HMS

82pp., small 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged paper, in worn black cloth, with large printed official 'NIGHT ORDER BOOK' label on front cover, to which Chambers has added 'Captain's' in large letters, and 'TO BE RETURNED TO MY CABIN'. Ruled pages, with printed 'NIGHT ORDER BOOK, H.M.S. [name of ship in manuscript] | ORDERS.' at head.

9pp., foolscap 8vo. Duplicated carbon, printed in purple (except for Item 27, added in black), with the type breaking up heavily at points. Listing 92 numbered items, with columns for 'Departmental Serial No.' and 'Priority', the latter marked up in red pencil with 'A' (top priority), 'B' and 'C'. The list is divided into the following subsections: 'Hull & Miscellaneous', 'Auxiliary Machinery & Gunmountings', 'Electrical', 'First Fitting Stores'. The document was presumably produced as part of an assessment of whether the ship should be saved or scrapped.

HMS Arethusa, the fourth of nine Royal Navy ships to bear the name, was a 46-gun fifth rate launched in 1817. (Fifth-rate ships served as fast scouts or independent cruisers. Owing to their combination of manoeuvrability and firepower, they were often assigned to interdict enemy shipping.) She was was renamed HMS Bacchus in 1844 on conversion into a hulk, and was broken up in 1883. The present item is 21pp., 8vo. Stitched. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn grey paper. With loose heavily worn remains of brown marbled wraps (front and back cover detached from one another).

A substantial letter, 3pp., foolscap 8vo. 100 lines of text. Bifolium. In very good condition, on aged paper, with one closed along crease line neatly repaired with archival tape. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with Chatham postmark, frank, and black wax seal, to 'Viscount Ingestrie M:P. | 2 Wilton Crescent | Belgrave Square | London'. An interesting document, in which a distinguished Victorian naval architect makes detailed criticisms of an innovation in his field. (HMS Gorgon was designed by Sir William Symonds and launched in 1837.

At the outbreak of the Flagstaff War, Robertson-Macdonald was serving as Commander of HMS Hazard. On 11 March 1845 he was severely wounded while leading the defence of the town of Kororarika (now Russell) from 'the attack of an overwhelming body of natives', resulting in the loss of six of his men. The three transcripts that form Item One below relate to this action, and were presumably made out by the Admiral himself towards the end of his life, in a shaky hand and with a number of errors.

3pp., 4to. 59 lines of text. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with two postmarks and a manuscript note by forwarding agents the Frères Smitmer of Vienna, to 'Robert Thorp Esqr | Alnwick | Northumberland | England'. Addressing his letter to 'My Dear Brother', Thorp begins by congratulating him on his wedding: 'Sailors are bad hands at Complements [sic] but I cannot avoid expressing the satisfaction I had in hearing who my new Sister was'.

163pp., 12mo. In a sturdy notebook, with brass clasp, covered in grey paper. Wright has written '4 | N W' on the front board. On the recto of the first leaf he gives the addresses of 'T', 'C', 'J', 'Adml Campbell' and 'Young'; and on the verso he writes the title 'DIARY OF THE WAR | VOLUME II', above the oval stamp 'SUPPLIED FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE'. He signs 'Noel Wright' at head of the recto of the second leaf.

13pp., 12mo. On three bifoliums and a last single leaf. On aged and worn paper. A semi-literate, but spirited epistle. Little is to be discovered concerning the identity of the writer. Addressed to 'My Darling Son' and signed 'good bye, be good, ever yours and yours alone William Kay', but with a few hints that the letter may not in fact be from a father to his son. Kay begins by stating that he is going to fulfil his promise and write 'a long letter'.

99pp., in 'Army & Navy Octavo Scribbling Diary (with a week on an opening) for 1910'. Good, on aged paper, in worn boards, with some preliminary leaves torn out, and a few childish scrawls by Irene and Pauline Knott (grandchildren of the author?) at beginning and end (not affecting text) . The author is intelligent and well-educated, pious and with a keen interest in sport, but there are few clues regarding his identity: his family is from Staines, and he trained at the Royal Naval College, Osborne. The itineraries of the two ships mentioned in this diary are as follows.

Manuscript diary of the purser of the Royal Navy Armoured Cruiser HMS Cornwall, describing Mediterranean and Baltic tours of duty (while Captain W. R. Hall was spying for Britain), with descriptions of golf and other sports and recreations. 'Letts's No. 46 Indian and Colonial Rough Diary Giving Half a Page a Day. 1909'. 12mo, 161pp. Good, on aged paper, in worn boards. Diary proper consists of 210pp., with entries on three-quarters (159pp.) of them (few entries for periods of leave), preceded by two pages with lists of family birthdays and of books read.

On rectangle of paper, 11 x 5.5 cm, cut from front frank. Aged and spotted, with closed tear at head repaired on reverse with archival tape. The whole in Amherst's hand, with his signature (as usual on frank) in bottom left-hand corner between two horizontal lines. Launched in 1805, the Pomone was a 38-gun Leda-class fifth rate Royal Navy ship, built by Josiah and Thomas Brindley at Frindsbury. She saw action during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the Mediterranean, and was wrecked off the Needles in 1811.

Ten notebooks, nine of them 4to and the other folio, totalling in excess of a thousand pages. Not uniform. In original worn bindings, five with marbled boards and the others in full cloth. Internally all ten volumes are sound, with their texts neatly-written, clear and complete. Numbered 2 to 18 (lacking 1, 7, and 12 to 17). The dating of the diaries is as follows. ONE ('2'): 15 May 1867 to 1 September 1868. TWO ('3'): 4 September 1868 to 19 September 1870. THREE ('4'): 20 September 1870 to 7 September 1872. 'A diary written by "Albert Smith" G.M. & G.S.

12mo: 1 p. Five lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with one minor water stain affecting a couple of letters of one word. Reads 'The Adm[ira]lt[ie]s order for you son's reception as Vol[untee]r 1st. Class in the Victory is arrived, & he may join as soon as convenient'. Docketed by Tonyn on reverse '3d. June 1828 |Sir Robt. Stopford Commr. in Chief Porstmo. respecting my son George'. After Trafalgar the Victory was moored in Portsmouth Harbour off Gosport and used as a depot ship.

Both items (previously pinned together) in good condition, with text clear and entire, on aged paper. Woollett's letter (one page, 12mo, 'Reading, Bay') places at Prenderville's disposal the letter 'which you have seen in the Library here from Captn. Ross of the Northumberland when conveying Napoleon to St. Helena [...] I have no objection to your sending the copy to any periodical for publication'. Prenderville has copied the letter onto five pages (each c. 32 x 20.5 cms) of around thirty lines each, spread over the rectos of three bifoliums.