Showing 43 results

Papers of James Alfred Yates. A large part of the material consists of documents and notes gathered by Ruby Yates, in preparation for the article published in the Mariner's Mirror. The article, "From wooden walls to dreadnaughts in a lifetime" was based on Yates' "Memories" and other manuscripts, which his daughter, Ruby, found amongst his papers. The papers include autobiographical material, notebooks, transcripts of talks, correspondence, certificates, ephemera and printed books.

Papers of Hamilton Williams consisting of eleven volumes of transcripts, lectures and notes on naval history.

Between 1962 and 1965 Captain Vaughan presented his father's collection of original documents, mainly relating to the operations of Plymouth and Gibraltar dockyards and to victualling, 1678 to 1832. In 1978 Mrs I. M. Vaughan presented some official and private papers and the reminiscences of her late husband, Captain H R H Vaughan, together with the residue of her father-in-law's papers. The documents relating to Plymouth dockyard mainly consist of individual letters extracted from the yard's official administrative records. They consist of letters to the yard commissioner from the Admiralty, 1695 to 1832; from the Navy Board, 1695 to 1820; from the dockyard officers, 1695 to 1816; from sea officers, 1696 to 1828; from the Commissioners of Victualling, 1716, 1824 to 1831; from the Plymouth Victualling Office, 1697 to 1779; letters from the yard commissioner to the Admiralty, 1697 to 1701, contained in a complete letterbook; to the Navy Board, 1706 to 1708; orders to yard officers, 1809; standing orders 1678 to 1766, contained in one volume; letters to the yard officers from the Navy Board, 1694 to 1758; officers' reports to the Navy Board, 1696 to 1791; accounts of ships' stores, 1713 to 1793; Admiralty letters to and from naval officers, 1696 to 1832. The documents relating to Gibraltar yard include two of the Commissioner's letterbooks containing letters to the Victualling Commissioners and naval officers, 1755 to 1763, and to yard and naval officers, 1803 to 1805. Instructions and specifications relating to victualling are contained in one volume, c 1820. The papers of H R H Vaughan include a journal of a voyage from Bombay to Basnah, 1928; some private letters received, 1929 to 1931; copies of official intelligence reports to the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies station, concerning affairs in the Persian Gulf, 1929; a copy of the official report of the Flag Officer, Narvik, April to June 1940; and his own handwritten reminiscences 1911 to 1945.

Papers of the Society for Nautical Research consisting of: Council minutes, annual reports of the Council and reports from sub-committees, 1926 to 1977; minutes of the preliminary General Meeting, 1910; minutes of Annual General Meetings from 1930, though many between 1940 and 1958 are missing; lists of members, though these appear to have been issued intermittently; statements of accounts for the Society and its different funds, 1910 to 1966; and correspondence relating to the Society's activities from 1911, with a large number of gaps but including papers relating to the Implacable, 1915 to 1946, and to the Victory, 1922 to 1972.

It consists of correspondence, articles, notes, drawings, photographs and ephemera concerning paddle steamers run by various compnaies, including the Caledonian Steam Packet Co Ltd; Cosens Co/Red Funnel Steamers; the General Steam Navigation Co (Eagle Steamers, Eagle and Queen Line and Queen Line); P & A Campbell Ltd/White Funnel Fleet; and Royal Mail Steam Packet Co Ltd/Red Funnel Steamers. There is also material re British Rail (Southern Region); services on the Clyde; Thames steamer launches; and pleasure sailings on the Danube, Lake Lucerne and the Rhine.

Records of the Navy Records Society. They consist of four minute books of the Council, 1893 to 1961.

Papers of George Prideaux Brabant Naish. Included are personal and research papers of the Reverend Francis Naish, some relating to his identification of the Burlesdon wreck as the GRACE DIEU. There are also papers which relate to George Naish's command of the Anti-Submarine Fixed Defence Station, Fort Agami, Alexandria, 1945-6. Papers relating to his role as Secretary to the Society for Nautical Research between 1947 and 1977 may be found in the archive of the Society at this Museum.

Papers of William Schaw Lindsay, including Section 1 - bundles of papers or volumes which cover the whole of Lindsay's concerns and cannot be given a particular category. Section 2, 3 and 4 cover his main areas of activity- writing, business and property matters.

