed by the Navy Records Society, ed. 0. Browning, 1897); and a copy of 'A Pirate's Journal' kept by William Davidson (d 1797), 1788 to 1789.

Volumes relating to Art and Architecture. Of the six volumes in this class four relate to Greenwich Hospital; one contains the Royal Warrant of 1696 granting site for the building, followed by plans and elevations. The other three contain copies of prints, plans and drawings of the building, grounds and locality compiled by Robert Mylne (1734-1811) while Clerk of the Works in 1793; they include a series of plans showing the state of construction in 1728, and others variously dated, 1734 to 1791. There is also an architect's notebook, 1694 to 1700, possibly belonging to Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661-1736); and the sketchbook of Coote Carroll Nelson in HMS JAVA, 1826, in South-East Asia, which includes cartoons of life on board as well as coastlines and sketches of local craft and people.

Papers of the Asiatic Steam Navigation Company Limited comprising a continuous series of minute books from 1878 to 1968 (ASI/1): a similar series of annual accounts to 1965 (ASI/2) and a historical file on the settlement of the freight war (ASI/3).

Papers relating to Atkinson's research into the HMS BOUNTY mutineers, [1977-1980].

Papers of Francis William Austen, 1774-1865, they cover almost all Austen's active service from his entrance into the Royal Naval Academy, 1786, until the end of his commission as Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies, 1848, and include official log books, 1795 to 1814; letter books, 1801 to 1814, 1845 to 1848; order books, 1807 to 1813, 1829 to 1848, and loose papers, which are mainly general remarks and notes.

Diaries of Charles John Austen: a complete series of sixty-three diaries kept between 1 January 1815 and 31 December 1852.

Papers of Francis William Austen, 1774-1865, they cover almost all Austen's active service from his entrance into the Royal Naval Academy, 1786, until the end of his commission as Commander-in-Chief in the West Indies, 1848, and include official log books, 1795 to 1814; letter books, 1801 to 1814, 1845 to 1848; order books, 1807 to 1813, 1829 to 1848, and loose papers, which are mainly general remarks and notes.

Diaries of Charles John Austen: a complete series of sixty-three diaries kept between 1 January 1815 and 31 December 1852.

Paper of Charles James Barlow, 1848-1812, including logs, 1863 to 1867, 1876 to 1880 and 1889 to 1892; a journal and a report on the Burma War; some papers concerning the opening of the Kiel Canal, 1899, and official papers for both dockyards.

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 Admiral Robert Bax, Henry Bonham Bax and Captain Bonham Ward Bax.

Papers of Henry Bonham Bax, comprising an illustrated list of buoys and light vessels owned by Bax as an Elder Brother of Trinity House.

Papers of Captain Bonham Ward Bax comprising his logs of the HMS DWARF, 1871 to 1874, and his letterbook in the HMS SYLVIA.

Papers of Admiral Robert Bax, comprising a rough notebook kept in the training ship CRUISER and an annotated notebook of examination questions of the Training Squadron, 1894.

Papers of the Baynes and Nias Families:

Papers of Henry Compton Anderson Baynes inclusing official service documents, 1866 to 1901; an article on 'Armament of Battleships', undated; a letter, 1888, concerning Whitehead torpedoes; a few letters about Baynes's fishery protection work in the North Sea in the 1890s and three night order books, 1893, 1895 and 1901.

Papers of Sir Robert Lambert comprising official service documents, details of ships on the Pacific Station 1854 to 1860, an autobiographical outline of his career, 1810 to 1857, invitations to social events, and other personal papers.

Papers of Sir Joseph Nias, comprising letters and orders received, 1815 to 1867, and service papers, and eighteen letters from Sir William Parker to Nias while he was Senior Officer at Hong Kong, 1841 to 1842.

Papers of Henry Compton Anderson Baynes inclusing official service documents, 1866 to 1901; an article on 'Armament of Battleships', undated; a letter, 1888, concerning Whitehead torpedoes; a few letters about Baynes's fishery protection work in the North Sea in the 1890s and three night order books, 1893, 1895 and 1901.

Papers of Sir Joseph Nias, comprising letters and orders received, 1815 to 1867, and service papers, and eighteen letters from Sir William Parker to Nias while he was Senior Officer at Hong Kong, 1841 to 1842.

Papers of Sir Robert Lambert comprising official service documents, details of ships on the Pacific Station 1854 to 1860, an autobiographical outline of his career, 1810 to 1857, invitations to social events, and other personal papers.

