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Papers of the Thompson family, including papers of Edward Thompson, including a certificate appointing Edward Thompson a Brother of Trinity House; commissions for the RAVEN, HYENA and GRAMPUS, 1771-1783; notebook pertaining to his service on the west coast of Africa, 1784-1785; state of the prizes MAASTROOM and MARIA ELIZABETH taken by the HYENA, 1782 and a notebook containing poetry written by Thompson, 1777-1778. (1 box)

Papers of Thomas Boulden Thompson including commissions issued to Thompson, 1783-1821; a pocket book with details relating to the LEANDER's seamen who received wounds at the Battle of the Nile; papers relating to the BELLONA and the loss of Thompson's leg at Copenhagen, 1801; freedoms of the cities of Gloucester and Rochester; extensive personal papers on the estate of Hartsbourne and family papers including legal documents. There is also a small notebook containing details of boys recommended by Thompson for admittance to Greenwich Hospital. (6 boxes).

Papers of Thomas Raikes Trigge Thompson, comprising official letters mainly dealing with Capt TRT Thompson's encounter at Tahiti involving Queen Pomare and the French, 1843-1845 and his time on the coast of Central America, 1846; personal papers; papers relating to TRT Thompson's time on board HMS CADMUS; letterbooks and service papers.

Papers of Sir William Sidney Smith, consisting of loose letters and notes written between 1790 and 1840 by many of the important naval figures of the day. There are notes on his experiences as a prisoner of the French, a number of letters relating to the Mediterranean, 1799 and some to his brother John Spencer Smith, who was Minister Plenipotentiary at Constantinople, 1798 to 1801. Finally there are many letters received by Smith during his retirement abroad.

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

Sir William Penn's life after 1650 is well covered but for the earlier period there are only a few orders, instructions and isolated documents. The collection includes a log, 1650 to 1651, accounts of battles, 1652 to 1653, a log of the SWIFTSURE and sailing and fighting instructions, both to and from Penn, for the expedition to the West Indies. The 1665 campaign is covered by an incomplete log of the ROYAL CHARLES, a description of the battle of Lowestoft, several sailing and fighting instructions and orders of battle. There are also administrative papers and personal letters covering Penn's tenure of office at the Navy Board. The Pole papers consist of eight volumes of private letters from a wide variety of correspondents, 1769 to 1822. Two particularly large series are those from Admiral Sir William Young (1751-1821) and Pole's brother, Reginald Pole Carew, while Prince William Henry also wrote a considerable number of letters to Pole. The loose papers are mainly administrative and include accounts, prize papers, orders and memoranda. They also contain papers concerning Pole's representation of Plymouth from 1806 to 1818; printed papers and general letters on naval mutiny, 1795 to 1797, with particular reference to the mutinies of 1797; reports and surveys on the Sea Fencibles, 1804 to 1806, and other general reports on such matters as medical experiments, 1791, and experiments with gunpowder, 1796.

The collection, consisting of nineteen volumes, relates to the administration of the Navy, naval policy during the war with France, 1690 to 1698, and questions of Admiralty jurisdiction, and falls into four main groups. The first, of six volumes, contains letters received by William Blathwayt between 1690 and 1703; they concern the conduct of the war and questions of naval administration, including some, 1697 to 1703, from Josiah Burchett, Secretary of the Admiralty (1666?-1746). The second group of four volumes relates mainly to the time of the Dutch Wars when Robert Southwell was a Commissioner for Prizes. It contains drafts, orders and precedents relating to the Commission, 1661 to 1705, as well as a volume devoted to the legal problems of wrecks, 1687 to 1705. There are also some letters from Blathwayt to Robert Southwell for this period. The third group of four volumes contains letters by Lord Nottingham, 1690 and 1692 to 1693, to Blathwayt and Sir Robert Southwell, some with draft replies. Apart from reporting on naval affairs, there are later private letters, 1711, 1716, and Irish affairs, 1703, are also mentioned. The final four volumes are miscellaneous in nature, including a volume relating to the conduct of the war, 1695 to 1697; a working reference book on the proceedings of the Commission of Prizes, 1665 to 1667; and two volumes of miscellaneous papers relating to all the subjects mentioned above, 1674 to 1708.