Lindsay had many friends and contacts in business and politics and his correspondence included many of the foremost men of his time in the fields (LND/2,3,4,6). His interest in the maritime affairs of the USA, and the civil war of 1861-5, is reflected in the compilation of 1867 of his correspondence with leading participants in the war, particularly Confederate politicians. This together with Lindsay's notes was brought together in a single volume (LND/7).

Lindsay's writings on maritime matters are represented by a working manuscript of the 'History of Merchant Shipping' (LND/12), printed proofs of the first two parts of the work (LND/13) and various notes and correspondence relating to it and other works on the navigation laws (LND/8,9,10,11). Lindsay also turned his hand to poetry (LND/18), biography (LND/19) and autobiography (LND/16).

Activities on Lindsay's estates at Shepperton and elsewhere are also reflected in various papers LND/2 23-32).

Papers of Michael Arthur Lewis. The collection reflects the records made and collected by a working historian. It includes: a small amount of material related to his personal life; files of notes, research material, photographs, plans, sketches, and correspondence probably used to produce his books; correspondence with other naval historians and enthusiasts; manuscripts and typescripts of monographs and essays; and a collection of transcripts and manuscripts of historical source material.

Close ties to his colleagues allowed Professor Lewis to accumulate research materials, notes, and typescripts they created; item descriptions note the actual or likely creator of these collected materials. Bundles of notes or correspondence often contain other material, including photographs, plans, and sketches; letters; articles; and manuscript or typescript drafts. Descriptions list the type, but not content, of this additional material. Items in LES/2 (research materials) may complement items in LES/3 (correspondence).

Papers of Lord Terence Lewin. The bulk of the collection relates to the period following Lewin's retirement from the Navy. There are substantial numbers of lecture notes, together with correspondence concerning Defence policy and organisation, the Falklands conflict, the George Cross Island Association, the Siege of Malta anniversary and memorial and various maritime societies. Also featured are a small amount of naval documents, including midshipman's journals from HMS VALIANT, Order books for HMS CORUNNA, URCHIN and HERMES, Lewin's paybook from 1949 and his 'metioned in dispatches' certificates. Also included are a folder concerning the loss of HMS SOMALI, (a destroyer that was torpedoed and then broke in two whilst being towed by HMS ASHANTI), photo albums of the aircraft carrier, HMS HERMES, and a notebook kept by Lewin as Chief of Defence Staff during the Falklands campaign. The 'Personal Papers' section includes school reports and certificates, together with honours such as his Barony, Grant of Arms and Warrant of Appointment. The collection is also well served with photos of Lewin at varying stages of his career.

