The journal includes details of John Spencer Smith's time at sea, attendance at the royal court, foreign travels in France in 1785 and 1789, and details of the appointments received by his brothers Charles Douglas and Sidney Smith. The journal contains an account of a flogging round the fleet at Sheerness on the 29th January 1782, as well as reports of key pieces of naval news such as the loss of HMS ROYAL GEORGE in August 1782. It also includes a description of the first flight across the English Channel by balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard in January 1785. The journal also includes allegorical poetry, possibly written by Sidney Smith. A pocket in the front cover of the book contains two references written by Sidney Smith for his brother, a copy of Spencer's birth certificate and a notice of a reward offered for apprehending Lieutenant John William Morris of the East India Company.

Administrative / biographical background
Spencer Smith was the younger brother of William Sidney Smith, born on the 11 September 1769. He was appointed page of honour to Queen Charlotte in 1779, but also served on his brother's ships HMS FURY in 1782-1783 and HMS ALCMENE in 1783-1784 and accompanied his brother on a tour of France in 1785. He was appointed as an ensign in the First Regiment of Foot in July 1790. He left the Army in 1792 and was appointed British ambassador to the Ottoman court at Constantinople. He became an MP for Dover in 1802 and eventually settled in Normandy, where he died in 1845.