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.

This class consists of single copies of newspapers and newssheets, including a copy of the 'Challenger Gazette', 1828; two issues of 'The Great Eastern Telegraph', 1866, when the GREAT EASTERN was engaged on laying the Atlantic cable; and a copy of the 'Wei-Hai-Wei Gazette', 1902. It also contains playbills, including one advertising a performance on board the prison ship CROWN in 1807 of a play by a French prisoner of war and another announcing the performance of a comedy, Speed the Plough on the MINDEN, 1817.

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.

Papers of Cpt Thomas Lewis, consisting of correspondence with Lord Sandwich concerning Lewis's attempts to obtain promotion, 1779 to 1782, orders relating to ships' administration, 1780, and orders relating to the Romney, 1782. There are also notes and an account of the Carlisle Commission.

Papers of George Legge, consisting of twenty-seven volumes, partly of Dartmouth's own papers and partly of journals by his contemporaries. In the first category is the log of the ROYAL KATHERINE, 1673; the letter and order book of the Sub-Commissioners of Prizes at Portsmouth, 1672 to 1674; papers relating to Tangier, which include three letterbooks, two order books and a journal of the proceedings of Samuel Pepys and others, enquiring into the properties of the papers not directly relating to Dartmouth include a commonplace book, 1666; two logs, 1671 to 1672, 1672 to 1673, of Sir Edward Spragge; a log of the RESOLUTION, Captain Sir Thomas Allin (1612-1685), 1669 to 1670, Mediterranean; the log of the ASSISTANCE, Captain Sir Richard Munden (1640-1680), during the expedition to St Helena in 1673; a log of the SAUDADOES, Captain James Jenefer, 1672 to 1673, on a voyage to Lisbon; a log of the CENTURION, Captain Charles Wyld on a voyage conveying Sir John Finch (1626-1682), as ambassador to Constantinople, 1673 to 1674, and a log of Captain Grenvile Collins (fl 1679-1693), surveying in home waters, 1688 to 1689. There is a letterbook, 1666, of Prince Rupert and George Monck, Duke of Albemarle (1608-1670), joint Commanders-in-Chief. This was published as 'The Rupert and Monck Letterbook, 1666', ed. J R Powell and E K Timings (Navy Records Society, 1969). There are copies of the Duke of York's Sailing and Fighting Instructions, 1672 and 1673, accounts of the battle of Solebay, an account of the battle of Texel by Sir John Narbrough (1640-1688) and notes on seventeenth century naval affairs. A further volume, a 'Discourse on the state of the Navy', 1660 to 1661, by Sir Robert Slingsby (1611-1661), was presented by Mr J. Ehrman in 1951.

Papers collected by Sir Bruce Ingram, consisting of twenty-seven logs, journals and letterbooks and some single documents. Seven volumes formerly belonged to Admiral Sir Charles Tyler: they include his letter and order books, 1786 to 1789, 1779 to 1802, 1808, 1812 to 1813; the log of the WARRIOR, 1799 to 1800, 1802; and his journal, 1813 to 1815 when he was Commander-in-Chief at the Cape of Good Hope. Individual logs include three kept by midshipmen serving aboard the WARRIOR, 1809 to 1811; SULTAN, 1810 to 1813; and GALATEA, 1810 to 1813; and those kept by a master's assistant in the schooner FAIR ROSAMUND, 1833 to 1835, in the Spanish slave schooner LA PANTINCA taken as a prize, 1834, and in the brigs CONFLICT and FORESTER, 1834. A single letterbook contains the letters written and received by Rear Admiral Thomas Fremantle, 1813 to 1814, when in command of a squadron in the Adriatic. The earliest of the journals are those kept by the Captain of the PELICAN during the La Rochelle expedition, 1628; by Jeremy Roch (1659-1692) during voyages on the ANTELOPE, 1665 to 1667, and the CHARLES GALLEY, 1689 to 1691; and by Francis Rogers on a voyage to the East Indies in the ARABIA MERCHANT, 1701 to 1705, which includes accounts of trade at Charleston, 1711. All three were printed in a book edited by Sir Bruce Ingram, Three Stuart Sea Journals (London, 1936). Later journals include that of Bertolemeo Muscat who served aboard the French brig LE NATIONAL during the Egyptian expedition, 1798; the journal of the Reverend Edward Mangin, aboard the GLOUCESTER and VALIANT, 1812; that kept by a midshipman who landed with a party of men from the FALMOUTH on Tristan da Cunha in 1816. Also noteworthy in this collection are the memoirs of Peter Cullen, surgeon, 1769 to 1812, and a report on the fortifications along the south coast of England in 1779.