The fifty-four letterbooks which have been acquired individually are predominantly naval, dating from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The Napoleonic war period and the nineteenth century are most fully represented. Unless stated otherwise, it can be assumed that the items are copy letterbooks and not bound volumes of original letters. Of the six seventeenth-century letterboooks the largest is that of official correspondence of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), 1662 to 1679, which also contains some shorthand in his own hand. (Some of these letters are reproduced in Helen Truesdell Heath, ed., The letters of Samuel Pepys and his family circle (Oxford), 1955)) There is a bound volume of 15 original letters and legal documents written by Sir Anthony Deane ([1638]-1721), shipbuilder and member of the Navy Board; the letters, dated from 1662 to 1679, are to a merchant, Sir Robert Clayton (1651-1704). For the same period there is a letterbook of George Monck, Duke of Albemarle (1608-1670), with some shorthand, written between 1665 and 1666 while he was joint Commander-in-Chief. Additionally, a small volume containing two letters by Monck, 1652 and 1663, includes some contemporary pamphlets and prints. A slim letterbook of Sir John Narbrough (1640-1688), when in command of the FORESIGHT, 1687 to 1688, consists of letters and reports written by him when recovering treasure from a Spanish wreck off Hispaniola. There is also an early eighteenth-century volume of copies of over a hundred letters written by James II to George Legge, Lord Dartmouth (q.v.) between 1679 and 1688. The earliest letterbook of the eighteenth century is that of Vice-Admiral John Baker (1660-1716), aboard the STIRLING CASTLE commanding in home waters and the Mediterranean, 1708 to 1709. A private letterbook of an officer who cannot be positively identified, kept between 1727 and 1731, includes a list of men killed and wounded at the siege of Gibraltar, 1727. It gives detailed dimensions of the ROSE at the same period, a description of travels in Italy, 1731, and of St John's, Newfoundland, 1732. Six letterbooks (some of which also contain orders) of Admiral Sir Piercy Brett (1709-1781) all relate to the Channel when Brett was in the LION, 1745 to 1746, the NORFOLK, 1757 to 1758, DEPTFORD, 1760, ST GEORGE, 1760 and the NEWARK, 1761. There is a small volume of in- and out-letters and orders to and from Prince William Henry (1765-1837). These date between 1786 and 1788 when the Prince was in command of the PEGASUS in home waters, 1786, in the West Indies from 1786 to 1787, and in Canada in 1787. Finally for this period is a letterbook of John Pearse, commander of H.E.I.C.S. EDGECOTE, 1747 to 1750. Thirty-one volumes relate to the Napoleonic Wars, the first of which is a bound volume of eighteen original letters, 1793 to 1804, from Admiral Collingwood (q.v.) to Sir Edward Blackett (d.1804). There follows a book of seven private original letters from Lord Mulgrave (1755-1831) to Collingwood , 1807 to 1809; a letterbook of Admiral George Berkeley (1753-1818) when in command on the coast of Portugal, 1809 to 1810; original letters from Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren (1753-1852) to Lord Melville (1771-1851), First Lord of the Admiralty, written mainly between 1812 and 1814 from Halifax, Nova Scotia, when he was Commander-in-Chief, North America ; a letterbook of John Jervis, Lord St Vincent for 1806 and 1807, when Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet, and a letterbook of Admiral Sir Charles Penrose (1759-1830), 1813 to 1814, when commanding the PORCUPINE. At this time the ship was off the coast of France, collaborating with the army under the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), to whom a large number of the letters are addressed. Examples of volumes belonging to officers of lesser rank include that of Lieutenant (later Captain) Robert Ramsay (fl 1779-1815), in the EURYDICE, home waters and North America, 1807 to 1808, and in the MISTLETOE.

Papers consisting of nine early seventeenth-century manuscript volumes. These include 'A Treatise of Sea Causes, containing a yearly observation of English and Spanish fleets that were set forth one to annoy the other, from the year 1585...until the year 1602', 1624, by Sir William Monson (1569-1643) (printed by the Navy Records Society, ed. N. Oppenheim, 2 vols, 1902); 'Observations and overtures for a sea fight upon our coasts', with orders and directions to be given by an Admiral and rules for the men on board the ships, c 1607; instructions issued by the Earl of Nottingham (1536-1624), c 1607, and by the Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628), c 1618, for the government of the Navy; a copy of 'The Sovereignty of the Seas of England', c 1615, by Sir John Borough (d 1643); a copy of 'The Seaman's Dictionary', c 1623, by Sir Henry Mainwaring (1587-1653), (printed by the Navy Records Society, ed. G.E. Mainwaring and W.G. Perrin, 1921); the reports of the Commissioners appointed in 1618 to remedy abuses in the Navy and to examine the accounts, c 1618; instructions issued by the Earl of Northumberland (1602-1668) for the management of fleets under his command in 1636 and 1637, with journals of the voyages, May to October 1636 and April to September 1637; and 'A Brief Discourse of the Navy', 1638, by John Hollond (fl 1624-1659), (printed by the Navy Records Society, ed. J.R. Tanner, 1896).

Papers of Leonard G Carr Laughton, consisting of mainly notebooks, both in his hand and that of his father's, containing their research at the Public Record Office, British Museum and other repositories, relating to various aspects of nautical history. Among these are notes on Nelson, extracts from Pepys' diary and notes for articles on HMS VICTORY. There are also blueprints used in the restoration of HMS VICTORY, together with the Technical Committee minutes of meetings, 1927-8 and the Advisory Committee minutes, 1929. There are a series of notes on lectures given by Professor Sir John Knox Laughton, including those given at the Royal Naval College at Greenwich in the early 1900s. The collection contains a typed copy of L G Carr Laughton's 'Nautical Dictionary'; a card index for Dictionary of National Biography entries; a number of albums containing newspaper cuttings; and various correspondence including letters with Dr R C Anderson, 1925-37. Finally, there are some manuscripts written by others including Harold H Brindley and a copy of a personal logbook kept by Dudley Stone on board the ship MONKBARNS, 1913, Buenos Ayres to Australia.

