This collection includes annual reports, regulations and instructions, reports and correspondence, staff records and photographs relating to the Nigeria Marine.

See records below for further details.

Related material externally held at The National Archives; and at National Museums Liverpool e.g.Ref: B/NMA Nigeria Marine: Archives of Captain F W Skutil, Director of Nigerian Naval Services 1927-1966.

Administrative / biographical background
The origin of the Nigeria Marine can be traced to three sources: the Lagos Marine Department, created in the 1880s with the acquisition of a fleet of vessels; the Southern Nigeria Marine, formed in Calabar in 1893; and the Northern Nigeria Marine, formed in 1900. The Lagos Marine amalgamated with the Southern Nigeria Marine on 1 May 1906, and the Southern Nigeria Marine and Northern Nigeria Marine amalgamated on 1 January 1914 to form the Nigeria Marine. Its activities included: administering ports and harbours; dredging and reclamation; inland water transport and sea transport; opening and clearing waterways; operating lighthouses, signal stations, buoys and beacons; and undertaking hydrographic surveys. During the First World War, officers and men of the Nigeria Marine were enrolled for service with the Royal Navy Expeditionary Force in the Cameroons campaign. In 1955 the Nigeria Marine ceased to exist, when its staff and assets were transferred to the newly-created Nigerian Ports Authority, Inland Waterways Department and Nigerian Naval Force. Related Material the Director of the Nigeria Marine pennant (Ref: AAA0510).