Papers of George Redmond Hulbert, comprising his correspondence, 1807 to 1823, with the Navy Pay Office, Navy Prize Office, Treasury, Greenwich Hospital, Doctors' Commons and naval officers. There are also accounts and lists of prizes, including some printed papers, 1793 to 1798. The collection provides detailed information on the procedure followed in the collection and distribution of prize money.

Papers of Sir John Thomas Duckworth, consisting of a log, 1779 to 1780; letterbooks, 1800 to 1807 and 1812; order books, 1800 to 1806; an admiral's journal, 1807 to 1808; two rough journals, 1805 and 1810 to 1812, and correspondence. The loose papers cover the years 1790 to 1813. They consist of official and some private correspondence; reports and orders, including series from Lords Howe (q.v.), 1790, and Collingwood (q.v.), 1805 to 1806; an account of the battle of the First of June 1794; correspondence relating to Duckworth's Mediterranean command, 1799 to 1800, in particular to naval hospitals; correspondence with Sir Robert Calder (1745-1818), 1800 to 1805, mostly on their dispute over prize money, and other papers relating to the West Indies; congratulatory addresses on San Domingo; correspondence relating to the Dardanelles affair and letters and papers received as Governor of Newfoundland.

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

Papers of Alexander Davison including a collection of forty-five letters concerning prize money, 1804-14, including those from Admirals Collingwood (q.v.), Robert Digby (1732-1815), Sir Thomas Graves (c 1747-1814), Thomas Hardy (1769-1839), Samuel, Viscount Hood (q.v.) and Sir James Saumarez (1757-1836). They deal largely with Davison's expectations of the fleet agency which were disappointed after Nelsons death.

Letters from the Navy office to Davison, recommending agents he could work with, and discussing the issue of Head Money and the purchase of prizes after the Battle of the Nile. 12th October 1798 - 10th May 1799. Copy letters from Davison, including his application to be appointed sole agent for the Battle of the Nile prizes, letters to the Navy Board, and to Tucker, secretary to Lord St Vincent. 27th November 1798 - 11th June 1799.

Letters from the Captain James Saumerez to Davison, regarding his escorting vessels back from the Nile, and passing on news of Lady Nelson. 28th November 1798 - 13th July 1799.

Miscellaneous letters to Davison. Includes various applications for employment following his appointment as prize agent for the Battle of the Nile prizes, a letter from Captain Thomas Thompson regarding the issuing of prize money following the Nile, Louisa (wife of Sir Edward) Berry asking advice on how two Norfolk seamen should apply for their prize money, and a copy letter on behalf of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland offering money towards a commemorative obelisk to mark the victory. 5th October 1798 - 4th December 1799.

Extracts from the log of HMS VANGUARD at the Battle of the Nile.

Davison's appointment as prize agent for HMS ALEXANDER, signed by the crew, and his prize list for HMS ALEXANDER, detailing those eligible to receive prizes. 10th August 1798. Davison's list of officers of the fleet, who served under Rear Admiral Nelson's command at the Battle of the Nile. Detailed series of eight Navy Office bills, relating to ships captured at the Battle of the Nile. 15th March 1799 - 29th May 1799.Miscellaneous papers - includes a certificate appointing Mr Campbell of HMS CANOPUS to act on Davison's behalf, and various accounts regarding Head Money and the valuation and sale of captured French vessels following the Battle of the Nile.

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.