Comprises atlases, maps and plans; ephemera; general records and descriptions; merchant shipping: historical records; narratives; and Royal Navy order books and orders.

Papers of Edward Heron-Allen consisting of engraved portraits and autographed letters from about fifty naval officers, 1695 to 1839. Many of the most notable figures in naval history are represented by a single letter. Those represented by two include Admirals Alexander Cochrane (1758-1832), 1809 and 1810; Lord Duncan, 1796 and 1802; Lord Hood, 1792 and 1797; Lord Keith, 1792 and 1807; Sir Sidney Smith, 1801; and Edward Pellew, Lord Exmouth, 1797. There are three written by Lord St Vincent, 1777, 1797 and 1822.

Papers of Sir Richard Vesey Hamilton comprising Hamilton's letterbooks, 1865 to 1868 and 1885 to 1887, official papers and correspondence, cover his career in outline and provide detailed information for some periods, notably his time as Commander-in-Chief on the China Station. Among the Arctic papers there are some orders from Sir Edward Belcher (q.v.), Captain Henry Kellett (1806-1875) and Captain Horatio T. Austin (c 1800-1865). The letters which he received also include some references to his Arctic service but the majority relate to his work at the Admiralty and there are several from Lord George Hamilton (1845-1927), who was instrumental in the passing of the Naval Defence Act of 1889. There is a series of photograph albums and notes made by Hamilton for his articles on naval and historical subjects, as well as some service memoranda.

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 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 Capt Matthew Flinders, consisting of three main groups: the first, the papers of Flinders himself, are charts and original journals, 1791, 1793 to 1794 and 1796, and copies, 1798, 1801 to 1803; narratives of his voyages; service papers, 1797 to 1810, and technical notes on subjects in which he was particularly interested, such as terrestrial magnetism; there is a wide range of original correspondence including letters from Sir Joseph Banks and Sir John Franklin (q.v.). Mrs Flinders' papers make up the second group: these consist mainly of letters, 1799 to 1812, including those from Flinders written during the INVESTIGATOR'S voyage, 1801 to 1803, and correspondence with French residents in Mauritius about her husband's captivity. The final group is Professor Flinders Petrie's collection of biographical material, notes, memoirs, newscuttings, etc, on his grandfather's career and correspondence with J F Shillinglaw about a biography of Flinders, which work Shillinglaw failed to complete.

Copies of papers relating to naval history and salvage operations mostly written by J J Fletcher.

Papers of Sir Norman Egbert Denning, including Sir Norman's official commissions to the RN, official correspondence on the subjects of books, Babington-Smith's work on World War One, correspondence with Ian Fleming, 1964-5, personal letters of congratulation and retirement letters. Also included are his lectures and lecture notes, official reports, 1941 and 1942, essays written by Patrick Beesly, a series of Admiralty aerial photographs (b/w), 1941-45, a series of newspaper articles and magazines.

Papers of Revd John De Vitre consisting of letters and drafts of letters concerning his service but most of the collection is concerned with his family, which originated in Canada with Mathew Theodosius, Marquis de Vitre (d.1771) and his son John Denys de Vitre, who entered the Royal Navy in 1771. There is a mathematical work book belonging to the latter.

Papers of Andrew Browne Cunningham relating mostly to the period after his retirement. There are seven copies of the Tenedos Times, 1914 to 1915, notes and drafts of speeches, and papers relating to the many honours bestowed on Cunningham and to his membership of various societies and institutions.

Papers of Sir Walter Henry Cowan containsing two logs, 1893 to 1897, an order book, 1914, and charts and photographs. There are also many semi-official letters received, 1896 to 1947, in particular from Admirals of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham (q.v.) and Sir Roger Keyes (1872-1945). There are also Cowan's letters to Admiral Sir Rudolph Bentinck (1869-1947), which were returned to Cowan; they are of a private rather than of an official nature. There are, however, some official papers relating to the Baltic campaign and a draft autobiography.