Papers of John William Brackenbury. The bulk of the collection is a series of letters written by Brackenbury to his wife, 1870 to 1902. Other than these there are logs, 1862 to 1863, 1879; a diary, 1888; official service documents; official correspondence, 1879, 1881 to 1882, 1884, 1887 to 1892 and 1896; letters from other naval officers, 1879 to 1912, and papers relating to the Vitu operations and the VICTORIA and CAMPERDOWN disaster.

Papers of Sir Frederick George Denham Bedford including logs, 1852 to 1858; diaries, 1875 to 1879, and letters concerning the Huascar incident. There are no papers for Bedford's later career. In the Department of Pictures are six albums containing watercolours and photographs. Two of them cover his service in the SHAH, 1876 to 1878, and the third his career in the TRIUMPH, 1879.

Papers of Algernon Hardy Oliver. They comprise a series of logs, some watch, station and quarter bills, a sights book, 1872 to 1876, three diaries, 1879 to 1881, and a notebook, 1888.

Papers of Adml Richard Aldworth Oliver. They consist of a notebook kept in the QUEEN; a general order and memoranda book, 1840 to 1850; a letterbook, 1847 to 1851, and a diary, 1848 to 1850, kept in the FLY, describing Oliver's time in New Zealand and a voyage to the New Hebrides.

Papers of Robert Dudley Oliver. There are three standing order books, one for Plymouth and Spithead, 1798 to 1799, probably when Oliver was Captain of the NEMESIS, and two for the MARS, 1804, 1805 to 1806. There are also two letters written by Nelson to Oliver's father-in-law, Sir Charles Saxton.

Papers of Cpt Richard Oliver-Bellasis. They consist of standing orders and routines for some of the ships in which he served. There are also papers for a course at the Royal Naval College in 1936 and for a damage control course in 1943.

Papers of Robert Dudley Oliver. There are three standing order books, one for Plymouth and Spithead, 1798 to 1799, probably when Oliver was Captain of the NEMESIS, and two for the MARS, 1804, 1805 to 1806. There are also two letters written by Nelson to Oliver's father-in-law, Sir Charles Saxton.

Papers of Algernon Hardy Oliver. They comprise a series of logs, some watch, station and quarter bills, a sights book, 1872 to 1876, three diaries, 1879 to 1881, and a notebook, 1888.

Papers of Cpt Richard Oliver-Bellasis. They consist of standing orders and routines for some of the ships in which he served. There are also papers for a course at the Royal Naval College in 1936 and for a damage control course in 1943.

Papers of Adml Richard Aldworth Oliver. They consist of a notebook kept in the QUEEN; a general order and memoranda book, 1840 to 1850; a letterbook, 1847 to 1851, and a diary, 1848 to 1850, kept in the FLY, describing Oliver's time in New Zealand and a voyage to the New Hebrides.

Papers of Sir Edward Berry comprising logs, 1787 to 1788, 1796 to 1797, 1799 to 1806, 1812, 1813 to 1814, and twenty-five letters from Nelson, 1797 to 1805.

Papers of Capt Henry Bethune comprising a series of logs for the above ships and a notebook on navigation and steam.

Documents - This class contains single documents and small collections of documents which are of a biographical nature. It includes a pardon of alienation on the property left in the will of John Frettleton (d 1597), with the Great Seal (Elizabeth I) appended; letters, memoranda and certificates, 1852 to 1896, realting to the career of Dr William James Baird (1831-c 1906); , Fleet Surgeon, who became a naval surgeon in 1852, served in the Crimean War with the Royal Marine Brigade in China, 1858 to 1859, and in the Ashanti War of 1874; papers relating to John Hoskin (b 1769), who was Master Shipwright at Bermuda Dockyard, 1811 to 1824, and his family, including a letter of 1805 from Captain (later Admiral) Thomas Masterman Hardy (1769-1839); and the certificates and letters of Captain Joseph Besant Fowler (b.1826), merchant seaman, which gives a detailed record of his career from the time of his indenture of apprenticeship in 1843 to his application for admission to the almshouse in 1886.

Papers of Rear Admiral Robert Barrie, comprising 120 documents, mainly letters from Robert Barrie to his mother, with a few to his step-father and to his half sisters, Fannie and Eliza, written between 1797 and 1812. There are also a few official and semi-official letters received and drafts of letters sent and a collection of documents relating to Lucien Bonaparte.