Brown leather wallet holding papers relating to the master mariner William Geering, including his Board of Trade certificate (number 3097), 1851; a letter of recommendation from John Willett, 1866; and letters sent to his wife and children while at sea in 1867-1878. The wallet also includes a Printed Officers of Stations Seniority List for the Coast Guard including George Ellis at Ballycotton; papers relating to the death of George Ellis, pensioner of the Royal Navy, at Lewes in 1885; papers relating to Mary Ellis, including her widow’s pension from the Admiralty, also her death and funeral, 1885-1898; and Will of John William Geering, dated 30 June 1882.

Administrative / biographical background
William Geering was born at Seaford, Sussex, in 1824. He first went to sea as an apprentice on the LOUISA of Newhaven in 1840. He was master of the barque ARCTURUS and then the barque ITALY, both owned by R. Penney and registered at Shoreham, in the period circa 1869-71. The ARCTURUS was wrecked on a reef in the Ionian Islands in 1869. George Ellis was promoted to the rank of gunner in 1874. As a warrant officer he served on HMS OPAL, HMS PIONEER, HMS AUDACIOUS, HMS DASHER and HMS RUPERT. He died at Lewes in 1885.