Papers of Sir Julian Stafford Corbett, comprising correspondence with publishers including Longmans and Macmillans; manuscript drafts, working papers, notes and essays, lecture notes for the Royal Naval War College, Portsmouth, reports, press cuttings for his Naval reviews. Also included is correspondence from Naval Officers, Corbett's parents, from his wife E.R.C (previously Edith Rosa Alexander), the Fisher Correspondence and letters to Sir John Pakington, Admiralty, 1858/9, including a series of letters from Sir Houston Stewart to Pakington.

The greater part of this group of thirty-one facsimiles consists of copies of letters by Lord Nelson, 1758 to 1805. Some were produced in the early nineteenth century.

Papers of Sir Edward Codrington including logs, 1786 to 1791, 1794 to 1797, 1808 to 1813 and 1827 to 1828; an admiral's journal, 1831; official letter and order books, 1809 to 1815 and 1828 to 1848; private letterbooks, 1828 to 1848; muster books, 1808 to 1813; despatches and reports, 1801 to 1815, 1827 to 1828, and loose papers. Among these are letters to Codrington from the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV), Sir Pulteney Malcolm (q.v.), ministers, consuls, Greek government officials and various captains of the ships under Codrington's command, 1827 to 1828, and from Sir James Graham (1792-1861), in 1831. A small collection of additional material relating to Nelson and Codrington was deposited on loan by the family in 1974.

Papers of Sir Henry John Codrington including logs, 1825 to 1831, 1834 to 1835, 1839 to 1841, 1846 to 1850 and 1854 to 1856; letter and order books, 1834 to 1850, 1853 to 1856, 1858 to 1872, and loose papers, among which are personal letters from Codrington to his family, 1831 to 1855.

Papers of Sir George Cockburn, relating largely to Napoleon's transportation and imprisonment in St. Helena and there is also a very detailed personal diary, 1797 to 1818. There are no papers for his later career.

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 Reverend Thomas Brooke Clarke. They refer to Dr Clarke's appointment, to the renting of a house in Greenwich, the building of an asylum house, to glebe land of Pinner and produce of Harrow. There are also a series of letters from his son at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1812 to 1814, and some from George Fitzernest while at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Papers of Chatham Dockyard comprising 1,063 letterbooks containing the correspondence between yard officials, the Admiralty and Navy Boards, 1669 to 1900, together with internal yard records. There is also a collection of sixty-seven plans of the yard, 1718 to 1867. The volumes can be divided into three main groups: those relating to the Resident Commissioner; to the Commissioner's administrative successor, the Admiral Superintendent; and to the yard officers.

RESIDENT COMMISSIONER'S RECORDS: These consist of: Admiralty letters to the yard Commissioner, 1716 to 1764, 1788 to 1817 (13 vols); two copy letterbooks record in-letters during the period 1754 to 1788; Navy Board letters to the Commissioner, 1697 to 1698, 1791 to 1792, 1797, 1800 to 1829 and 1832 (57 vols); abstracts of Board orders to the Commissioner, 1788 to 1803 (1 vol); letters to the Commissioner from the yard officers, 1802 to 1808 (1 vol); local in-letters, 1809 to 1810, 1813 to 1815, 1818 to 1819, 1820 (5 vols). Out-letters from the Resident commissioner consist of: letters to the Admiralty, 1716 to 1733, 1774 to 1817 (6 vols); to the Navy Board, 1689 to 1695, 1696 to 1702, 1703 to 1757, 1760 to 1764, 1789 to 1794, 1795 to 1817, 1818 to 1822, 1826, 1828 to 1829 (51 vols); warrants to the yard officers, 1781 to 1817 (4 vols); memoranda to the officers, 1810 to 1821 (5 vols); in- and out-correspondence with sea officers, including the Port Admiral, 1793 to 1819, is recorded in four letterbooks.

ADMIRAL SUPERINDENDENT'S RECORDS: These consist of: abstracts of Admiralty orders to the Commissioner and Admiral Superintendent, 1766 to 1829, 1831 to 1867, 1870 to 1872, 1873, 1874 to 1875, 1876 to 1877 and 1882 to 1883 (25 vols); Admiralty letters (originals) to the Superintendent, 1832 to 1852, 1853 to 1900 (651 vols). Fifteen volumes contain indexes to Admiralty letters and orders, 1852 to 1854, 1878 to 1879, 1880 to 1882, 1884 to 1887 and 1890; one, memoranda from the Superintendent to the yard officers, 1846 to 1853.

DOCKYARD OFFICERS RECORDS: These consist of: copies of Navy Board orders to the yard officers, 1796 to 1801, 1803 to 1814, 1814 to 1815, 1816 to 1817, 1818 to 1819 and 1820 to 1821 (32 vols); letters and warrants (originals) from the Board, 1672 to 1675, 1717 to 1781, 1783 to 1795, 1796 to 1822 and 1829 to 1831 (154 vols); copies of officers'letters to the Navy Board, 1695 to 1698, 1790 to 1792, 1796 to 1801, 1802 to 1809, 1810, 1811 to 1820 (30 vols); and one letterbook containing copies of letters to the Superintendent, March to May 1869.

MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS: Three volumes record orders and letters to the officers at Sheerness from the Navy Board, 1690 to 1691; from the Chatham Commissioner, 1694 to 1697; and from both Board and Commissioner, 1769 to 1772. Further single volumes include records of stores issued and received, 1669 to 1770; of contracts, 1792 to 1823; of charts received and issued, 1809 to 1832; and a survey book of sails of ships, 1764 to 1788.

PLANS: These include nine general plans of the yard and surrounding land, 1733 to 1846; twenty plans of docks and slips, 1747 to 1861; and thirty-eight plans of yard buildings, 1718 to 1750.

Papers of Henry Theodore Augustus Bosanquet including seven volumes of personal papers and newspaper cuttings, 1879-1955. Bosanquet's service afloat is covered by logs and watchbills, 1883 to 1894. Bosanquet's notes on historical and technical subjects are elsewhere in the Museum manuscript collections.

Papers of William Hans Blake. Apart from official service documents, they refer chiefly to the latter part of his career, there being letterbooks, 1863 to 1867; diaries, 1867, 1873 to 1874 and official letters and orders from the Admiralty and senior officers. There is also a letter, 1865, of appreciation from the British residents in Valparaiso and sixty-two certificates, letters and also a journal relating to Capt Blake's career 1846-74.

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 David Beatty, an extensive collection covering his naval career as well as his private life.

Papers of Sir Henry William Bayntun comprising notes, memoranda and various letters relating largely to the MILFORD, as well as some navigational notes; Bayntun's letterbook for the LEVIATHAN, 1804 to 1805, and the AFRICA, 1806 to 1808.

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

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.

The collection includes Robert Hammond's record of service and his survey, when Master of the Society of Pilots of the Cinque Ports, of the southern North Sea in the cutter GEM, 1841. The volumes collected by Barker himself consist mainly of logs of naval ships. They include that of the ORION, in home waters, kept by an Edward Barker in 1794, containing an account of the Battle of First of June; the Clyde, 1796 to 1800, kept by Lieutenant John Smith (fl 1780-1805), in home waters; of the CHALLENGER, 1828 to 1831, East Indies Station, kept by Commander John M R Ince (fl 1808-1850); the CALEDONIA, 1835 to 1836, Mediterranean station; the FLY, 1842 to 1846, surveying Australian waters, and the PILOT, 1850, East Indies station. There is also a journal of a voyage in the merchant ship VESTAL from North America to the West Indies, 1759 to 1760, by the author William Falconer (1744-1824); some of Falconer 's unpublished poems appear at the end of this journal.

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.

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.

The Admiralty Compass Observatory Collection comprises correspondence papers and reports, 1842-1950 transferred from the Public Record Office (The National Archives), Kew in 1983, Papers from the Scientific and Technical Review Section (S&T) 1890- 1970 acquired in 1993 and 1996 also from the Public Record Office, (The National Archives), Kew. Further to these series the collection is divided into twelve sections of material deposited from the National Archives, Kew, in 1983. These are HM Ships Compass Bearings 1842-1918, Swing Books 1904-30, Admiralty Compass Department D Series, N Series 1870-1980, R series 1826-1946, Reports 1956-62, Compass Department Examination of Instruments, Compass Observations and Experiments 1842-1933, Magnetic Elements of HM Ships 1864-1918, further correspondence and papers 1873-1914, handbooks and miscellaneous material 1842-1953, manuscripts removed from the Compass Department Library and catalogues, inventories and indexes.

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.